One of the singles from Kenny Chesney’s upcoming album Hemingway’s Whiskey is “Somewhere With You.” It’s written by J.T. Harding and Shane McAnally (who also goes by Shane Mack).
“This song killed me when I heard it,” says Chesney. “This is a tortured soul song. If you get going with somebody, you’ve been in a relationship and for whatever reason she’s gone or you’re gone. And you’re not necessarily in another relationship, but you’re with somebody else, just starting something with somebody else. Trying to balance both those worlds is tough. I’ve done it a lot, where you’re with somebody and you’re thinking this isn’t necessarily bad, but wow, man it would be really great to be with you. That can be a lot of mental baggage.”
Listen to Shane’s version below. Obviously Kenny’s version will have its own sound, but you can get an idea of the song by listening to this:
Veteran country artist Randy Travis is working on a duets album that will be released early next year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his his first album on a major label. On the duets album, he’ll partner with Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Josh Turner, Tim McGraw, John Anderson, and more.
Just last year, Carrie Underwood released a new version of Randy’s “I Told You So,” and she ended up bringing Randy into the studio to turn it into a duet, eventually winning a Grammy Award with it. Appropriately, Carrie’s planning on joining Randy for this album as well.
“She wants to do something old,” Randy noted, “and I don’t even know what we’re going to do yet.”
The album is expected to come out during the first half of 2011, but it’s not the first time Randy’s tackled a major duets release. His 1990 CD Heroes & Friends featured a dozen guest artists, including Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, George Jones, Roy Rogers, Clint Eastwood and Tammy Wynette.
On Saturday Jimmy Buffett announced a free show in Gulf Shores, Alabama and Kenny Chesney is slated to take part too:
To demonstrate support for the people, businesses and culture of the Gulf Coast, CMT will telecast a free musical celebration live from the beach at Gulf Shores, Ala. CMT Presents Jimmy Buffett & Friends Live from the Gulf Coast will air on CMT on Thursday, July 1, from 8-9:30 p.m. ET/PT. Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band will be joined in the concert by his friends Sonny Landreth, Zac Brown Band, Kenny Chesney, Jesse Winchester and Allen Toussaint. A special souvenir tee shirt will also be designed for the concert and sold onlne and at the show. More info coming soon!
Grace Potter was on Good Morning America this morning and in an interview with George Stephanopoulos revealed that Kenny Chesney has asked her to sing with him on a duet for his upcoming album.
If you haven’t yet seen this, check out this great video of Mishka singing “Stir It Up” with Kenny Chesney, Matthew McConaughey, Clayton Mitchell, and Tambo:
David Nail recently talked to The Boot about his new single “Turning Home,” which was written by Kenny Chesney:
“I fell in love with the song long before I knew Kenny Chesney had written it,” says David. “In fact, if anything I was a little saddened by the fact that he did write it, because I just assumed that it was borderline impossible for me to have the chance to record it. And we actually suffered through a couple of different Chesney records waiting to see if he was in fact going to record it.”
Once the waiting was over and David cut the tune for his album, ‘I’m About to Come Alive,’ he was one happy man! “One of the coolest moments in my career thus far was performing it at the opening of the ASCAP Awards this past year and having a voice mail on my cell phone the next morning from Kenny himself more or less endorsing it and saying how fantastic it was,” exclaims the Missouri native. “That was really cool because I think whether it’s a songwriter who strictly writes songs for a living or another artist, when you kind of have the endorsement from the person who the lyric and the melody originated, I think that’s the ultimate compliment.”
On Monday night, Kenny Chesney joined several other country stars in Las Vegas for a tribute to the retiring Brooks & Dunn. The artists took turns singing the duo’s classic songs and telling stories about touring with them, or growing up on their music. When it was Chesney’s turn, he performed “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone.”
Taylor Swift, who was still in diapers when Brooks & Dunn scored their first chart topper in 1991, introduced the duo, setting a pattern for many of the artists to follow: she told a hilarious story about being on tour with them. She was summoned to their dressing room and feared she’d done something wrong, only for Ronnie Dunn to tell her he wanted to show her his imitation of her.
Virtually every artist who followed, whether it was Keith Urban, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert. Sugarland or Brad Paisley, has entertaining road tales to share about touring with Brooks & Dunn. One even involved Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl.”
While plenty of artists, including Carrie Underwood, Lambert and Swift talked about growing with Brooks & Dunn, they meant it figuratively. Only Lady Antebellum’s Hilary Scott could make the same claim literally. Her parents were in McEntire’s band during the four years that McEntire and Brooks & Dunn toured together. “So if you saw a little girl sitting on a road case by the side of the stage, that was me,” she said. She and band mate Charles Kelley sang a beautiful duet of “If You See Him, If You See Her,” originally recorded by the pair with McEntire. They were joined by some special guest.
We want to keep some of the surprises intact for those who plan to watch the special, but among our favorites were Urban’s rollicking “Brand New Man,” George Strait’s playful “Boot Scootin’ Boogie,” Darius Rucker’s “Hard Workin’ Man,” in which he channeled Bob Seger as much as B&D, Underwood’s soulful “Neon Moon,” and Tim McGraw’s “That Ain’t Now Way to Go.” He sounded better than we’ve ever heard him.
However, the performance that will have everyone buzzing the morning after the special airs is Jennifer Hudson’s take-us-to-church take on “Believe,” a meditation on faith.
When Chris Young earned his first number one hit with “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song)” back in October, the person to deliver the news to him was none other than Kenny Chesney:
Just as the plane landed, he called Keith Gale, one of the promotions reps for his record label. When he answered, Keith said, “Hold on. Somebody here wants to tell you what happened this week with your single.”
“Congratulations on your first No. 1 hit,” said a familiar voice Chris couldn’t quite identify. “What a great song. I’m so proud for you and proud of you.”
The mystery voice on the phone was none other than Kenny Chesney, who’d dropped by the Sony Music Nashville office that day. When he heard the news about Chris’ single, he wanted to be the first one to congratulate him.
“Can you believe that?” Chris told me, still a little shocked that a superstar would go out of his way to tell him the news.
“Yep, Chris,” I told him. “I believe it. That’s the way it is in this town. Everybody is for everybody else. When someone hits No. 1 for writing or singing a song, there is always a brother or sister in music ready to offer congratulations. When you’re as successful as Kenny, you know to say thanks and congratulations. A man like Kenny never forgets where he came from — just a few miles up the road east of you, Chris.”
Veteran country artist Randy Travis is 
David Nail recently talked to 
When Chris Young earned his first number one hit with “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song)” back in October, the person to 
