It’s rare for Kenny Chesney to have a career first, but this week he did. When “Get Along,” the first single from Songs for the Saints, hit Billboard’s #10 slot and MediaBase’s #9 position, it joined “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” his duet with old friend and songwriter David Lee Murphy, which is sitting at #7 on Billboard and #6 on MediaBase. It marks the first time the East Tennessean has had two songs in the Top 10 at the same time.
“I never take anything for granted when it comes radio,” says Chesney. “They are the bridge between this music and the people who live inside these songs. For all the awards and #1s, I’ve never had two songs in the Top 10 at the same time, and it’s a pretty special rush. Having grown up listening to the radio, there’s something about a song coming out of the speakers that’s exciting…”
Chesney is happy to have been able to record the song with Murphy, who has been showing at at some of the stops on Trip Around the Sun Tour to sing the duet. “David Lee really is the last of the hillbilly rock stars…” he added.
The song offers a strong sense of finding grace in a tough place. The mid-tempo, with its drop-down shuffle that flows into a reggae undertow on the chorus, is the perfect bookend to Chesney’s own “Get Along,” which suggests finding the common ground between people in a world of heated divisiveness.
Murphy explained about the song, “You watch the news, it’s rough. You can get caught up in that, or step back and trust life. Sometimes, a deep breath changes everything.”
Co-produced by Chesney, Murphy and Buddy Cannon, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” feels good when you hear it. As does “Get Along,” which continues Chesney’s undertow of empathy, awareness and recognizing the toxicity in so much of the churn around us.
Kenny Chesney will bring his Around the Sun Tour with special guests Old Dominion to Blossom Music Center on Wednesday, June 6. Tickets are$33-$133 and available at LiveNation.com.
Photo credit: Jill Trunnell
