For those wondering… yes, Silver Sands Marina – the album art and title track for Kenny Chesney’s upcoming album – is a real place.
Earlier this year, the “Summertime” singer announced his 21st studio album: Silver Sands Marina. After a couple of busy years of playing at the Sphere in Las Vegas (and being the first country act to do so), writing a book and releasing it, and being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, Chesney finally decided it was time to roll out another album.
Silver Sands Marina is set to come out September 25th, and he describes the project as one that’s built upon human connection and emotions:
“This album was built with human emotions that make us feel alive. Cheers to new music.”
While sitting down with Katie & Company, Chesney explained that it was very important for him to put out an album that didn’t have his face on the cover.
He admitted that he’s done that in the past, and it’s obviously worked out, but he says this collection of music needed something else… and it all started with the title track:
“When I first heard ‘Silver Sands Marina,’ I fell in love with it for the fact that we are all caught in this social media time of our life, where there’s a lot of fake intimacy. ‘Silver Sands Marina’ is about two people that had a real, human connection, and probably knew it wasn’t going to last forever. But it was great in the moment, and I fell in love with that song for that reason.”
Not only did he fall in love with the song, he fell in love with the actual Silver Sands Marina. If you’re like me, you just assumed it was located in the islands somewhere. Kenny spends a ton of time in the Caribbean, particularly the US Virgin Islands, but the real Silver Sands Marina is actually located in Gilford, New Hampshire. Would’ve never guessed that in a million years…
The country star says he visited the marina, and explained the feeling he felt while he was there as “good for his soul.” Though he had never been to the marina before, it felt like a familiar place… and more importantly, a real place:
“It’s a mom and pop operation. It’s a real small marina. It’s a lot like how I grew up in East Tennessee. It made me realize, ‘No I didn’t grow up in New Hampshire, but I had my own version of Silver Sands Marina in my life.’
We went up and spent a couple of nights in New Hampshire, there at the marina. It’s a real place. We went up there, did a really simple video with it, and shot a lot of images there. One of those images ended up being the album title.”
Chesney went on to call the song, and the real life location, a “gift in a lot of ways.” And obviously, the marina itself serves a great purpose for the community it serves.
Here’s a photo the actual Silver Sands Marina shared back in March, when Lake Winnipesaukee was still frozen over:
And to think that little marina is about to be forever enmeshed with Kenny Chesney’s career.
The country star couldn’t be happier about that, and loves that, through this project, he’s been able to shine a light on one of the many small town staples across the country that always help to foster human connection, whether they realize it or not.
Make sure to check out Silver Sands Marina when it drops this Friday, and you can hear Kenny Chesney talk more about it in the Katie & Company interview below:
And if you haven’t had a chance to check out any of the singles from Kenny’s upcoming album, do yourself a favor and give any one of these (or all of them if you’ve got the time) a spin:
“Silver Sands Marina”
“Burn My Boat”
“Carry On”
