Kenny Chesney

About Kenny Chesney

Rising country star Kenny Chesney is part of a new breed of twangy singer-songwriter. Rather like the Outlaw Country movement fronted by Willie Nelson and Waylan Jennings in the 70's, Kenny is singing about what he knows. What Kenny knows isn't always the stuff of traditional country ballads. His smash debut 2002's No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service spoke to a younger generation of country music fans than the established Nashville hit-makers of the time. Kenny's lyrics celebrated freewheeling, youthful exuberance on tracks like "Young" and "The Good Stuff" but also intimated that those frat house Jimmy Buffet dreams might not make it into real life (and maybe that's not a bad thing.) Thoughtful tracks like "A Lot of Stuff Different" and "Big Star" spoke straight to young adults making crucial decisions on how to live life. Kenny Chesney didn't disappoint on his follow-up When the Sun Goes Down. The 2004 album kept a thematic unity with No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service and saw Kenny following his audience into the frightening and rewarding world of full adulthood. The powerful ballad "There Goes My Life" tells the story of an anguished, unwed father while "Being Drunk's A Lot Like Loving You" is more than a typical country treatise on a typical country topic-it'll stay with you and get you thinking. For the title track "When the Sun Goes Down" Kenny gets some help from mellow country hip hop artist Uncle Kracker, but the disc really shines when Kenny gets a chance to let his strong songwriting shine.