It’s going to be good.
Kenny Chesney is gearing up to release his 21st studio album, Silver Sands Marina, on Friday, September 25th, and he’s teaming up with long-time producer Buddy Cannon to produce once again.
The 58-year-old singer/songwriter will also be featuring cuts from some of the biggest songwriters in Nashville on the project, including the likes of Tony Lane, Matraca Berg, Shane McAnally and the late, great Brett James, reigning ACM Songwriter of the Year, Jessie Jo Dillon, Tenille Townes and Adam Wright.
And he has quite a few collaborations on the tracklist too, including Lily Meola, Colbie Caillat and superstar Megan Moroney. Of course, the two have become good friends, and Megan considers him a mentor, and it will be their second collab, as Kenny previously joined her on “You Had To B There,” which is a song she wrote for him as an end of tour gift.
This new one is called “It Just Got Weird,” which was written by Jessie Jo Dillon and Donovan Woods. It’s a song Kenny’s been holding onto for about five years now, and during an interview with Holly Gleason on TalkShopLive, Kenny has loved it since he first heard it and he finally found a spot for it on this album:
“A lot like ‘Carry On’, I’ve had ‘It Just Got Weird’ in that song folder of stuff I love for almost five years. I really have. And it never fit. My friend Jessie Jo Dillon and [Donovan Woods] wrote ‘It Just Got Weird’.
And when I heard it, I knew I loved it five years ago, but you know, a lot of life happens in five years, you know what I mean? In your own life or whatever. So when you listen now, you listen with a different perspective. And the thing that drew me to it is I had never heard that said. It’s just about two people where everything seems to be great.”
The premise is about that feeling when you’re in a relationship and realize that something has shifted and it’s past the point of no return:
“But somebody says something, or something happens, and it doesn’t have to be a big thing, it could just be laying there and the other person goes, ‘Hmm…this just got weird’. And they don’t say that to the other person, it’s just what this person is thinking in their brain. I’ve done it. I said that. I went, ‘Hmm… this just got weird’.
And not only did it just get weird, it’s past the point of no return. Everything changes, and nothing really happened other than the fact that what they said or somebody. The way they acted or the way they treated someone, you realize, this is weird now. I think everybody’s been there.”
Megan is friends with the aforementioned Jessie, and when she heard Kenny was cutting it, she called him up and basically told him she was going to sing on it with him, and as he put it, she “damn near insisted”:
“Well, I knew she would attack the song the way I wanted it. There’s something about her voice…I mean, just in the title, and just in what we were talking about, there’s a certain angst and a certain energy between the two people. And it had to be the perfect voice to do that, and I don’t know, sometimes when Megan sings, she sounds like she’s been up all night in a great way.
Actually, before I sent her the song, because she’s friends with Jessie Jo, Megan called me and she goes, ‘I hear you cut a song called ‘It Just Got Weird’, and she goes, ‘And I want to sing on it!’ She volunteered. Well, she damn near insisted.”
He says she was the perfect fit for it, and he’s very happy with the end result:
“But I’m very happy she did it, because her voice is perfect for the emotion and the angst of that song, because there is, like I said, a moment where you just know that it’s over. No matter how old you are, you know?”
I can’t wait to hear this one, it sounds like it’s been a long time coming in terms of Kenny cutting it, and it’s cool to see him teaming up with Megan once again:
@talkshoplive “She damn near insisted.” 😂 @Kenny Chesney shares how @Megan Moroney landed on “It Just Got Weird.” #KennyChesney #MeganMoroney #CountryMusic ♬ original sound – TalkShopLive 🛒
Their original duet “You Had To Be There” was nominated for Musical Event of the Year at the 59th CMA Awards, as well as Music Event of the Year at the 61st ACM Awards.
“You Had To Be There”
Silver Sands Marina Tracklist
- “Burn My Boat”
- “Carry On”
- “Talkin’ Dirt”
- “Goldfish” (featuring Lily Meola)
- “Silver Sands Marina”
- “It Just Got Weird” (featuring Megan Moroney)
- “Sad Casino”
- “Shot a Car Into Space”
- “Remember Me That Way”
- “What We Got Going On” (with Colbie Caillat)
- “Shot Glass”
