Kenny Chesney's latest borrows from Journey:toothless
By Brian O'Keefe
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Media Credit: Photo by Melanie Dunea/Courtesy of RCA label group
Kenny Chesney´s new album is currently the No. 1 release on Billboard´s country album chart.
</td> </tr> </table></td></tr></table>I don\'t have RCA\'s market research handy. But offhand, I\'d say they\'re hell-bent on targeting Kenny Chesney\'s new album "When the Sun Goes Down" toward the young female demographic.
My evidence? First there\'s the super close-up cover shot of the blue-eyed Chesney, who looks maybe 22, with his cowboy hat pulled down just so.
Then there are the inside photos. The title of his previous album, "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems," implied a vague sense of rebellion, if against nothing more than dress codes. But Chesney now apparently takes that motto as a reason to bare almost all. Mind you, he does keep his cowboy hat on. And his pants -- sorry ladies -- although they are pulled down quite low.
But by no means is that all. The carefully conceived persona that the songs bring across is like a marketer\'s dream come true for attracting female buyers. Kenny would stay and be a good husband and father after he got you pregnant ("There Goes My Life"). He wants to drive you "out to the levee" and romance you with "raspberry wine" (the youth-identified "I Go Back"). He even manages to sound romantic about dumping a girl after a summer affair ("Anything But Mine").
But lest you think that\'s the real Kenny, most of the songs aren\'t his own -- they were written by Music City hacks. And though Chesney gets coproduction credit, country schlockmeister Billy Sherrill supervised the recording. Everything about this album has marketers\' fingerprints on it.
Not to belabor the obvious, but Chesney\'s music is not country. Like most of what you hear on "country" radio, it\'s a rather mechanical and obvious form of MOR pop-rock. What\'s interesting, though, is how this music has hardly anything in it that even hints at country styles. Usually on country radio you at least hear some pedal steel or fiddle mixed in to give it some identification with tradition.
Admittedly, Chesney\'s singing voice does have a country timbre. But the piano that starts off "There Goes My Life" could almost be the opening of Bette Midler\'s rendition of "Wind Beneath My Wings." And Journey-style guitar solos are scattered throughout the disc. They don\'t even try to disguise the fact that it\'s not country.
Nevertheless, this album is currently No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. Fascinating.
The production, which is utterly mainstream, emphasizes melodic hooks -- records don\'t come much more accessible than this. And you can\'t deny that Chesney is a good singer, although everything else about the album seems so programmed that you wonder if even his most emotional moments are mechanically generated.
If you like his stuff on the radio, and you don\'t like country music, you\'ll probably enjoy "When the Sun Goes Down." But if you\'re a country fan looking for some authenticity, stick with Joe Nichols.
Brian O\'Keefe can be contacted at
okeefe@safe-mail.net
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<TABLE align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width=10 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle> Kenny Chesney´s new album is currently the No. 1 release on Billboard´s country album chart.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>I don't have RCA's market research handy. But offhand, I'd say they're hell-bent on targeting Kenny Chesney's new album "When the Sun Goes Down" toward the young female demographic.
My evidence? First there's the super se-up cover shot of the blue-eyed Chesney, who looks maybe 22, with his cowboy hat pulled down just so.
Then there are the inside photos. The title of his previous album, "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems," implied a vague sense of rebellion, if against nothing more than dress codes. But Chesney now apparently takes that motto as a reason to bare almost all. Mind you, he does keep his cowboy hat on. And his pants -- sorry ladies -- although they are pulled down quite low.
But by no means is that all. The carefully conceived persona that the songs bring across is like a marketer's dream come true for attracting female buyers. Kenny would stay and be a good husband and father after he got you pregnant ("There Goes My Life"). He wants to drive you "out to the levee" and romance you with "raspberry wine" (the youth-identified "I Go Back"). He even manages to sound romantic about dumping a girl after a summer affair ("Anything But Mine").
But lest you think that's the real Kenny, most of the songs aren't his own -- they were written by Music City hacks. And though Chesney gets coproduction credit, country schlockmeister Billy Sherrill supervised the recording. Everything about this album has marketers' fingerprints on it.
Not to belabor the obvious, but Chesney's music is not country. Like most of what you hear on "country" radio, it's a rather mechanical and obvious form of MOR pop-rock. What's interesting, though, is how this music has hardly anything in it that even hints at country styles. Usually on country radio you at least hear some pedal steel or fiddle mixed in to give it some identification with tradition.
Admittedly, Chesney's singing voice does have a country timbre. But the piano that starts off "There Goes My Life" could almost be the opening of Bette Midler's rendition of "Wind Beneath My Wings." And Journey-style guitar solos are scattered throughout the disc. They don't even try to disguise the fact that it's not country.
Nevertheless, this album is currently No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. Fascinating.
The production, which is utterly mainstream, emphasizes melodic hooks -- records don't come much more accessible than this. And you can't deny that Chesney is a good singer, although everything else about the album seems so programmed that you wonder if even his most emotional moments are mechanically generated.
If you like his stuff on the radio, and you don't like country music, you'll probably enjoy "When the Sun Goes Down." But if you're a country fan looking for some authenticity, stick with Joe Nichols.
