When Kenny Chesney first met his “I’m Alive” duet partner, Dave Matthews, back in 2005, it set the stage for both a friendship and a realization that while each of them have their own core audience of fans, there’s a lot of overlap, too. With that in mind, Kenny says they figured they’d team up musically at some point, “but we knew the song had to be right.” And with “I’m Alive,” the right song came along faster than either anticipated. “We didn’t know it was going to be this soon,” Kenny says, adding that they were expecting it to be “maybe years later.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

• The reigning, four-time CMA Entertainer of the Year, Kenny just picked up three nominations for this year’s CMA Awards, including Entertainer, Male Vocalist, and Musical Event of the Year for another of his hit collaborations, “Down the Road,” with Mac McAnally.
• By the way, you can find “I’m Alive,” “Down the Road,” and so much more on Kenny’s second Greatest Hits collection, available now!

  Kenny Chesney recalls meeting Dave Matthews and the discussions that led to them recording “I’m Alive.” (:25)
“I first met Dave Matthews at Farm Aid in 2005. And since then our friendship has grown throughout the years. And we realized that both of us have our core audience. But once you get past that core audience we realized that there’s a lot of overlap in people that are coming to see his show and coming to see my show. We talked about doing something together one day. We didn’t know it was going to be this soon. But you know, maybe years later. But we knew the song had to be right.”