Kenny Chesney’s Next Album Is Nearly Halfway Finished
During a wide-ranging interview panel moderated by Country Countdown USA's Lon Helton at the Country Radio Seminar on Tuesday (March 14), Kenny Chesney provided an update on his next batch of music. According to Billboard, the singer says he's nearly halfway finished with a new album, which will follow his March 2020 release Here and Now, and mark the third album he's put out since switching labels to Warner Music Nashville in 2018.
"The next record is important — they are all important. No matter who you are or where you're at in your career arc, every album is important," Chesney details. "You want somebody to do something, you want somebody to be happy, you want somebody to chase their own dreams because of your music."
The singer is currently gearing up for his I Go Back Tour, a throwback event that will find him trading his usual stadium venues for smaller arenas and focusing on the roots and hits that brought him to his current superstar status. Running from late March to late May, plus one more date in June and another in July, the I Go Back Tour isn't quite as lengthy as the robust stadium tours he typically mounts — but Chesney says that this trek isn't an indication that he's planning to scale back his show in the long term.
On the contrary, as his 55th birthday on March 26 nears, Chesney says he's feeling as energetic as ever.
"I feel great, and I still have the fire to go out there and give people every single thing I have," the singer says when asked if he plans to continue to tour at the stadium level. "Yes, as long as I can be creative and do what I do at the level that I do it."
And who knows? 2023 concertgoers might even get to watch the earliest live versions of a new single. Chesney says that with the album partially finished, he has a potential radio single in mind — but he's not quite ready to pull the trigger yet.
"Well, I could, but I'm trying to beat it," he adds.