By Kevin Koeninger
Kenny Chesney has become a staple on the mainstream country radio scene ever since his six-time platinum album “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problems” was released in 2002. The soft-spoken, cowboy hat-toting Tennessee Volunteer achieved more fame with a multi-platinum follow-up album, “When the Sun Goes Down.”
“Just Who I Am: Poets and Pirates” is Chesney’s first studio release since 2005’s “Be As You Are,” and it’s a lock to go platinum. Why? Well, because it follows the same blueprint as his other monumentally successful releases.
Throw together a couple of nostalgic looks back at bygone teenage days, “Never Wanted Nothing More” and “Just Not Today,” a touching ballad about failure at love, “Better as a Memory,” and a good ol’ got-real-drunk-last-night anthem, “Got Crazy Last Night,” and the stars seemingly align for another hit record.
All sarcasm aside, the album is just what the public has come to expect from country music’s most poignant songster. Several duets add a bit of flair to the record, with Joe Walsh’s rather surprising cameo on “Wild Ride” ultimately ending up as the best. The distinctly southern rocker, formerly of the Eagles, lends his talk-box guitar licks to a feel-good, funky narrative about life in the fast lane.
The other duet “Shiftwork” features long-time country star George Strait and preaches about the woes of rigorous grunt labor, all the while avoiding a certain four-letter word.
On the flip side, “Wife and Kids” provides a glimpse of a much more introspective Chesney, as he shares his desire to build a family and raise children. Easy as it would be to write this one off as contrived and hokey, the recent and very public divorce of Chesney from actress Renée Zellweger adds an indisputable air of sincerity.
Chesney continues to pump out successful, pop-country albums at a steady rate of one a year, and he shows no signs of slowing down. With the first single getting significant radio play while climbing up the charts, one can bet that Chesney is already flipping through his high school yearbooks for another spark of multi-platinum inspiration.
