Kelleigh Bannen, Shane McAnally Talk ‘That’s Not Country’ Debate in ‘This Nashville Life’ Podcast Read More: Kelleigh Bannen, Shane McAnally on This Nashville Life Podcast

 

By Kelleigh Bannen October 6, 2016 1:00 PM

 

Courtesy of Kelleigh Bannen

Every other Thursday, Kelleigh Bannen will provide behind-the-scenes analysis, stories and insight into Music City’s No. 1 export, with help from some of Nashville’s top songwriters, artists, executives and producers. Taste of Country will debut each new episode of her This Nashville Life podcast, and Bannen herself will introduce it as a guest writer. Thoughts and opinions expressed by Bannen are hers alone and do not reflect the opinions of Taste of Country, unless she’s talking about #TomatoGate, in which case, yeah … she’s spot on. 

We’ve made it to Episode 4 of the This Nashville Life podcast, which we’re calling, “That’s Not Country!” This week’s episode features an interview with hit songwriter and producer Shane McAnally. He’s written No. 1 hits like Kenny Chesney’s “Somewhere With You,” Sam Hunt’s “Take Your Time” and most recently, Dierks Bentley’s “Different for Girls.” He’s also the producer behind the song “Forever Country,” which brought together 30 of country music’s biggest acts to mark the 50th anniversary of the CMA Awards.

Have you ever noticed that people love to say, “that’s not country!”

I look up the music video for Sam Hunt’s “Take Your Time” on YouTube. It has over 110 million views and over 12,000 comments. A lot of the comments are people discussing Sam’s “hotness,” or expressing their desire to be his girlfriend. But a lot of the comments touch on liking it because it’s country, or not liking it because it’s country, or liking it because it’s not country and then arguing about what’s country. But that’s Sam. His songs are pretty progressive. Maybe this conversation is to be expected?

Hmm …

So I look up Blake Shelton’s video for “Boys Round Here”. Over 55 million views. Over 15,000 comments. Similar discussion. Hmm …

Now I look up Eric Church’s “Record Year” — 14,933,000 views, over 1000 comments, similar discussion. Some mention of “outlaw country” and whether this song is or isn’t “outlaw country.” But the conversation about what is and isn’t country rages on.

So, why all the time and energy arguing over what is and isn’t country on the internet? Is it just that the internet makes trolls of us all? Brings out our worst? But this isn’t just run-of-the-mill hate. This is a really specific critique. Instead of “I don’t like this,” it’s more like “this isn’t country, so it sucks!”

It got me thinking: what is country music, and what is great country music? Is it as simple as Harlan Howard’s definition of “three chords and the truth”? And why is it that people seem to love to hate on anything that doesn’t meet their definition of “country music”? I wanted to bring Shane in on this particular episode, because who better to talk about what is and isn’t country than someone who has been so heavily involved in songs that span the extremes in country music? On one end we have Brandy Clark and Kacey Musgraves, and on the other we have Sam Hunt. I have to say, Shane really surprised me with his honesty and vulnerability in this interview. And I find his answer to “What is country music?” particularly interesting. Perhaps there is something inherently authentic about connecting over sadness. And if there’s one theme that most people claim they want out of country music, it’s authenticity.

On a comical note, my co-producer Kevin reads us some of the YouTube comments that are on the music video for my 2013 single “Famous.” It’s hilarious and makes me want to hide under my bed.

Ultimately, I think we just scratched the surface with this topic; there’s just so much to say. If you’re interested in continuing to brew on this subject, I would point you to two songs from entirely different perspectives: Walker Hayes’ “Your Girlfriend Does” and Aaron Lewis’ “That Ain’t Country.” Check them out and let us know what you think on Twitter at @KelleighBannen. And you can subscribe to my podcast at iTunes.

As always, thanks for listening.



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Old Dominion Breaks Down the 20 (Yes, 20!) Songs It Name-Checks in 'Song for Another Time'

 
 

For Old Dominion, their third single – "Song For Another Time" – might just be their most charming, and certainly their most unique, yet.


"This song means so much to me and I'm so proud of how it came out," frontman Matt Ramsey tells PEOPLE of the band's follow-up to their big hits "Break Up with Him" and "Snapback."


What makes it so special? The lyrics are actually made up of 20 other song titles – and the song almost didn't make the album. It was written on their tour bus one evening last summer on the Kenny Chesney tour, just days before the album was finished.


"Then we played it at a sound check one day," Ramsey, 38, says. "We were in I think Gillette Stadium and it was massive sounding. It just sounded so big, and we all just looked at each other and said, 'Man, we are making a mistake if we don't get back home and record this song!' We called our producer and the record label and said, 'Please let us book a flight home and assemble this team for one more song,' and we did. A lot of the background vocals and things like that were recorded in dressing rooms and hotel rooms and things like that on the road, because we had to get it done. We're so happy that it's getting a shot."


The initial idea for "Song For Another Time," first came to Ramsey from hearing people say the phrase, "Well, that's a story for another time." We were on the back of the bus and I said, 'I have this title called 'Song For Another Time,' and I need some help figuring out what that means," says Ramsay. "We wound up thinking, 'What if we could tell a story about a couple that is losing each other, but they're still trying to hold on and hold onto this moment. And tell it using song titles.' The band, along with co-writer Matt Jenkins, had the song written that night.

Ramsey breaks down the 20 song titles name-checked in the song:

"Marina Del Rey" (George Strait)

"Trevor threw that one out. I think that's the first song that he ever learned to play on piano. It's an iconic George Strait song that, if you're a fan of country music like we are, that's a big one. It's poignant for the story that we were telling because it's got that happy and sad mix. It's this amazing relationship, but it's over, but I'm happy it happened, but I'm sad it's ending."

"Yesterday" (Beatles)

"Just such an iconic song. We wanted to pick songs that people would definitely know and feel, and they're definitely emotional songs, especially in the verse. That's one that's such an emotional and sad song that we had to throw it in there."

"I Can't Make You Love Me" (Bonnie Raitt)

"That's one of my, and I know it's one of Brad's, all-time favorite songs. It's so painful and it just rips my heart out every time. It's so simple and there's no real tricks in it. It's just raw, from-the-heart words, and it just fits together so perfectly. To reference that song, that's the pain that I think this couple is getting ready to feel, that real pain. But before that happens, let's enjoy this moment."

"Brown-Eyed Girl" (Van Morrison)

"Once you get into the chorus, we wanted those fun songs that a couple could listen to together and sing, and "Brown Eyed Girl" is one that everyone has had a moment with – driving down the road singing, 'Sha la la la la.' That is just, let's get lost in this moment and have fun right here now, song. It's the ultimate song for that."

"Sweet Caroline" (Neil Diamond)

That's one too. These are just explosions of joy. That "Sweet Caroline," you just hear it at a baseball game, everyone goes, 'Ba-ba-ba.' It's those fun little images of people just enjoying themselves."

"Free Fallin'" (Tom Petty)

"The giant chorus of these two people just in that moment, like you want to be free fallin' with somebody. Tom Petty is obviously a huge influence on this band. There was a club that we used to play a long time ago, probably eight years ago, we used to play all the time, and they used to call us the heart-breakers all the time because half of our set was Tom Petty songs."

"Small Town Saturday Night" (Hal Ketchum)

"That one was a huge influence for Trevor. He was a big Hal Ketchum fan. He's one of the people that inspired him to go to Nashville. That song meant a lot to me too growing up, because I am from a small town, and that song described everything that we did."

"You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" (Righteous Brothers)

"You know, we're big Top Gun fans, so that's always on our minds. In the writing process, you have to turn it back to the hook a little bit. We're happy, happy, happy, let's figure out a way to say, "Before you lose that lovin' feelin'," and point the lyrics back to our hook a little bit. That one is one that worked well there."

"Dancing on the Ceiling" (Lionel Richie)

I'm a huge Lionel Richie fan and I think that one might be one that flips under the radar sometimes, with at least the country audience. I just think Lionel Richie is a genius. 'Dancing on the Ceiling' is one of those songs that excites me and makes me want to party and have fun. I like how it fit there."

"Teenage Dream" (Katy Perry)

That was probably one of the harder ones to figure out what should go in that spot. We had all these iconic songs and we wanted something current. We needed something that we felt like was a big song, but was also a newer song. 'Teenage Dream,' as songwriters, that's another that we always talk about. What a perfect song. It has that mix too, it's a happy song, but it has this sad undertone to it too, just like 'Song For Another Time' does.

"Paradise City" (Guns N' Roses)

That's Brad right there. He's a Guns N' Roses guy through and through. That was his first concert ever. He went with a church youth group to a Guns N' Roses concert, which is odd. It's funny, we have a little intro that plays before we play live, and it goes through snippets of a lot of these songs that are in it. For just 10 seconds, when the crowd hears that guitar for the Guns N' Roses, they go nuts."

"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" (Hank Williams)

"That's like the pinnacle of sad country songs right there. Pretty soon, that's what he's going to be feeling. Pretty soon, I'll be so lonesome I could cry, and that set the hook perfectly. That's a song for another time, that's not for right now. Right now, I want to be with you."

"One More Day" (Diamond Rio)

"One More Day" is one that, I remember that song first coming out when I first moved to Nashville. That was one that took me off guard and sounded so different. Again, I'm always impressed with lyrics that seem so simple and it sounds like someone just talking to you, and so easy to sing, and so easy to say. Those lyrics really hit home, and it's a really powerful song.

"Take Me Home, Country Roads" (John Denver)

"Some of them just fell into place perfectly, and that seemed to be one of them. Each song almost creates a different image for me when I'm singing it. I can close my eyes and when I hear that song, I get an image, and when I say those words in our song, I get the same image. It is just a windows down, back in my hometown in Virginia, just riding down this little back road that I used to go down all the time."

"Oh Pretty Woman" (Roy Orbison)

"That one was just like, be my pretty woman. You are right now, and when you're riding down that country road with a beautiful girl by your side, that's what she is."

"Sunday Morning Coming Down" (Johnny Cash)

"That was another iconic country song that I grew up listening to. Lots of people have covered that song, Kris Kristofferson wrote it, and then Johnny Cash, and Willie Nelson, and I feel like all of those iconic country guys recorded that song. It means so much to country music, and it fit nicely there."

"Pink Houses" (John Mellencamp)

"'Pink Houses' is one that we've actually been playing a lot right now in our set because we love it so much. It's just a great anthem song, and it paints such a great picture of America and humanity. I felt like we needed to put that in there because we spent a lot of time as a cover band in the past, and we've played that song a million times probably, and we still love playing it."

"Candle In the Wind" (Elton John)

"That's such an image – that candle in the wind – just those words alone, 'You live your life like a candle in the wind.' To put a relationship into that realm, 'We're a candle in the wind,' you don't need to say anything else. You know exactly what that means, and those are some words that mean one thing and one thing only."

"Always on My Mind" (Willie Nelson)

"That one is in the same category for me as "I Can't Make You Love Me." It's just so perfect, and so simple, and so painful. It breaks my heart every single time I hear it, and it's like, I want to hear it again, but I don't want to hear it again. It's so painful."

"I Will Always Love You" (Dolly Parton)

"That's another one that, it's so fortuitous that we even thought of these songs that they fell into place like they did, because that again is just such a sad song. It's that push and pull, tug of war of happiness and sadness of, 'We were great, and in my heart we'll always be great, and I will always love you, even though I can't anymore.'"

Don't miss a beat of country music news, photos and videos! Click here to get all this and more in the PEOPLE Country Newsletter.>

BY DANIELLE ANDERSON @dak5000 08/12/2016 AT 12:30 PM EDT

For Old Dominion, their third single – "Song For Another Time" – might just be their most charming, and certainly their most unique, yet. 

"This song means so much to me and I'm so proud of how it came out," frontman Matt Ramsey tells PEOPLE of the band's follow-up to their big hits "Break Up with Him" and "Snapback." 

What makes it so special? The lyrics are actually made up of 20 other song titles – and the song almost didn't make the album. It was written on their tour bus one evening last summer on the Kenny Chesney tour, just days before the album was finished. 

"Then we played it at a sound check one day," Ramsey, 38, says. "We were in I think Gillette Stadium and it was massive sounding. It just sounded so big, and we all just looked at each other and said, 'Man, we are making a mistake if we don't get back home and record this song!' We called our producer and the record label and said, 'Please let us book a flight home and assemble this team for one more song,' and we did. A lot of the background vocals and things like that were recorded in dressing rooms and hotel rooms and things like that on the road, because we had to get it done. We're so happy that it's getting a shot." 

The initial idea for "Song For Another Time," first came to Ramsey from hearing people say the phrase, "Well, that's a story for another time." We were on the back of the bus and I said, 'I have this title called 'Song For Another Time,' and I need some help figuring out what that means," says Ramsay. "We wound up thinking, 'What if we could tell a story about a couple that is losing each other, but they're still trying to hold on and hold onto this moment. And tell it using song titles.' The band, along with co-writer Matt Jenkins, had the song written that night. 

Ramsey breaks down the 20 song titles name-checked in the song: 

"Marina Del Rey" (George Strait) 

"Trevor threw that one out. I think that's the first song that he ever learned to play on piano. It's an iconic George Strait song that, if you're a fan of country music like we are, that's a big one. It's poignant for the story that we were telling because it's got that happy and sad mix. It's this amazing relationship, but it's over, but I'm happy it happened, but I'm sad it's ending." 

"Yesterday" (Beatles) 

"Just such an iconic song. We wanted to pick songs that people would definitely know and feel, and they're definitely emotional songs, especially in the verse. That's one that's such an emotional and sad song that we had to throw it in there." 

"I Can't Make You Love Me" (Bonnie Raitt) 

"That's one of my, and I know it's one of Brad's, all-time favorite songs. It's so painful and it just rips my heart out every time. It's so simple and there's no real tricks in it. It's just raw, from-the-heart words, and it just fits together so perfectly. To reference that song, that's the pain that I think this couple is getting ready to feel, that real pain. But before that happens, let's enjoy this moment." 

"Brown-Eyed Girl" (Van Morrison) 

"Once you get into the chorus, we wanted those fun songs that a couple could listen to together and sing, and "Brown Eyed Girl" is one that everyone has had a moment with – driving down the road singing, 'Sha la la la la.' That is just, let's get lost in this moment and have fun right here now, song. It's the ultimate song for that." 

"Sweet Caroline" (Neil Diamond) 

That's one too. These are just explosions of joy. That "Sweet Caroline," you just hear it at a baseball game, everyone goes, 'Ba-ba-ba.' It's those fun little images of people just enjoying themselves." 

"Free Fallin'" (Tom Petty) 

"The giant chorus of these two people just in that moment, like you want to be free fallin' with somebody. Tom Petty is obviously a huge influence on this band. There was a club that we used to play a long time ago, probably eight years ago, we used to play all the time, and they used to call us the heart-breakers all the time because half of our set was Tom Petty songs." 

"Small Town Saturday Night" (Hal Ketchum) 

"That one was a huge influence for Trevor. He was a big Hal Ketchum fan. He's one of the people that inspired him to go to Nashville. That song meant a lot to me too growing up, because I am from a small town, and that song described everything that we did." 

"You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" (Righteous Brothers) 

"You know, we're big Top Gun fans, so that's always on our minds. In the writing process, you have to turn it back to the hook a little bit. We're happy, happy, happy, let's figure out a way to say, "Before you lose that lovin' feelin'," and point the lyrics back to our hook a little bit. That one is one that worked well there." 

"Dancing on the Ceiling" (Lionel Richie) 

I'm a huge Lionel Richie fan and I think that one might be one that flips under the radar sometimes, with at least the country audience. I just think Lionel Richie is a genius. 'Dancing on the Ceiling' is one of those songs that excites me and makes me want to party and have fun. I like how it fit there." 

"Teenage Dream" (Katy Perry) 

That was probably one of the harder ones to figure out what should go in that spot. We had all these iconic songs and we wanted something current. We needed something that we felt like was a big song, but was also a newer song. 'Teenage Dream,' as songwriters, that's another that we always talk about. What a perfect song. It has that mix too, it's a happy song, but it has this sad undertone to it too, just like 'Song For Another Time' does. 

"Paradise City" (Guns N' Roses) 

That's Brad right there. He's a Guns N' Roses guy through and through. That was his first concert ever. He went with a church youth group to a Guns N' Roses concert, which is odd. It's funny, we have a little intro that plays before we play live, and it goes through snippets of a lot of these songs that are in it. For just 10 seconds, when the crowd hears that guitar for the Guns N' Roses, they go nuts." 

"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" (Hank Williams) 

"That's like the pinnacle of sad country songs right there. Pretty soon, that's what he's going to be feeling. Pretty soon, I'll be so lonesome I could cry, and that set the hook perfectly. That's a song for another time, that's not for right now. Right now, I want to be with you." 

"One More Day" (Diamond Rio) 

"One More Day" is one that, I remember that song first coming out when I first moved to Nashville. That was one that took me off guard and sounded so different. Again, I'm always impressed with lyrics that seem so simple and it sounds like someone just talking to you, and so easy to sing, and so easy to say. Those lyrics really hit home, and it's a really powerful song. 

"Take Me Home, Country Roads" (John Denver) 

"Some of them just fell into place perfectly, and that seemed to be one of them. Each song almost creates a different image for me when I'm singing it. I can close my eyes and when I hear that song, I get an image, and when I say those words in our song, I get the same image. It is just a windows down, back in my hometown in Virginia, just riding down this little back road that I used to go down all the time." 

"Oh Pretty Woman" (Roy Orbison) 

"That one was just like, be my pretty woman. You are right now, and when you're riding down that country road with a beautiful girl by your side, that's what she is." 

"Sunday Morning Coming Down" (Johnny Cash) 

"That was another iconic country song that I grew up listening to. Lots of people have covered that song, Kris Kristofferson wrote it, and then Johnny Cash, and Willie Nelson, and I feel like all of those iconic country guys recorded that song. It means so much to country music, and it fit nicely there." 

"Pink Houses" (John Mellencamp) 

"'Pink Houses' is one that we've actually been playing a lot right now in our set because we love it so much. It's just a great anthem song, and it paints such a great picture of America and humanity. I felt like we needed to put that in there because we spent a lot of time as a cover band in the past, and we've played that song a million times probably, and we still love playing it." 

"Candle In the Wind" (Elton John) 

"That's such an image – that candle in the wind – just those words alone, 'You live your life like a candle in the wind.' To put a relationship into that realm, 'We're a candle in the wind,' you don't need to say anything else. You know exactly what that means, and those are some words that mean one thing and one thing only." 

"Always on My Mind" (Willie Nelson) 

"That one is in the same category for me as "I Can't Make You Love Me." It's just so perfect, and so simple, and so painful. It breaks my heart every single time I hear it, and it's like, I want to hear it again, but I don't want to hear it again. It's so painful." 

"I Will Always Love You" (Dolly Parton) 

"That's another one that, it's so fortuitous that we even thought of these songs that they fell into place like they did, because that again is just such a sad song. It's that push and pull, tug of war of happiness and sadness of, 'We were great, and in my heart we'll always be great, and I will always love you, even though I can't anymore.'"

Don't miss a beat of country music news, photos and videos! Click here to get all this and more in the PEOPLE Country Newsletter.

Shane McAnally Traces Career At CMHoF Poets And Prophets Event

Craig Shelburne • August 15, 2016 •

 

Pictured (L-R): Songwriter Josh Osborne, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young, songwriter Paul Overstreet, McAnally, former Poets and Prophets honoree Kye Fleming, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Michael Gray, former Poets and Prophets honoree Roger Murrah, and singer/songwriter Kacey Musgraves. Photo by Kelli Dirks, CK Photo

Songwriter Shane McAnally joined the Poets and Prophets series at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Sunday afternoon (Aug. 13). The event was part of the museum’s quarterly program that celebrates songwriters that have made a significant and lasting contribution to country music.

 

Pictured (L-R): Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne. Photo: Kelli Dirks, CK Photo

Moderated by Country Music Hall of Fame historian Michael Gray, the program recounted McAnally’s journey through photos, videos, and live performances of some of McAnally’s biggest hits, including a surprise acoustic rendition of “Merry Go Round,” performed by Kacey Musgraves, with whom he and Josh Osborne wrote the song.

 

Pictured (L-R): Joshn Osborne, Kacey Musgraves, Shane McAnally. Photo: Kelli Dirks, CK Photo

Former Poets and Prophets honorees Kye Fleming and Richard Murrah as well as songwriter Paul Overstreet were also in attendance.

 

Kacey Musgraves. Photo by Kelli Dirks, CK Photo.

http://www.musicrow.com/2016/08/shane-mcanally-traces-career-at-cmhof-poets-and-prophets-event/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Musicrow+%28MusicRow%29

Exclusive: SMACKSongs, The Silverton Foundation Assist Families In Need

Jessica Nicholson • August 2, 2016 •

Pictured (L-R): Michael McAnally Baum, Josh Moffitt

Pictured (L-R): Michael McAnally Baum, Josh Moffitt

As Miranda Lambert’s “Vice” and Dierks Bentley and Elle King’s “Different For Girls” reside in the Top 10 on this week’s Billboard country chart, they will also help the families of critically ill children who are at risk of being evicted from their homes.

Both of these songs are co-written by a songwriter affiliated with Shane McAnally’s Nashville-based SMACKSongs. SMACKSongs has pledged to donate $2,500 for every Billboard Top 10 song the company represents to The Silverton Foundation, to support rent and mortgage payment assistance for families with children who are hospitalized or receiving ongoing critical care treatment.

SMACKSongs is on pace to match its 2015 total of 10 top country music hits, which would result in donations worth 30 months of payment assistance. In 2015, the foundation paid 116 months worth of mortgage or rent for families in need.

SMACKSongs VP of Business Affairs Michael McAnally Baum recalls a story of an evicted family with for a critically ill child. “Thank God the child recovered from their condition, but in the process, because they didn’t have proper housing to go back to, the child was in danger of going into the foster care program,” he says. “That’s heartbreaking to think of any parents who could find themselves in that situation, having already cleared that hurdle of your child’s health, only to find that the state is endangering your ability to be a parent to that child. It is heartbreaking.”

The partnership reunites McAnally Baum with his former Silverton Mortgage colleague, and The Silverton Foundation founder, Josh Moffitt. Baum worked with Silverton Mortgage from 2004 until he moved to Nashville in 2013.

In the partnership’s first 60 days, they sent out approximately $16,000 to help families in need, thanks to SMACKSongs cuts like Kenny Chesney’s “Noise,” Old Dominion’s “Snapback,” and Thomas Rhett’s “T-Shirt.” SMACKSongs relies on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, as well as Mediabase, to determine the qualifying singles.

A typical request from a family in need is approximately $800 to prevent a foreclosure or eviction. “Some families might need one month to get back on their feet; for others it might be three months,” says Moffitt.

McAnally Baum and Moffitt realized the emotional and financial toll that a major medical crisis can place on a family.

“Usually one spouse or both are losing their jobs or their finances are dramatically impacted because of the situation,” says Moffitt. “A lot of times they have to move to another city or spend a ton of time a long way from home. Because of that, they can lose income on top of all the medical bills. We then started encountering these folks that were being evicted or foreclosed while all this is going on. Their focus was on the health of their child, but when their child is well, they weren’t able to go home. In working with the social workers at the hospitals, you realize how vast the problem is.”

Moffitt notes that The Silverton Foundation is 100 percent volunteer-based, and offers help to families from across the country that come to Atlanta for seeking treatment for their children. The Silverton Foundation aims to expand its reach to Tennessee and other portions of the Southeast.

 

Moffitt offers another example of a three-month-old boy who contracted bacterial meningitis at 12 days old, resulting in a host of serious health conditions, including seizures and cerebral palsy.

“He was sent home for a month, then readmitted to the hospital,” says Moffitt. “His 22-year-old single mother was employed full-time at a call center. Obviously she missed a lot of work to make all his appointments and to care for him. She received her eviction notice the day he was readmitted to the hospital. She had been reaching out to other places for assistance as well, and asked us to help with one month’s rent to make her payments current. We obviously understand that apartments and mortgage companies have a business to run, so we understand their position. We always call and confirm with the landlords, and 99 out of 100 times, the landlords say how wonderful the families are. They are working with them the best they can. There might be a father mowing the grass on 20 homes just to help make ends meet. The stories we hear are unbelievable.”

“We have quite a bit [of songs] on the charts now that are at various stages of moving up, and it gives us an extra incentive to say not only are we excited for the success of the song and the songwriter, but we are excited because that success also helps take care of our community,” says McAnally Baum. “Country music is all about faith, family and home, and I think this partnership touches on all of those things. So whenever we do feel a sense of success, we also feel a big sense like we are giving back.”

For more on The Silverton Foundation, visit thesilvertonfoundation.org.

Kenny Chesney Drops Pink Collaboration, ‘Setting the World on Fire’, as New Single [LISTEN] Read More: Kenny Chesney Drops Pink Collab. as New Single

By Angela Stefano July 28, 2016 5:10 PM

Kenny Chesney has released “Setting the World on Fire,” his duet with pop star Pink, as the second single from his upcoming new album, Cosmic Hallelujah.

Partially recorded at Rick Rubin’s Malibu studio, “Setting the World on Fire” is a mid-tempo tune that explores the emotions — the good and the anxious — of falling in love. The song’s lyrics — “We were up all night, and we were feelin’ so good / Yeah, we got a little higher than we probably should / We were in a hotel singin’ in the hallway lights / We were strikin’ the matches right down to the ashes / Setting the world on fire” — are, according to Chesney, “a perfect way of saying it, but when you feel that melody rise, the arrangement picking up momentum — it’s bigger than you are, and all you want to do is throw yourself against the night.

“Then when Pink comes in,” he adds, “well, that just brings this [song] to life.”

“Setting the World on Fire” was written by Ross Copperman, Matt Jenkins and Josh Osborne. Chesney takes the lead on the song’s verses, with Pink offering harmonies, and the pop star handles the choruses solo until the end of the song, when they sing one final chorus together.

Just days before his new album was due out on July 8, Chesney announced that he was delaying its release to add “Setting the World on Fire” to the project. The country star and Pink formed a friendship while the “Noise” singer was spending time in California; he calls her “an incredible singer,” describing her voice as one that “holds so many feelings all at the same time: joy, desire, a bit of toughness, a little hurt.”

“To me, great songs are great songs regardless of genre — and the core of being alive is the same no matter where you are,” Chesney says. “[W]ith her voice that is so strong and contains so many colors, [Pink] really makes that idea of giving into your heart, shouting out the window and whirling around in the middle of an abandoned street feel real.”

Cosmic Hallelujah is now due out on Oct. 28. The record was originally titled Some Town Somewhere, but Chesney decided to change its name because “[t]he new music and the energy that the new music’s bringing … feels like a cosmic hallelujah.

“That’s the word that came out,” Chesney explains, “so that’s actually gonna be the title of the new album.”

Chesney is currently on the road, on his 2016 Spread the Love Tour. The trek is scheduled to run through late August.



Read More: Kenny Chesney Drops Pink Collab. as New Single | http://theboot.com/kenny-chesney-pink-setting-the-world-on-fire/?trackback=tsmclip

Kenny Chesney Reschedules Album Release, Announces P!NK Duet

 

 LAUREN JO BLACK • JULY 6, 2016 - 8:37 AM

Photo by Allister Ann

Fans will have to wait a bit longer to get their hands on Kenny Chesney’s new album, Some Town Somewhere. Originally scheduled to drop this Friday, July 8, the album has now been shelved until October 28. While fans may be disappointed in the change, they have something big to look forward to.

This morning, Chesney announced via press release that the project will include a duet with Pop sensation P!NK. The song, “Setting The World On Fire,” is something Chesney couldn’t be more excited about.

“To have a song that is so ‘right in the moment’,” the Tennessee native says, “is a rare thing. ‘Somewhere With You’ had it, too. But that’s a song of wanting, and this, this is a song of being. But the more I listened, the more I knew I needed a woman’s voice, to be in the song with me.”

Chesney met and became friendly with P!NK while spending time in California and knew she’d be the perfect duet partner for the song.

“P!NK’s voice holds so many feelings all at the same time: joy, desire, a bit of toughness, a little hurt,” he explains. “She’s an incredible singer – and has this great tone that shines but has a little wear to it, but doesn’t sound beat up. So I called her.”

Chesney says P!NK’s vocals were “everything the song required to come to life.”

Although adding the duet to the album meant the superstar and his team would have to push back the project’s release date, it was something Chesney was more than willing to do.

“Sure, it would be easier to just leave everything on schedule. But when you have something you know is great, and it captures the best part of being alive, why wouldn’t you slow down enough to make it happen in the moment? That’s what ‘Setting The World On Fire’ is all about – and I figure it may be a while before I make another record, and I don’t want to wait to share this because it’s so good.”