If the last eight months have been marked by changing labels, digging in to help rebuild – and rescue the animals of – the US and British Virgin Islands, Kenny Chesney has been just as committed to finding music that speaks to where people are today. Not just what they need to hear, but what will lift them up and inspire them. When he heard “Get Along,” the 8-time Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year knew he had a song that said everything about people coming together.
Evidently country radio agreed. For only the seventh time in his career, there will be over 120 country stations playing the record on add date. “Who You’d Be Today,” “Noise” and “American Kids” have all been watershed singles for the East Tennessee songwriter/superstar that arrived with well over 100 stations out of the box.
“For a song that says so much, it feels so good,” Chesney says. “When I heard it, it said so many things about how I wish people would treat each other, how we should be to each other. And that pocket feels so good. It just picks you up and literally moves you along.”
Chesney will debut “Get Along” on the Academy of Country Music Awards, April 15 on CBS. Having won the Top New Male, Male Vocalist and Entertainer of the Year awards, Chesney has a long relationship with the Academy and is thrilled to debut it on the show from the MGM Grand.
“It’s the kind of song when people hear it, they respond,” Chesney marvels. “I can’t think of a better place to play it, and I know it’s going to be a big part of my summer tour, too.”
Chesney kicks off his Trip Around the Sun Tour April 21 at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium. The home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is the perfect place to convene the No Shoes Nation for a summer that will include 19 stadiums, 21 amphitheaters and a handful of arenas.
“I am so ready to get back out to the No Shoes Nation,” Chesney says. “I’ve been thinking about Tampa for the last three months, knowing it’s coming – and now it’s almost here. Even better, I’m heading in there with ‘Get Along,’ which is the perfect song for right now. To me, this is where music comes alive.”
Having played to a record-setting 121,624 people over two nights at Boston’s Gillette Stadium last August, the man the Wall Street Journal deemed “The King of the Road” is still riding the intensity of his supersized performances. By the end of 2018, Chesney, whose tour is being presented by Blue Chair Bay Rum, will have played 155 stadium shows since 2005.
