A year and a half after the release of Cosmic Hallelujah, Kenny Chesney has returned with a brand new single, "Get Along," and it's the first taste of the country star's upcoming new album -- one that is said to be his most personal album to date.
"Get Along," written by Ross Copperman, Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne ("American Kids," "Setting The World On Fire"), is inspired by all that is going on in the world today, and its message is meant to bring people together in such a turbulent climate. Kenny sings in the chorus, "Get along on down the road/We’ve got a long, long way to go/Scared to live, scared to die/We ain't perfect, but we try."
Kenny exclusively tells iHeartRadio of how the song came to be, and about its powerful meaning:
"The first time I heard 'Get Along,' literally I was just checking email and my friend Josh Osborne sent me this song. And I was, like a lot of people do today, was watching a lot of TV. I was watching it in the mornings, and I was watching the news networks to see what was going on in the world, which, first of all, was my first mistake. It's impossible to watch that stuff and feel good about your day. But, after I heard this song, about this message about compassion, and about empathy, and about loving one another, and about taking something negative in your life and moving along in your life somehow and turning that into a positive, it couldn't have been a better message for me in the moment and for that day. So, underneath the record we made, and underneath the mix we did, and underneath the sonic ear candy on top of that, is this great message that struck a true chord with me. And you take that message and that chord that had struck with me, and I want to present that to my audience this summer. I feel like it's gonna strike a chord with them too, if I know them like I think I do. And also, I think it's gonna fit just perfectly, just the the infectious nature, but also just the infectious nature of the song, I feel like is gonna fit perfect in our show. And then you add the message on top of that, and I just felt like it was just something I couldn't live without."
He adds, "I'm really proud of 'Get Along' because it it allows me to say something without being preachy. Because I don't think my audience wants to be preached to. I've never been the kind of artist that gets up there and tells them they ought to think a certain way. When I go to shows, I don't want to have somebody tell me I need to think this way. I just want to hear my song. And so, I've never used that platform or that stage to preach. But I do think it's possible to make people think on their own. That's why I think like, I had a song called 'Noise' that didn't tell them how to think. It just raised our hand and said, 'Hey, think about this.'"
Kenny Chesney kicks off his "Trip Around the Sun Tour" on April 21st in Tampa, and will stop in 40 cities at a number of stadiums and amphitheaters across the country, with support from Old Dominion, Thomas Rhett, and Brandon Lay. For a full list of tour dates and ticket information, head over to Kenny Chesney's official website.