- 21 minutes ago
Kenny Chesney joins Katie Neal in Nashville to talk about his upcoming album, 'Silver Sands Marina,' and the 3 year journey it took to bring it to life.
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00Kenny Chesney, brand new album coming out this week, Silver Sands Marina.
00:05How excited are you for everyone to finally hear this music?
00:09I'm very excited because it's been a minute.
00:11You know, it took three years to make it.
00:15And I'm grateful for that because I just didn't find songs that were available in a specific period of time.
00:21But it took a minute because we, you know, just the brain bandwidth alone, you know,
00:27to have to do two summers at Sphere in Vegas and all the bandwidth it takes to create that was
00:35a lot.
00:36Yeah, and you changed that set too.
00:38And that's a whole bunch of so much creative energy.
00:40We changed a little more than half of it and then wrote a book, put that out in the last
00:45three years.
00:45And so it's like, so it wasn't that music was the last thing on Totem Pole, but I can't.
00:52And you know this about me.
00:54I can't do anything halfway.
00:56So once I got time to really focus in is when the records started coming together.
01:03But I am grateful that I wasn't on any kind of a musical treadmill that you get caught on
01:11because, you know, you put out a record and it does well and the label goes,
01:14okay, we want one in another 12 to 18 months.
01:17So I'm very thankful that I wasn't on that kind of a treadmill.
01:21Yeah, and you got the space and the time to do it.
01:24So there's so many amazing songs on this album.
01:27I want you to tell me the story behind choosing Silver Sands Marina as the title track for the album.
01:32Well, you know, when I first heard Silver Sands Marina, it just, I fell in love with it for the
01:41fact that we are all caught in this social media time of our life where there's a lot of fake
01:50intimacy.
01:52And Silver Sands Marina is about two people that had a real human connection and probably knew that it wasn't
01:58going to last forever.
02:00Yeah.
02:00But it was great in the moment.
02:03And I fell in love with that song for that reason.
02:06So much so that we went up and spent a couple of nights there in New Hampshire at the marina.
02:13I was going to say, because this is a real place.
02:15It's a real marina.
02:15No, it's a real place.
02:16And so we went up there and it was, I needed it.
02:20My soul needed it.
02:21It was so great.
02:23But we did a really simple video with it and shot a lot of images there.
02:28And that ended up, one of those images ended up being the album title because I didn't want, this music
02:34was more than just putting my face on the cover and going, okay, come by me.
02:38Yeah.
02:38Right.
02:39So I've done that a lot.
02:41And people do it.
02:42I'm not dissing it.
02:43I'm just, with these collections of songs and this music, it needed something else.
02:48Yeah.
02:49And so Silver Sands Marina was just a gift in a lot of ways.
02:53Yeah.
02:54Were the, like, you have to tell me, like, the people that own this marina, were they just, like, out
02:57of their minds?
02:57They're like, I assume it's like a little mom and pop operation.
03:00They're probably like, wait, Kenny Chesney's coming?
03:00It is a mom and pop operation.
03:02It's a real small arena, you know, and it's a real small marina.
03:06And it's, it's, it's a lot like how I grew up in East Tennessee, you know, but it made me
03:12realize that, you know, no, I didn't grow up in New Hampshire, but I had my own version of Silver
03:19Sands Marina in my life.
03:21Everybody's small town, no matter where it is in the world.
03:23You have your version of where you connected with someone.
03:25Yes.
03:25You know, so that was why I felt like that it was a universal emotion.
03:30There, on this album, for me, there is, like, a little bit of everything that you do so perfectly, but
03:35something that I was just really excited to see was you, you always have fun songs, but you got a
03:39little bit silly, like, with Goldfish.
03:42Like, I loved that.
03:43Like, when I saw the video for this, I was like, Kenny, I just love, like, you're just being silly.
03:46I'm just telling you, I couldn't help but not cut Goldfish.
03:49I imagine.
03:50I heard it, and I went, yeah, this is really simple, it's really smart, and it's very clever.
03:58It's so clever.
03:59The fact that they can take all these animal characteristics and weave that into someone sitting at a bar getting
04:05over someone.
04:06And, you know, when you've made as many records as I have and put as much music out there in
04:10the world as I have, when you're looking for songs, you don't want to repeat yourself.
04:14You've got to try not to, anyway.
04:16When I heard Goldfish, I was like, wow, this is, I've never heard a song like this, ever.
04:21I haven't either.
04:22And I feel like you guys had fun on the music video out in Maui, just, like, dancing around.
04:26Yeah, and people that aren't a part of our genre, and I'm not up, you know, if they, you know,
04:34I hate when people say country and western.
04:37You know what I mean?
04:38But we made country and western suits for the video, and that was on purpose.
04:46And after our last show at Sphere, I took me and the band to Maui because the song has this
04:54Hawaiian steel guitar laced all the way through it.
04:56So I had the idea of me and the band making these country and western suits and going to Maui
05:04in that environment and the juxtaposition of those suits and us underneath palm trees.
05:09So fun.
05:10I was holding a goldfish the whole time.
05:11I had this fishbowl with a goldfish in it, and I never sat it down.
05:15Does the goldfish have a name?
05:17No, that would have been a good thing.
05:19But it was, we're getting ready.
05:22At some point, we're going to release another version of the goldfish video where it's less, you know, less, I
05:30don't know, what you usually do, look into the camera and sing the song.
05:33You're just going to see all the buffoons out there, and that's me holding the goldfish.
05:37It's pretty funny.
05:38It is so much fun.
05:39And then Carry On, hugely successful, climbing up the chart right now.
05:42Will you talk about the story behind this song?
05:44Because you sat on this for a while.
05:46I have a folder on my computer of just songs I love that might make it into my life one
05:54day.
05:55I've had Carry On for over five years in that folder.
06:00Wow.
06:01That never really made, never really fit with a record.
06:04For one reason or another, I don't know why, but I try really hard to have my album be as
06:10cohesive as it can possibly be.
06:12Yeah.
06:14And I'm also a believer that songs find their place, and they land when they're supposed to, and with who
06:21they're supposed to.
06:23And when Carry On, when I saw Carry On in that folder, I went, hmm, maybe it's time for Carry
06:29On this time around.
06:30And it fit perfect with everything else and made the record really cohesive.
06:35But as far as the song, there's a line in that song that I couldn't get past that I absolutely
06:41loved.
06:42And it's kind of a mantra in my life, and I'm going to say anything to anybody next summer.
06:47I'm not that big of a preacher.
06:49I don't preach on stage.
06:50I don't try not to preach in songs.
06:55But this line says, if it feels good, do it.
06:57If it doesn't, then don't.
06:58And you get to a place in your life where it can be really that simple.
07:02It really can be, yeah.
07:03I mean, you've got to be in a space to really feel it, but it can be.
07:06Right, yeah.
07:07That's amazing.
07:07I love that.
07:08And then another song that is a contender for next single, one that I keep coming back to over and
07:12over again, is Remember Me That Way.
07:15Yeah, Remember Me That Way is 180 degrees away from Goldfish.
07:21Yes, totally.
07:22It's a lot more mature than Goldfish.
07:24That's a really mature song, you know, and you have to get to a place in your life also where
07:30you can have real forgiveness.
07:32I mean, like, I've thrown that word around a lot.
07:35Okay, I forgive you, whatever.
07:36But to have real forgiveness, your ego has to be offline a little bit.
07:41You have to give it time and perspective.
07:45And when I heard this song, I was like, wow, this is nobody's ever.
07:49I haven't heard that many songs where it usually, okay, no, it never ends well.
07:54No, never.
07:55Like, even when you try.
07:56Never.
07:56I mean, no, it never ends well.
07:58And there's always something.
07:59But if you get to a place where you can look into the rearview mirror and find a little gratitude,
08:05because it wasn't all bad.
08:08Yeah, no, exactly.
08:09It wasn't all bad.
08:10It's hard.
08:10You have to almost go back to those memories that were good and not have that negative spin on it
08:15anymore.
08:15You know what I mean?
08:16Yeah, yeah.
08:16The ending is bad because of everybody's ego.
08:18Yeah, exactly.
08:19And hurt feelings.
08:20But it wasn't always that way.
08:21And Remember Me That Way lives in the emotion of all that.
08:27That, to me, is also such a visual song.
08:29Did you guys, have you done video for that one yet?
08:31Not yet.
08:32Not yet?
08:32No.
08:32Yeah, I just feel like I could see everything happening in it.
08:36Yeah, it could be a very sexy video.
08:37Oh, yeah, it really could.
08:39Is there a song on the album that has like a crazy story or that's been around a long time
08:43or like made the album at the 11th hour or?
08:45Well, Remember Me That Way made the album at the 11th hour.
08:49Really?
08:49There's a song on the record called Shotglass that I ended the album with that made it at the 11th
08:53hour.
08:55Another song that I've had in my folder of songs that I love is a song that I did with
09:00Megan Maroney called It Just Got Weird.
09:03I love that one, too.
09:04I thought that that would be like a silly one and it took me by surprise that that is like
09:07a very serious and very relatable.
09:10Yeah, I've had that song for a while, but it never felt perfect until now.
09:17Maybe I had to get to a place in my life to do it, but we've all been in relationships.
09:24And on the surface, everything is perfect or really good.
09:31And somebody says something or there's just something happens.
09:36And it can be a really small thing.
09:40And all of a sudden, you go, wow, this just got weird.
09:45Something changed.
09:46And my friend Jesse Joe Dillon wrote this song with, I can't remember right now.
09:52I will add it later.
09:53But they dove into the emotion of all of that moment and everything that it carries.
09:58And there's a lot because you can never really, once you know that something just got weird and it's not
10:03what you thought it was, you can't go back.
10:06No, you can't.
10:06No, it's gone forever.
10:07I mean, it might take some time to break up, but there's a specific moment where you go, this is
10:12never going to happen.
10:13Yeah.
10:14And it's so tough.
10:15And from what I have heard, Megan heard this song and then she approached you and asked to be on,
10:19right?
10:20Well, she's friends with Jesse Joe, too.
10:21And so she called and told me she heard it.
10:23And, you know, Megan has a unique way of twisting my arm.
10:27Oh, does she?
10:30And she came into the studio and just put her vocal on it.
10:35And it sounded like, and I mean this in the most positive way, when you hear this song on the
10:41record, it sounds like Megan's been up all night.
10:43And she just sings with such richness.
10:46And her vocal has so much to it.
10:48It's got, it's obviously her vocal is very strong, but for it to be that strong and sometimes sassy and
10:54fun, almost simultaneously it can be vulnerable.
10:58Yeah.
10:58And like on a song like that, you really need that vocal to like, almost like as if you're acting
11:02to like capture what that moment feels like.
11:05So I'm very proud to have her on it.
11:07Yeah, it's an amazing song.
11:08There's also another collaboration on the album with Colby Calais.
11:11There is.
11:11Talk about the story behind what we got going on.
11:13I love that one, too.
11:14In 2007, I rented a house.
11:18I wouldn't say Malibu, but this was in like really north of Malibu.
11:22I was so exhausted and I wanted away from everything, the road, everything.
11:30And that year was the year that Colby Calais' huge first album came out.
11:35And I would run the PCH back and forth near where my house was and I would listen to her
11:40record every day that I did.
11:42And I just fell in love with that voice and not knowing that I would ever meet that person.
11:48Colby's been in my life now for a while and I can't even remember how we met.
11:51She's just one of those people.
11:52Yeah.
11:53You know, but to have her on this record and on this song specifically, it just felt like her energy.
11:59It felt like, you know, it's a little tropical, it's a little island, but it's a lot of feel-good
12:05music.
12:06And the way our voices weave together within the melody of the song, I'm just so happy about it and
12:13proud of it.
12:13She's got such a like calming energy.
12:15It like comes into a room with her and you hear it on this song.
12:19And I thought it just turned out so good.
12:20No, she's just a joy to be around.
12:22So I'm so thankful that, you know, we finally got to sing together and it's on this record.
12:27I want to talk about tour.
12:29Sure.
12:30The original Vibroom tour.
12:32Where did the name for this come from?
12:34Because we're going back to stadiums.
12:35Yeah.
12:36You know, the last two summers, we did Sphere in Vegas.
12:39By the time we get around to doing these shows next summer in stadiums, it would have been three years
12:44since we've been back.
12:46So we've missed that.
12:48There's a real specific energy that you feel when you go into someone's town and you feel the audience have
12:53ownership of that.
12:55We've missed that energy and it's awesome up there, you know, and we're going to a lot of the same
13:03markets.
13:04We're going to some different markets next summer and we're thrilled about it, you know, but to get back to
13:11your question, it's the tour is called the original Vibroom tour.
13:15Remember, in 2001, the room existed, but we hadn't named it yet.
13:19In 2002, we named it the Vibroom.
13:21I wanted to create a space for me and the band and the crew to go into before the show
13:28to have a toast, to recognize how blessed we are and say how grateful we are and to have everybody
13:37be a part of it.
13:38Like I said, band, crew, and we'd have a lot of people from radio in there.
13:42We would have family and friends in there and everybody felt a part of it.
13:46Yeah, everybody felt a part of everything that was happening to me.
13:50Now, the room changed from pre-show to after the show.
13:54It turned into a different, you know, how a restaurant can turn into a bar.
13:59That's what happened to the Vibroom.
14:03That's and I'm very proud of that, too.
14:05But we had fun when the Vibroom was rolling.
14:09We I mean, we really had fun.
14:10Oh, I bet you did.
14:11So, so, yeah.
14:14So when we went back into with this.
14:17So when we decided that.
14:19So when we decided to go back into stadiums.
14:22You know, I wanted to bring that community back because it's fear.
14:26It wasn't the same.
14:27You know, I didn't get to have my I call a blue Marlin off the North Drop in the Virgin
14:30Islands.
14:31And it is kind of became the tour mascot over the years.
14:34And we'd have it on stage in the stadiums on the left.
14:37Nobody could really see it.
14:38But I pay attention to the details like that.
14:41And it just made me happy.
14:43Sphere was just a completely different experience.
14:44We couldn't have it up there on the stage at Sphere, you know.
14:47So so now we get all of our stuff back.
14:49You know, we're back in our in our natural habitat, if you will.
14:53Yeah.
14:54No, truly.
14:55And I want to talk about the bill for these shows.
14:57Yeah, it's going to be a fun summer.
14:59It's going to be so much fun.
15:00Talk about Eric freaking Church.
15:02Eric freaking Church.
15:06Even in 2013, because he went out, he went out and did a stadium tour with me in 2013.
15:12And even then he didn't have to do it.
15:15I mean, it's crazy.
15:16He was building his own life.
15:18He was building, you know, he had all these great hit songs.
15:22And and we did a couple of sporadic shows together in 2015.
15:26Now, we haven't worked together since then.
15:29Well, I mean, Eric Church does not have to go with us.
15:36And it says a lot about him that he is.
15:39And I love him.
15:40And the only way I can think and wrap my brain around it is because he just wants to.
15:45Yeah.
15:46I know that you guys have a special relationship.
15:47The last time you were in here, we were talking about how he flew up like on like last minute
15:51notice to come perform at the Hall of Fame.
15:53No, it's crazy.
15:53Like an eight song medley at your induction.
15:55Like.
15:56I know.
15:56I owe him big time, especially now he's going out and doing shows with us.
15:59So I really owe him.
16:00But he's gone out of his way to show up for me.
16:03Yeah.
16:03He really has.
16:04Not everybody will do that.
16:05No, truly.
16:06That's a very good point.
16:08Do you remember the first time that you guys would have met?
16:10I met Eric Church in the gym.
16:13Really?
16:14A very long time ago.
16:16I mean, right when he first moved to town.
16:18I don't even know that he had a record deal yet.
16:20But my trainer, Daniel, I was working at a specific place that's not even there anymore,
16:26but south of town.
16:27And my trainer goes, hey, there's this guy that's a really good singer songwriter.
16:32And he was on the treadmill over there.
16:34His name's Eric Church.
16:35And I went over and said hi to him and went on about my life.
16:38And then next thing I know, like a couple of years later, Eric's got his first album coming
16:42out.
16:43So that's how long I've known him.
16:45That is wild.
16:45We got a lot in common.
16:47He loves sports.
16:47He loves football.
16:48He loves music.
16:49He loves creating and life on the road.
16:52And I'm very thrilled that he wants to do it.
16:55Because he does not have to do it.
16:57It's going to be so much fun.
16:58So all the music people are going to hear next summer is going to be unbelievable.
17:02And then you add Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Sheryl Crow.
17:07And all the music that she's put out over the years truly fits within the lives of people
17:13that come to our show.
17:14So naturally.
17:15And I've always loved her.
17:19And then Graylin James is going to come.
17:21We have an East Tennessee connection.
17:23He grew up in East Tennessee.
17:26So when he was a child, my mother cut his hair.
17:32Shut up.
17:33My mom worked in a beauty shop.
17:34I have chills.
17:35That's a true story.
17:36There, my arm is sticking up.
17:38Are you kidding me?
17:39My mother worked cutting hair for a very long time.
17:44And Graylin's parents would bring him in and let my mom cut his hair.
17:49That is an unbelievable story.
17:51And so I have a picture of me and Graylin James.
17:54I mean, he couldn't have been more than six.
17:57Oh, my God.
17:57At some event.
17:58We had a mutual friend in Knoxville that had some sort of,
18:02like a musical event.
18:03And they asked me to come.
18:04It was a, and I went just to say hi to people.
18:09And Graylin's father come up to me and goes,
18:11will you take a picture with my son?
18:12And I went, well, sure.
18:13And he goes, he's learning how to play guitar, da, da, da.
18:15You know, and I still have the picture.
18:17Graylin has it too.
18:19Oh, Kenny.
18:20And now that person is going to be on stage with us next summer.
18:25It's great.
18:25Isn't that great?
18:26That to me is like one of those like spiritual kismet moments.
18:28It's like, how can you, that's unbelievable.
18:30No, look, we're all connected in ways.
18:31We have no idea how, but we all, I believe that.
18:34I believe we're all connected.
18:36I'm with you on that.
18:37I mean, there's just like too many things like that that happen in life.
18:39You're like, there's no chance this is coincidence.
18:41Like this was predestined, meant to be.
18:43And that is so beautiful.
18:44Oh, I love that story so much.
18:47We talked a little bit about Sphere.
18:48Obviously that was an incredible experience,
18:49but like you said, like it's been almost three years now.
18:51Like, and I know you,
18:53like I know how bad you're itching to get back out there on these stadium shows.
18:55Like what moment are you like, I just can't wait.
18:58Is it like the moment the lights come up, you walk out like,
19:00or is there a moment in the show that you're like,
19:02I just can't wait to do that again?
19:03Well, I know this might sound a little cliche,
19:06but you know, people buy the tickets when they go on sale, hopefully, you know?
19:12And so there's this, this time they have to wait.
19:15There's this, this months of anticipation.
19:19And believe it or not, that goes for us too.
19:23And, you know, a lot of people get up every morning and drive down the same road to work
19:28and they, you know, find, find fun in their life.
19:32But it's the same for us.
19:34We like, we live, being backstage every day is, can be a mundane existence.
19:41You know, going to catering, doing this.
19:43It's not as glamorous as everybody thinks it is back there.
19:47Right.
19:48And so everybody in the stadium has a version of their mundane existence.
19:54The thing that breaks us out of that is music.
19:57The thing is that connection.
19:58So when we get to take all that anticipation from the audience and then all the anticipation
20:05from us and those two things meet, it is the most amazing feeling in the world.
20:11It's something that I don't get every day in my life.
20:16And I look forward to reconnecting like that.
20:19That's, that's, that's what I'm looking forward to.
20:22This is going to be such a fun summer.
20:23So, I mean, it was, it's, it's just the moment that you can't describe.
20:26I mean, it's, it's, um, and I've, I've, I mean, I wouldn't say addicted to it, but
20:35How could you not be?
20:36That's the closest word.
20:37I mean, like, to, just to feel that much stimulation from the audience, even your brain is like,
20:43wow, you don't get that every day.
20:44No, definitely.
20:45While we have you on the show for the week to celebrate the release of the album, we're
20:48going to play, obviously, like a bunch of songs from your catalog.
20:50And so I want to ask you just a few stories behind the songs.
20:53And I want to do your very first number one, She's Got It All.
20:57Will you talk about that one?
20:58Sure.
20:59Um, that was a song my friend Craig Wiseman wrote.
21:03She's Got It All.
21:05And I still have the demo of him, you know, I hate things like this.
21:09And it was, I still have the demo of it.
21:10My very first number one on a, on a file somewhere.
21:14That's crazy.
21:14But I, I had put out a lot of songs that didn't do anything, a couple of records that didn't
21:19do anything.
21:20And finally, I was in Puerto Rico, um, doing a, a photo shoot for something.
21:26I have no idea what it was.
21:28And there was a guy in Knoxville, uh, at the radio station there at WIVK, his name's
21:32Les Acree.
21:33And he was one of the guys that helped me, uh, connect with a lot of people on country
21:38radio.
21:39And, you know, and he lived and breathed every song with me, you know, that didn't make it.
21:43Yeah.
21:44And I remember getting a call from Les.
21:47I had someone call me and said, Hey, call Les Acree.
21:50And I called him and he was the first person to tell me that I had my first number one
21:54record.
21:54And that was when She's Got It All.
21:56That's amazing.
21:57You know, so it was the first of what, 30, I think we're at 35, something like that.
22:03No.
22:03Oh my God.
22:04That's so incredible.
22:05I always, one of my favorite things to ask people, because I know like those are the years
22:08where you're like grinding, grinding, grinding.
22:10And you're like, you know, everybody thinks it's so glamorous, but like that's a, like
22:13financially, it's kind of scary.
22:14Oh, did you have like a fun first number one purchase where you're like, I'm going
22:17to treat myself?
22:18Well, I mean, my life didn't change that much.
22:21Like it takes a long time.
22:22I mean, mentally, it took four or five to six, maybe 10 more before my life really changed.
22:28Yeah.
22:29But it was just a validation that maybe one day.
22:33Yeah.
22:33We can have another one.
22:34And it got us, you know, all of a sudden, we were going, we were still playing clubs long
22:40after my first number one.
22:42Yeah.
22:42You know, but the difference was people were there in the clubs.
22:45Mm hmm.
22:46And then I don't think I've ever heard you talk about the story behind this, but never
22:49wanted nothing more.
22:50Yeah.
22:51Because I didn't realize that Stapleton wrote that.
22:53Chris Stapleton wrote never wanted nothing more.
22:55Did he sing the demo?
22:56Yeah.
22:57And we played on, we play it on my satellite radio station on Sirius XM.
23:01But to hear him sing that is like anything.
23:05I mean, it's a very religious experience.
23:07I mean, it's, but yeah, that was the, that was, I believe that was another number one of
23:14us, but anyway, it's not important.
23:16Um, but never wanted nothing more was, it painted a picture of exactly how I grew up
23:25in East Tennessee.
23:26Now, I don't even know where Chris grew up, but it was so, um, much my family.
23:33It was so much my, because I went to church a lot with my grandmother.
23:36Yeah.
23:36And it was glory, hallelujah, good God almighty, never wanted nothing more.
23:42And I heard that and I, that was me and my grandmother and my mother, um, living together
23:49up there at her house, that whole song.
23:51So special.
23:52It was, it was just so part of it because I lived in a very rural part of East Tennessee
23:57and, um, I will forever play that song.
24:00That's such a good one.
24:02Thank you so much for the time.
24:04I love this record.
24:05I'm so happy.
24:05We got new Kenny Chesney music.
24:07Kenny Chesney's going back in stadiums.
24:08Like all is right in the world again.
24:09Oh, thank you very much.
24:12I love you guys out there listening.
24:13We'll see you next summer.
Comments