Nashville, TN. (Top40 Charts/ BNA Entertainment) - With a leaked single and a lost weekend landing the decidedly country-fried 'Never
Wanted Nothing More' in the Top 40 after it leaked and received almost pirate airplay, the heat was on when the sonically aggressive, banjo-driven song about first cars, loves, wives and salvation landed at No 17 on the country singles chart in its first week of play. What the fans want, drives what
Kenny Chesney does, the triple and reigning Academy of Country
Music and two time and current Country
Music Association Entertainer of the Year is releasing Just Who I Am:
Poets & Pirates, his first new album in two years on
September 11.
'I don't think any of us expected this kind of response to the song,' Chesney marvels. 'In meet & greet, people are asking me when they can get the new song... when the new record's coming. You know, you make enough records, you start worrying about when people are gonna get tired of'em, and then you get in a position like this... and you know, songs still really connect to people, really love them.
'It's everything I've always known about the writers in Nashville : it really does start with the song.'
The album is in many ways classic Kenny Chesney: songs that capture the moments in lives real people live, the dawning of love, memories and turning points, good times, better friends, haunted moments and deep soul searching. Drawing from many of Chesney's most vital and vibrant resources - Bill Anderson, Brett James, David Lee Murphy, Scooter Carusoe, there are also new names in the mix. In addition to bluegrass standard Ronnie Bowman and breakout hard country writer Chris Stapleton, who contributed 'Never Wanted Nothing More,' Chesney enlists Jon Randall, Don Schlitz and Joe Don Rooney among the new voices contributing for Just Who I Am.
'I've been working on this record in one way or another almost since The Road & The Radio came out... We've had some big tours, made some incredible videos, had some highlights, so it's been quite a journey to getting here,' allows the soft-spoken, high energy musician. 'And when a record lives with you that long, you start to forget it's coming out.
'I'm incredibly ready to share this music with people,' he continues. 'And the things people are saying to me, make me know they're incredibly ready to hear it, too. But given everything to it, we're not in a complete tumble to get all the loose ends tied up so we can get it out. So get ready, Just Who I Am will be out in just over 7 weeks.'
Heading into Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field, where the City of Brotherly Love's NFL franchise the Eagles play, this weekend, Chesney continues his most successful tour yet. Four more NFL stadiums and a lot of attendance records to go, he's blazing into his next record with the Cruzan-sponsored Flip Flop Summer Tour rocking full-tilt.
