Kenny Chesney
Hemingway’s Whiskey
“Sail away, sail away, three sheets to the wind
Live hard, die hard,
This one‟s for him…”
-- Hemingway’s Whiskey
When Kenny Chesney pulled the plug on what would have been his 2010 tour, he had
accomplished almost unprecedented things. He‟s played NFL football stadiums by the dozen, received
4 Country Music Association as well as 4 consecutive Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the
Year Awards, had nineteen #1 singles (now 22 with “Live A Little”), duets with Dave Matthews (“I‟m
Alive”), Mac McAnally (“Down The Road”) and Uncle Kracker (“When The Sun Goes Down”) and has
sold over 30 million albums including the quadruple platinum CMA Album of the Year When The Sun
Goes Down and the two highly introspective singer/songwriter-driven Be As You Are: Songs from an
Old Blue Chair and Lucky Old Sun. He co-produced a critically-acclaimed album on Willie Nelson and
is the only artist in any genre to sell over a million tickets in eight consecutive summers from 2002 -
2009 – and that was before the Sony Motion Pictures national theatrical release, “Kenny Chesney:
Summer in 3-D. In September 2010, Chesney released what will perhaps become his most enduring
album, Hemingway’s Whiskey, which was nominated for the Best Album of the Year by the Academy of
Country Music. Upon its release, the album debuted at Number One on the all-genre Billboard 200
Album Chart, his sixth album to achieve that feat.
“I just knew I‟d had my foot on the gas for a long, long time,” says the high energy performer.
“I‟d gotten signed to BNA Records in 1995, and I‟d never let up. I was able to do things I didn‟t even
know to dream, but in the work and the rush of it, things started to become a blur… and I knew it.
“I also knew that was not the reason I‟d come to town: to just get on the treadmill and not look
up. I loved songs, I loved artists… and I loved the process of making music. Suddenly, it was all
deadlines and it didn‟t feel right. So I did what a lot of people have now told me was the unthinkable: I
decided to stop everything for a year, to refocus on some personal projects and really think about my
music and where I wanted to go. I am so glad that I did.”
With his foot “off the gas,” Chesney exhaled – and considered where the music had brought him,
what it meant to the fans that came back year after year and how to expand on what is easily one of
contemporary music‟s most vital communities. “The more I thought about it, especially working on
„Summer in 3-D,‟ which is as much a love letter to the fans who‟ve lived these songs and their
relationship to the music, the more I realized: this music is something they live right where they are, too.
“Sure, everybody wants to chill out… go to the islands… have fun with their buddies… but it‟s a
lot more than that. Whether it‟s „I Go Back‟ and the way songs imprint your life, „There Goes My Life‟
and the story of what seems like the worst thing that could happen to a young man becoming his whole
reason for living or „Better As A Memory‟ and the idea that there‟s somebody out there that you left
cause it was the right thing to do. You realize this isn‟t just „pass me another Corona.‟”
With “The Boys of Fall,” a song that encapsulates the potency of the high school football
experience for anyone who‟s ever put on pads and played under the Friday night lights, Chesney started
looking at the themes that have always marked his music and sought to make the songs richer, more
nuanced and perhaps offer deeper insight to how they feel or shaped the singer (and the audience‟s) life.
“Anyone who knows me knows how pivotal football has been in developing who I am,” explains
the man who began playing for tips at Quarterback‟s Barbeque in Johnson City, TN. “It taught me
discipline… teamwork… integrity… humility… and it gave me a sense that no matter how many times
you get knocked down, if you keep getting up, you will get better.
“I quit growing my freshman year, so no matter how much I wanted to play baseball or football,
that wasn‟t gonna happen. But I took those principles – and the fun and camaraderie I learned on the
field – and I brought it with me when I came to Nashville. My career didn‟t happen overnight,
obviously, but I always knew that if I just kept challenging myself to get better, I could do some pretty
impossible things.
“‟The Boys of Fall‟ is about that… and it‟s a song that says everything about what it feels like to
play high school football! Whether I‟ve played the song for Joe Namath, Sean Payton (the coach of the
unlikely 2010 Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints) or a young guy just getting into school, they
all say the same thing: „Yeah, that’s how it is….‟ When a song can do that, you know you‟ve got
something.”
That became the bar that Chesney wanted the rest of the songs on Hemingway’s Whiskey to clear
as well: whether it‟s the post-break-up obsession of “Somewhere With You,” the wry commentary on
pettiness of Bobby Braddock‟s “Small Y‟all” featuring country legend George Jones, or the inherent
dissatisfaction of humanity which marks the driving Tom Petty-esque “Round & Round,” written by
Paul Overstreet.
“Each of those songs is unique onto itself,” Chesney marvels. “There‟s nothing else I‟ve ever
heard that sounds like it – and each one takes the sentiment and really pushes it. I can‟t think of anyone
who‟s not survived a break-up doing everything in „Somewhere With You‟ – they just don‟t talk about
it. The truth of „Round & Round‟ most certainly applies: we‟re never content where we are, it‟s just how
we are.
“And as for „Small Y‟all,‟ well, it‟s been a long time since I‟ve done something that country –
and I promise country has never been done that hard, that big or that loud.”
Having recorded seven albums since his first Greatest Hits, now certified quadruple platinum,
Chesney has sung a lot of songs, covered a lot of ground musically and defined a genre that celebrated
growing up in small towns, loving the beach and knowing how to kick back. His records are not only
the soundtrack of country radio in the 21st century, but are the sound of summer for people who plan
their vacations around trips to go see Chesney somewhere each year.
Knowing that, the man who‟s written hits for himself – “Beer In Mexico,” “Out Last Night” and
“I Go Back” – as well as others – Rascal Flatts multiple week #1 “Take Me There” and David Nail‟s
sweeping “Turning Home” – would never turn his back on the basic truths that have defined his
audience‟s own lives. Hemingway’s Whiskey includes “Seven Days,” a song about a vacation encounter
that has stayed with the singer too many years later, the priority defining and current single “Live A
Little” and the song about mentally checking out in “Coastal.”
“I think if you forget about that, you‟re not telling the truth about how anyone lives,” confesses
the man who‟s jammed with Eddie Van Halen and Steve Miller, Sammy Hagar and Joe Walsh. “You
gotta let go… you gotta remember it‟s not all serious and have fun. There‟s a lot to be said for playing
hard if you‟re gonna make up your mind to work hard – and that‟s what those songs are about.”
Even the Guy Clark-penned title track embraces the intensity of life perspective, through a far
loftier set of eyes and a perhaps more elegant set of circumstances.
“There is no American man more iconic than Ernest Hemingway,” Chesney says. “He was a war
correspondent, a hunter, a fisherman, a novelist – and his writing had that hard-work ethic. But I spent a
lot of time in the same islands he did, and heard the stories. He savored every experience. He lived hard,
he loved hard… he got hurt and he never stopped experiencing life to its fullest.
“I think if you‟re looking at what this music and this message is, it‟s that. It‟s not just a party or a
feel good thing, though that‟s part of it… It‟s really about living your life completely, whether you‟re
making a record, standing on that stage or on the front of a boat cutting through the Atlantic with your
friends. Each thing is unique and you should give yourself over to it completely. That is the difference.”
That completeness is certainly the indelible desire in “You & Tequila,” a Matraca Berg/Deana
Carter song that evolved into collaboration with jam-rock goddess Grace Potter. It professes, “It‟s
always my favorite sins that seem to do me in.” The song embodies Southern California canyons, desire
and the weightlessness of yearning.
“Grace Potter was a crazy idea to some people,” Chesney laughs. “And you know, we decided to
try it and had her on a plane 36 hours later with no clue how it was going to work. We come from
different worlds, both musically and in terms of Vermont versus East Tennessee, but there is something
so inherently soulful in how she sings and locks onto a melody. I knew if she got it, it would be magic –
and it was.
“She went in the booth at 4 o‟clock and was out at, no kidding, 4:12. You get to a point where
after a couple passes, you know it‟s magic – and why lose that? And it really is mesmerizing hearing her
on that track.”
Magic is something that can‟t be created on a schedule. Over the course of 10 months, Chesney
went in and out of the studio, creating only when the songs appeared and moved him, finishing tracks as
they seemed to fit. What emerged is an album that is both grown-up and true to who he is at his core.
“As you move through life, you start to figure out that maturity doesn‟t mean getting old,”
Chesney explains. “It means you know more, are aware of more things and realize the impact your
actions have on you and others. I can honestly say I‟m not that different from the kid who came to
Nashville with a head full of dreams and signed to Acuff Rose Publishing, eyes wide, not believing I
would write with people like Whitey Shaffer and Dean Dillon.
“I‟ve been lucky to have access to the best songwriters, the best musicians and they‟ve allowed
me to create some pretty powerful music. They understand the broader contexts I‟m reaching for – not
just in terms of playing, but emotionally. They like what I do, they bring me their best work, and I think
that‟s part of why people have responded to the songs the way they have.”
To hear “That‟s Where I Grew Up” is to understand it‟s not about trips through the calendar or
school years, but the defining experiences that determine the man, just as “Reality” is about the yin-yang
state of existence for anyone trying to make ends meet, but not be crushed by the daily grind.
“It‟s never as simple as flip a switch, go the beach, turn a corner,” Chesney admits. “Sometimes
you don‟t even realize the impact a moment‟s had on you – or the details that will come back to you
later. You just suddenly know that you‟re different… just like you suddenly realize, this, whether it‟s a
fast car, a beach bar or all the other things in the song, is a break from the pressures we all endure.
“It‟s not that simple, and yet it is. The more I live, the more I come to realize that. Crazy as it
sounds, that‟s how it is… and you know what? I wouldn‟t want it any other way.”
Chesney‟s break and creative renewal included the 90-minute documentary “The Boys of Fall,”
which he directed. The film showcases the passion for football and features some of the game‟s most
enduring coaches and players at the pro, college and high school levels. The documentary aired on
ESPN and that relationship spawned another documentary for the network on Condredge Holloway for
their year-long, Year of The Quarterback initiative.
Chesney, who wore Holloway‟s jersey number when he played high school football, idolized the
University of Tennessee quarterback and was thrilled to produce the film. Holloway was the first
African-American to start at Quarterback in the Southeastern Conference.
Now back on tour with the Corona Presents Kenny Chesney‟s “Goin‟ Coastal” Tour, Chesney
will once again play to more than one million fans. With nearly 60 shows that include arenas,
amphitheaters and 11 stadium dates, the tour is playing all across the country this summer and will wrap
with two consecutive nights at Foxboro‟s Gillette Stadium.