Kenny Chesney - Here and Now
COUNTRY STANDARD TIME
HomeNewsInterviewsCD ReleasesCD ReviewsConcertsArtistsArchive
 

Here and Now (Warner, 2020)

Kenny Chesney

Reviewed by Dan MacIntosh

For many years now, Kenny Chesney has been the number one yacht country artist; one never spotted far from an ocean or without an adult beverage in his hand. However, this album's title track expresses a much deeper perspective on life. "I must've sat on a dozen islands/Watched the sun sink into the sea." Previously, island living was the reason for life. Now, life's purpose is described as much more internal than external. Call it trading that pirate flag for a little more mindfulness.

One called "Everyone She Knows" continues the maturity theme by describing a woman "stuck between seventeen/And everyone she knows." It's a daringly fascinating move for Chesney to walk a mile in this conflicted woman's shoes. This isn't his world. It may not even his audience's world. Its lyric describes many down sides to our youth obsessed culture. "And she thinks, "Ain't got it all, but I got it alright,"" she tells herself, "And for a minute she's glad she ain't like/Everyone she knows." After that minute's up, though, she wonders again about all this single girl might be missing out on.

Chesney stealthily avoids cliched romantic stories with these songs. The character in "Someone to Fix" wants to be an easygoing partner, but wonders aloud, "How'd you get tangled up in the careless wreck I am?" These songs find Chesney realizing warm breezes and cool drinks don't make everything okay. Vacations are wonderful escapes, but real life off the island is oftentimes complicated.

After so much lyrical messiness, though, Chesney returns to the beach life for "Beautiful World," and describes the ultimate free spirited character with "Guys Named Captain." Many of the captains name-dropped in the latter, however, are fictitious. Yes, we'd love to find a real-life fantasy island, but that's a world only available in TV reruns now. The here and now will likely never be picture perfect, but it's all we've got. Kenny Chesney is here to help us all make the best of what we've got.


CDs by Kenny Chesney

Here and Now deluxe, 2021 Here and Now, 2020 Songs for the Saints, 2018 Live in No Shoes Nation: 10 Years of Concerts, 2017 Cosmic Hallelujah, 2016 Life on a Rock, 2013 Welcome to the Fishbowl, 2012 Hemingway's Whiskey, 2010 Greatest Hits Two, 2009 Lucky Old Sun, 2008 Just Who I Am: Poets and Pirates, 2007 Live Those Songs Again, 2006 The Road and the Radio, 2005 Be As You Are (Songs From An Old Blue Chair), 2005


©Country Standard Time • Jeffrey B. Remz, editor & publisher • countrystandardtime@gmail.com
AboutCopyrightNewsletterOur sister publication Standard Time
Subscribe to Country Music News Country News   Subscribe to Country Music CD Reviews CD Reviews   Follow us on Twitter  Instagram  Facebook  YouTube