Kenny Chesney is tugging on the heartstrings with his new song, “Wherever You Are Tonight.” The song, written by hitmakers Mike Reid and Gary Burr, is from Chesney’s forthcoming BORN album, out on March 22.
“The thing about this song that struck me is that idea people we love never truly leave us,” Chesney shares. “We can’t see them, or know where they go after they pass on, but everything we shared remains… who we are because of them, that doesn’t change. But this song suggests that beyond the grief, the pain and the memories, wherever the people we love are, they’re not so far away.”
Chesney cites a lyric in the song that says, ‘You’re not gone, just out of sight / You’re here with me, wherever you are tonight,” which he says struck him because of the uncertainty of what the afterlife is really like.
“We don’t know what happens next,” reflects the singer. “Maybe you can be in two places at once; you can be in heaven and on my right shoulder. Who’s to say? But for all the people who’ve passed on, I love the idea that they’re still here.”
“Wherever You Are Tonight” follows the previously-released tracks, “Guilty Pleasure,” “Just To Say We Did” and “Thinkin’ Bout,” plus his current single, “Take Her Home,” which is in the Top 15.
“There’s so much on BORN,” Chesney boasts. “And I know some people like different pieces of the music for different reason. It was important to me for people to have a sense of everything that’s here, so while five songs early feels like an awful lot, I think it’s a pretty good sense of what these 15 songs taken as a whole represent. I can’t wait for No Shoes Nation to show me what their favorites are.”
BORN is Chesney’s first album since Here and Now came out in 2020. Although it took almost four years for a new set of tunes, the Tennessee native wanted to make sure that BORN was the best it could be, for him and his fans.
“You never want to think it’s all about you, or that in this crazy world, it’s all about your music,” Chesney said when announcing BORN. “I’m just trying to find songs that continue the story of who we are…how we live, breathe, work, rock, kick back and sometimes get tangled up in feelings that are anything but simple. Then you see people react the way they have to the news, and you go, ‘Well, okay…’”
See a track list for BORN below. Chesney will kick off his Sun Goes Down Tour on April 20 in Tampa, Florida, with Zac Brown Band, Megan Moroney and Uncle Kracker joining him on tour. Find music and tour dates, and pre-order BORN, at KennyChesney.com.
BORN Track List:
1. Born
2. Just To Say We Did
3. Take Her Home
4. Few Good Stories
5. Thinkin’ Bout
6. Guilty Pleasure
7. One More Sunset
8. Top Down
9. The Way I Love You Now
10. This Too Shall Pass
11. Blame It On The Salt
12. Come Here, Go Away
13. One Lonely Island
14. Long Gone
15. Wherever You Are Tonight