ALBUM REVIEW: Kenny Chesney ‘BORN’ again on new LP

Kenny Chesney BORN

Kenny Chesney, “BORN.”

Still living life to the fullest, country superstar Kenny Chesney is BORN again with a new 15-track album that’s comforting and familiar in the best ways.

BORN
Kenny Chesney

Warner Nashville, March 22
7/10
Get the album on Amazon Music.

Chesney has written his fair share of feel-good anthems and BORN provides the latest singalongs. The title track, which opens the album, is quintessential Chesney, about going with the flow of life. Over the foot-stomping pop country melody led by his acoustic guitar (joined later by a Bon-Jovi-esque electric guitar solo), he asks questions like “Am I on the right track?” and “What are we made for?”

“Just To Say We Did” is another song that begs to be sung in the car. Opening with palm-muted guitar playing, it’s brighter, louder and leaning more toward rock and roll.



Cross-country roadtrips, jumping into lakes and crazy nights in Vegas, yes; it’s a listicle song, are all ways in which Kenny Chesney feels alive. For more feel-good, check out “Few Good Stories,” about wanting to finish life with plenty of love and a few good stories to tell from along the way.

There are also a number of love ballads, another place where Chesney has found comfort throughout his career. “The Way I Love You Now” is the most powerful one here, about how love changes over time but ultimately grows into something beautiful. Chesney brings a reverence to late-stage love that’s survived life’s hurdles and become deeper for it. The slow-burning, piano-driven tune speaks to his songwriting abilities. There’s a slow-traveling slide that feels like a breeze sonically pushing through the sound. If it wasn’t country, it wouldn’t feel out of place on a Jackson Browne record.

On the opposite end of the ballad spectrum is “Come Here, Go Away,” about bad-for-you on again/off again trysts. It’s equally melancholic in its instrumentation, even though it’s a harder, driving song, and in theme as Kenny Chesney sings about bring doomed but not willing to admit it. Then there’s “Take Her Home,” about new love, which fits well with the rest of the album.



Other standouts include “Blame It On The Salt,” which falls into Chesney’s beachier, Jimmy-Buffett-like material. Over bright strumming and light percussion, he sings about margarita-induced fun. Album closer “Wherever You Are Tonight,” the deepest song on BORN, is about making peace with death and carrying grief. The lightly played piano ballad, has Chesney’s vocals are at the forefront.

“We’re flesh and bone in beams of light/ A body breaks, a soul takes flight/ And faith is left to heal what tears can’t touch/ You’re not gone, just out of sight/ You’re here with me, wherever you are tonight,” he sings. Chesney has said the song, penned by Mike Reid, is an amalgamation about losing friends. It’s easy to picture him singing about his late friend Jimmy Buffett here.



Follow writer Piper Westrom at Twitter.com/plwestrom.

(1) Comment

  1. Randy

    SAD...new album sounds like Garth Brooke's when he got old. I've been listening to No Shoes Radio since day one, love everything he has done until this album. Randy from South Carolina.

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