Kenny Turns Up the "Noise" March 24

When Kenny walked into a marketing meeting late and on the phone, it was obvious he was focused. What no one knew was the East Tennessee superstar/songwriter was hip-deep in a conversation with Shane McAnally that would become Noise, completed that day and rushed into the studio two days later.

Sometimes you know youve got something so timely, so right then, you have to grab it, Kenny says. It seemed like everywhere I turn, everywhere I go, there is so much stuff coming at you. Your phone, your car, on the streets, on TV. Everywhere its just so loud, so much, so many different things all pushing buttons, being sensational, shouting for attention. You cant escape it, and you cant turn it down.

When Shane and I started talking the next morning, the topic came up, then the song fell out with a real meter and the sense This is a lyric. We got started, and I knew I had to get to that meeting and was literally writing in the car as I was driving into town. I actually sat in my managers parking lot, still working on the lines, the phrasing, the rhythms... Until finally I had to go in.

Wrecking balls, downtown construction/ Bottles breaking, jukebox buzzing/ Cardboard sign says The Lord is Coming/ Tick tick tock... begins the surging song that embodies the nervous rush of sonic overload. As the tempo builds, the layers thicken and the electric guitars rise, then shape the shafts of melody, as the song continues, Rumors turn the mills back home/ Parking lot kids with the speakers blown/ We didnt turn it on, but we cant turn it off off off...

The chorus is very orderly, very much a staccato press, Kenny says. If theres anything that sums up both the state of the world and the reality of what it costs us and feels like, its that. Its all right there: We scream, we shout til we dont have a voice/ In the streets, in the crowds, it aint nothing but noise... drowning out all the dreams of this Tennessee boy/ Just trying to be heard... in all this noise says it all.

Kenny has always been an artist to harness a moment and respond to his environment which is strongly reflected in Noise," arriving at country radio March 24th.