Low Production, Six New Songs, Surprises, Sing-Alongs + More
as Kenny Chesney Threw a Party to Celebrate His 21st Album
Kenny Chesney hit Nashville’s The Pinnacle with new music blazing. To celebrate the release of Silver Sands Marina, the eclectic 11-song record that embraces the nuances that define life, the East Tennessee songwriter/superstar threw an impossibly small pop-up show at Nashville Yards' venue to showcase the project, but also create an opportunity for No Shoes Nation to come together through the music. Beyond the few thousand who were able to get tickets to the gone-in-seconds performance, Chesney broadcast the concert live on his No Shoes Radio, Ch. 59 on SiriusXM.
Opening with the jubilant “Summertime,” Chesney ran straight into the surging “Here and Now” and “Beer In Mexico” before downshifting a little for the three-week No. 1 “Save It For A Rainy Day.” That momentum set up a three-song Silver Sands Marina mini-set that included the sweeping “Burn My Boat,” the euphoric heartbreak song “Goldfish” and the low slung, small town gossip swagger “Talkin’ Dirt.”
“Having listened to some of these tracks for two, three years,” Chesney says, “it was time for them to live out in the open. Playing those three songs back-to-back reminds me that it’s when the song meets the band and the people who love this music, we create a whole new relationship with the songs. There’s how we feel it, how people listening experience it – and what happens when we’re together.”
For an audience filled with college kids, people in t-shirts from various tours, Dolly Parton doubles celebrating 9/2-5, athletes, a section of industry VIPs, local fans, people who came in from Florida, South Carolina and Vermont, it was being part of a moment of arrival for an album the Associated Press proclaimed is “full-throated stadium country, with big hooks and bigger heart,” while Billboard raved is, “placing a premium on top-shelf songwriting that balances lyrical wit and emotional resonance.”
The 22-song set delivered a powerful take on “Silver Sands Marina,” a sing-along “Carry On” and the fullness of time “Remember Me That Way,” as well as “Ain’t Back Yet,” last played in 2015, the smoky, “Somewhere With You” or the life-recapping “I Go Back,” it was a night that focused on how you choose to view the moments.
On the plaza outside, HEY NOW Records replicated the massive Silver Sands Marina. Not only the pink building that graces the album cover, but a giant postcard, a massive plexiglass fishbowl with two larger than life goldfish, pier carnival games and photo booths, food trucks, a limited edition vinyl store and places to visit with old friends, people you just met and take pictures to remember the moment.
“One of the things I’ve learned from talking to people about this record, the songs they’ve leaned into is how hungry we all are to be together, that human connection – and the desire to turn down all the things that divide us. I put ‘Get Along’ and ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Alright’ into the set, too, because it hit me, that’s what people are seeking – and all the interviews I’ve done feel like the songs on Silver Sands Marina fill that void.”
Joining Chesney as a surprise walk-on was fellow East Tennessee dreamer/songwriter/guitarist Greylan James, who will open next year’s Original Vibe Room Tour. They shared the stage for “Born,” the bluegrass-harmonied life-defining celebration that the Academy of Country Music Song of the Year winner co-wrote, which became the title track of Chesney’s 2024 album.
“Country music runs on dreams,” Chesney said after the show. “And life runs on music. Over the years, it’s about how do you put the positivity, the philosophy, the hard stuff and the sheer joy into the world without preaching. Wherever people are, whatever people need – whether it’s a good time, a postcard to remember or somebody laughing about the gossip – I hope that’s what we’re putting out there. It’s what drew me to town, and it’s what keeps me seeking songs and taking this pirate ship out on the road.”
