Kenny Chesney‘s new album is out today! Titled Life on a Rock, it features Kenny’s current smash single, “Pirate Flag,” and as the album title suggests, the 10-song collection found its inspirations in the people and places that have meant so much to Kenny in his time in the islands. And when the songs were first created, Kenny says that he never really expected them to find their way onto an album. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
- Kenny says that being able to share his music is one of the most amazing gifts in his life. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
- In some ways, Kenny says that this is the most unconventional and uninhibited album he’s ever made — and it’s one that really allowed him to be a storyteller. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
- Look for Kenny as he performs his smash, “Pirate Flag,” on tonight’s episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and teams with Fallon’s band, The Roots, to perform another track from Life on a Rock, the song “Spread the Love.” Catch it at 12:35pm, ET, on NBC.
- TV Rewind: If you missed Kenny on this morning’s Good Morning America, you can see his performance of “Pirate Flag” here, and check out this clip as Kenny talks about his new Life on a Rock album.
- And on the newly redesigned KennyChesney.com, you can visit LifeOnARock.KennyChesney.com to see Kenny’s video commentary on tracks from the album. Right now, you can see the first three videos, as Kenny chats about “Pirate Flag,” “Lindy,” and “Life on a Rock,” with additional videos continuing into the weekend.
- Kenny wrote or co-wrote eight of the 10 songs on Life on a Rock, which features special guests including Willie Nelson (on the song “Coconut Tree”), while The Wailers with Elan join Kenny on the song, “Spread the Love.”
- And with his new album, Kenny is also giving to a good cause — and giving back to the island environs that played such an important role in shaping Life on a Rock. A portion of Kenny’s proceeds from sales of the album will be donated to the Friends of Virgin Islands National Park. About the donation, Kenny has said, in part, “Our national parks are one of those things you might not think about. Over the years, they’ve been a big part of my time away from the road, and I think they’re a great sanctuary for all of us. To me, to connect these songs with something so special is both an honor and a chance to call awareness to the Friends of the Park.”
- Pick up Kenny’s Life on a Rock album everywhere you find great music, including here, on iTunes.
Kenny Chesney talks about how he came to record his new album, Life on a Rock. (1:01)
“A lot of songs on Life on a Rock are…they’re so personal, and I never imagined that anyone but myself and the friends that I wrote them about would hear ’em. That was the mentality that went into this. I really didn’t realize that all these songs were gonna make a record. They were just very simple songs about my friends’ lives and characters I met and the stories they told me and so many journeys that I went on in my mind that I was in these moments of life that would have been very easy to let, you know, evaporate. But I was able to capture them and write about them. That’s how this whole album started, really, you know? And none of these songs would have fit by themselves, I don’t feel like, on a specific record, but they all fit together. And I think that’s what makes this record, for me, so personal, so special — because I was able to be a storyteller. I was able to hopefully take the people that have lived with my music for a while on this incredible journey, you know, and show them some places and tell ’em a few stories, and make ’em laugh, make ’em cry, make ’em remember somebody.”
Kenny Chesney says that having music in his life, and being able to share it, is one of the most amazing gifts in his life. (:16)
“You know, in a lot of ways, I feel very — I am very appreciative of where this dream has taken me, that I actually have music in my life, that I get to share that music with people, and the fact that they care. That’s one of the best gifts in the world.”
Being a storyteller — and being honest — are at the heart of Kenny Chesney’s new album, Life on a Rock. (1:18)
“Well, I think the more I’ve done this, and the more I’ve…especially this record, I was able to be a storyteller. I was able to make a record without any boundaries. I was able to make a record where I didn’t edit myself, like you usually do for a record. You know? I guess because I approached this record unlike any other I’ve ever done. I wrote all these songs knowing that the majority of them would never see the light of day on a radio station or in my show. (laughs) And that goes against all conventional wisdom and all the thinking in our business! You know what I mean? It really does. But it allowed me to be really honest with my fans and tell them stories and open up some doors that I haven’t — and that felt really good. You know? And so I think it’s possible to do what we’ve always done, you know, but still be a storyteller at the same time, and with that comes the responsibility of bein’ very truthful. So I think especially my very diverse fan base — I think that there’s one thing that I know about them is that they know when it’s not authentic, and it’s not real, and they know when it is, and that’s what I’ve tried real hard to do over the years is let them in a little more and more. And I think this record just moves me a little bit further along down the road in that sense.”