Kenny Chesney just dropped “Wherever You Are Tonight,” a song about coping with grief, from his new BORN album. Written by Mike Reid and Gary Burr, Chesney admits the song was a challenge for him to record, but one with an important message he felt compelled to share.

“I’ve had a lot of friends pass,” Chesney tells USA Today. “Some famous, some not. Some heroes, some not. This was a hard one. My friend Mike Reid wrote this song and I was struggling. I knew I wanted to record it, but it’s a topic that makes people uncomfortable.”

“Wherever You Are Tonight” aligned with Chesney’s own beliefs about death and the afterlife, which is why he wanted to include the song on BORN.

“I would like to think there is something much bigger than all of us that we don’t understand,” Chesney says. “Those that have passed on are up there guiding us and looking after us and I don’t believe they’re gone. They linger in our lives and that’s what made the song. I engulfed myself in the song. The people I lost were so present in my psyche and my heart. They’re gone, but they’re not out of sight and I tried to channel that.”

When Chesney released “Wherever You Are Tonight,” the Tennessee native said he was drawn to the song because of the comfort it could bring people, even amid their grief.

“The thing about this song that struck me is that idea people we love never truly leave us,” Chesney said. “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.”

“The thing about this song that struck me is that idea people we love never truly leave us,” Chesney said. “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.”

At the other end of the spectrum from “Wherever You Are Tonight’ is the title track of his new record, one he can’t wait to perform on his Sun Goes Down Tour, eventually.

“At some point this summer it will make its way onto the stage,” Chesney hints. “It was one of the first songs I cut for the project and I felt it was a perfect way to kick off record. It defines how we live our lives – the details and all the joy. It defines the euphoria of being alive and not making it harder than it has to be.”

Chesney will be joined by Zac Brown Band, Megan Moroney and Uncle Kracker on his Sun Goes Down Tour. Find music and tour dates, and purchase BORN, at KennyChesney.com.