Nashville, TN. (Top40 Charts/ Capricorn Records) - Much has been made of him sitting alone in a field at a listener appreciation show to hear Keith Whitley sing ' Miami , My Amy'… And there's the first-ever concert on a Thanksgiving break where he heard Merle Haggard,
George Jones and especially Conway Twitty… Then there's the opening slot of the
George Jones/Tammy Wynette Reunion Tour as a young artist signed to Phil Walden's legendary Southern rock/later jam-band label Capricorn Records.
Through it all, Kenny Chesney-the three-time and reigning Academy of Country Music and two-time and current Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year-has always held the country artists who came before him in special regard. It's why he saw the vision in Bill Anderson's Twitty-evoking, half-spoken/half-sung 'A Lot of Things Different' - and it's why he did Twitty's 'Love to Lay You Down' in concert for many years.
With Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates, Chesney's first new music in two years and easily the most multi-faceted picture of the songwriter from Luttrell, Tennessee to date, Chesney reaches not quite so far back into his quiver of influences to embrace Bakersfield acolyte/LA post-cow-punker Dwight Yoakam's raucous 'Wild Ride' with a furor that may even surpass the progressive country icon's. As relentless as anything Chesney's recorded, it comes close to his intensity onstage.
'We really did get to open up on that one,' Chesney allows with a grin. 'You know, sometimes you just wanna tear things up… and you know, recording something by an artist like Dwight Yoakam comes with its own built-in fear factor. You wanna be man enough for the job.'
Furthering manning up the man who last year sold more concert tickets in North America than even the Rolling Stones or the Dave Matthews Band was the guest appearance of Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and occasional Flip Flop Summer tour surprise guest Joe Walsh, who added some blistering electric guitar and a bit of voice box.
'I went to LA to put him on the track,' Chesney reports, 'and he just blew me away. I mean, there's only one Joe Walsh-and when you hear him open it up, then tighten it down… Wow.'
Being in LA had one other advantage: it allowed Chesney to play the song for its creator.
'Yeah,' he concedes, 'Dwight came by the hotel. We sat in the parking lot in his car and just listened. It was like high school - that getting in somebody's car to check out some song you're totally into. Only it was his song - and he liked it.'
Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates, in-stores Sept. 11, has its first No 1 with the Southern rockgrass hybrid 'Never Wanted Nothing More.' Taking just seven full weeks to reach the summit of country radio, it paves the way for an album that includes songs from such Chesney stalwarts as 'Livin' in Fast Forward''s David Lee Murphy, 'Anything But Mine''s Scooter Carusoe, 'Summertime''s Brett James, 'Like Me''s Troy Jones and 'Different''s Bill Anderson. Talk about never wantin' nothin' more!
