Kenny Chesney
"All the women that have been in my life — in my family or that I chased, fell in love with and out of love with, my island friends, my hippie New England friends — they all had this idea of the 'wild child' in them, and I thought about all of them when I was writing the song," he shared. Putting those women in the framework of some country music just didn't work for him. "In the last several years, a lot of the songs about women have been written in kind of an objectifying way," he continued. "If you didn’t wear cut-off jeans or a bikini top, or sit on a tailgate and drink, then you really weren’t worthy, you didn’t really add up. But ‘Wild Child’ is telling some girl out there that’s got dreams, that’s a free spirit, who’s smart and interesting, that she has a chance, that she is worthy."
It's not that Kenny has issues with bro-country or the younger country acts dominating the market now. They have a place in the hearts of the fans and making music that people love is why he does what he does.
While he is all about making others happy, he also has to be true, as an artist, to where his own heart is at. From beginning to end, The Big Revival paints a picture of a man who isn't following trends. Chesney is following his own path, which is taking him beyond beach, booze and babes music into something deeper, something more personal. He explained, saying, "The Big Revival is really about picking yourself up off the bottom, reclaiming your soul, restarting. That was everything I wanted to say to my audience — and you have to think about that, you have to think ‘Okay, we took a year off, now what am I going to say to these people, who have been there for me for a long time?’ And the idea of The Big Revival was it. Songs like 'American Kids' and 'Don’t It,' those are just like my life laid out,” he continued. “I feel like, especially if you come from a small town, there are certain values that are inherent, fears and insecurities that we all have, and that was me. I was that kid — I’d go out in the middle of the backyard at my Grandma’s house and stare up at the sky and wonder if there was anything out there beyond my county line. I was this kid that had a lot of dreams, had a guitar and a truck and packed up everything I had and left East Tennessee and came to town as a songwriter and set out for my dream. A lot of these songs are about taking your life and moving it where you want it to go, finding that strength to get up and move forward."
Finding that will and courage to move isn't about escaping reality through music. Though he admits that for a while, his music was more party than perspective, he is not that same guy who recorded "Keg in the Closet" just to reach the college crowd. "These songs aren’t about escape, they’re about real life, in the right now," he said, "Real emotions, real feelings, hopefully in a way where people realize they’re not alone. That’s what I hope this record does — and in the process maybe let them escape a little bit, too."
The Big Revival drops on September 23, 2014.
