On Kenny Chesney‘s 20th studio album Born, out today (March 22) via Blue Chair Records/Warner Music Nashville, he continues his reputation for recording songs that both elevate the spirit and cut to the bone.
Landing nearly four years after his 2020 album Here and Now, Chesney’s latest revels in both taking risks and taking in every moment life gives you. Chesney included more songs than ever on his new project, clocking in at 15 tracks, each one mining universal truths and detailing yearnings for love, freedom and connection.
He works once again with his longtime producer Buddy Cannon, crafting an album that is a patchwork of songs, musical commemorations of a myriad of life moments, drawing on spontaneous road trips and dive-bars filled with the scent of ocean breezes, as well as high-octane instances of embracing wide-open independence, and tempered by more contemplative spaces accepting how time refines lives, both healing hurts and spilling heartbreaks, etching memories firmly into consciousness. Some songs, such as “Take Her Home,” touch on lasting love, while “Guilty Pleasure” centers on passion in the moment. A feeling of gratitude for the full spectrum of life courses through the album.
“There was no theme we’re singing about that holds it together,” the eight-time entertainer of the year winner said in a statement regarding the album. “But if you listen to all 15 songs, you’ll get the high energy fun, chasing adventures, don’t let people get you down piece and you’ll get the more reflective thinking about someone who’s died, the person you know you shouldn’t call emotions that have always been in the music, too.”
Perhaps a line in one of the album’s tracks, “Few Good Stories,” sums it up best: “When it’s all said and done, I’ll know I lived it well If I ain’t got nothing but a few good stories to tell.”
Here’s a look at Billboard‘s ranking of the album’s 15 tracks:
Another rock guitar-fueled party anthem, this track details spontaneous road trips from Knoxville to Myrtle Beach in an RV with no air conditioning, jumping off cliffs and losing track of time in a neon Vegas night—all the while, Chesney maintains that oftentimes the improvised risks are worth the memories made.
A sweet, steady groove propels this easy-come, easy-go tale as he revels in a car ride with his love. The car’s top is down, the radio has just the right song on and he knows he’d do anything for her.
“What good are wheels if they ain’t rolling,” Chesney sings above crashing drums and careening guitar lines, on this track written by Tony Martin and Wendell Mobley. A sure-fire live performance favorite, this song pulses with power, and serves as a tribute to all the pleasure seekers undeterred from chasing a good-time feeling to all corners of the globe.
Brett James, Tim James and Danny Myrick wrote this rock-tinged track perfectly crafted for communal concert singalongs. Chesney hits a comfortable groove here, as he sings of living on “good vibe standard time,” nodding to Shakespeare, stunning sunsets and good drinks.
A slice of B-3 organ piles atop a latticework of drums, bass and guitar on this meditation of a heart-breaking push-and-pull cycle of an on-again, off-again relationship. “When we say it’s over and then we say why don’t you come on over/ We get lost and drink too much/ Then we morning after think too much,” Chesney sings, his voice picking up the full brunt of angst, passion and frustration. Chesney wrote this track with Josh Osborne, Shane McAnally and Greylan James.
A perfect mesh of churning percussion, immense singalong chorus, and stadium-ready, blistering rock riffs draw listeners deeper into the soul-searching, human-connecting cavities of each lyric on this high-octane title track and album opener. “We all want to know what we are made for,” he sings, a nod to how the humanity of seeking purpose in each day can be sought with joy.
Chesney’s current top 20 Billboard Country Airplay hit was written by HARDY, Zach Abend and Hunter Phelps, with HARDY also offering background vocals on the track. The first verse seemingly paints the scene of the beginning sparks of a fleeting romance, but by the chorus and second verse it’s clear that the chance meeting turned into more, with a story arc that gets a slight twist at the end, when it’s not only his lover he’s taking home, but the couple’s newborn child.
Seemingly the continuation of the album’s earlier ruminations on those hot-and-cold relationships, here he begins courting thoughts of cutting the relationship off for good, knowing the back-and-forth ultimately isn’t the best for either of them. Tucker Beathard and Kyle Fishman wrote the song, while Laci Kaye Booth offers smooth, silky background vocals.
Written by Ben Hayslip, Rhett Akins and Chris Stevens, this track blends guitars, Wurlitzer and bass for a feel-good conglomeration that fetes good whiskey and cigars, old guitars and nights spent spinning a lover around the dancefloor to classic Motown tunes. “If I ain’t done it all, just means I ain’t done it yet,” he sings. Like many songs on this album, he maintains that his mission is creating memories that he can look back on fondly.
This light-hearted, slightly tropical groove of a song centers on free-spirited night of drinking and dancing, writing their names on money and taping it to the walls, all with an open-minded nod to seeing where the night could lead. “If you get to catchin’ feelings baby it ain’t your fault/ Blame it on the salt,” he sings on this plucky, laid-back song. ERNEST offers up background vocals on this track, and is a co-writer alongside Matt Dragstrem and Ryan Vojtesak.
Bolstered by steel guitar and tamborines, this jangly, upbeat number finds him taking pleasure in being someone else’s guilty pleasure–someone’s first call when they need a distraction. “You only want me when you’re drinking/ And you’ve got a mistake you want to make again,” he sings, his delivery sounding both flirtatious and unbothered by the romance’s uncommitted nature.
Written by Brent Cobb, Charlie Worsham and Jaren Johnston, this track features a loping rhythm and relatable storyline of finding refuge among strangers in a bar from “walkin’ through the rain of life’s big storm,” where sometimes love is “all oyster, no pearl.” Some fine-grain, poetic storytelling and Chesney’s everyman style of singing always translates these kinds of stories so well.
Layers of electric and acoustic guitars and synths heighten the sense of anticipation here, as he sings of a potential love story still in its early days–or as he sings, “This might be nothing or this might be serious.” This track at once encapsulates the loneliness, hopefulness and hunger of two souls ready to move past old hurts. Chesney wrote this track with Josh Osborne, Ross Copperman and David Lee Murphy.
One of the most heartfelt, stunning ballads on this album is this vulnerable, soul-searching track of forgiveness and acceptance, which Chesney wrote with Mike Reid. He’s long ago relinquished the heartbreak and the hurt has dulled into a love that accepts the relationship as it is.
“The way I love you now Is different than it was/ It’s in my brokenness It’s what the healing does,” he sings here.
Over the course of his past few albums, Chesney has recorded some sterling ballads and mid-tempos dedicated to the memory of loved ones that have passed on, such as “Knowing You.”
“Faith is left to heal what tears can’t touch/ You’re not gone, just out of sight,” he sings on this gorgeous piano ballad, written by Mike Reid and Gary Burr. As always, Chesney’s top-shelf skills as a vocal interpreter infuse this track with further warmth, wistfulness and hope.