Album Review – Kenny Chesney’s “Silver Sands Marina”
Contemporary Pop Country (#530) and Gulf & Western (#568) on the Country DDS.
It’s no longer just Kenny Chesney. It’s Country Music Hall of Famer Kenny Chesney. And no matter if you feel it was fair, or if you feel it was an indictment on the institution’s standing to elect Chesney, the deed is done, the bronze is cast, and it’s hanging on the rotunda wall. Now Chesney has to prove or disprove the wisdom of this decision. His new album Silver Sands Marina is a good place to start.
Chesney both predates country music’s strong popification heading into the ’00s, and he also played a big role in it. It was Chesney who deposed Alan Jackson as the CMA Entertainer of the Year in 2004, and then won it again 2006 thru 2008 before Taylor Swift dethroned him. It was Chesney who established beach songs as one of the bedrock themes of contemporary country for better or worse. It was Chesney who was selling out stadiums thanks to songs like “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.”
But when he started out, Chesney was not too dissimilar to a traditionalist. If you listen to his first #1 single “She’s Got It All” (1997), there’s twang in the vocal you don’t hear from Chesney these days, and plenty of fiddle and steel guitar from the band. Maybe in this moment where country is more country than in recent memory, Chesney could return to these roots. After all, even Shania Twain shocked us all by trying this with her recent album, even if it was to very mixed results.
But Silver Sands Marina is very much a Kenny Chensey record. There’s the beach, water, and boat themes. There’s the mostly contemporary production that forgoes twang in both the vocal performances and the music. There’s one really bad song that makes you wonder what the hell Kenny Chesney was even thinking. But there are also some pretty good songs since Chesney doesn’t insist on co-writing everything, and instead leans on some pretty quality songwriters to deliver the sentiments he wants to convey.
First and foremost, lets deal with what is likely the worst song of Chesney’s entire career, with all due respect to “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.” At least some can claim that song is supposed to be sarcastic. “Talkin’ Dirt” is some sort of weird, post Bro-Country “Word to your mother!” outdated, outmoded, and utterly embarrassing White boy tractor rap with banjo that does itself even one worse by leaning into the whole tired “small town gossip” trope.
How in God’s creation this song ever got cut is beyond quizzical, and borderline criminal in regards to Chesney’s career. Kenny is so incredibly awkward delivering the lines, it’s ironically probably the Whitest thing he’s ever done. And this “song” will never be released on country radio, so why even record it? It doesn’t fit with the rest of the record, or with Kenny Chesney’s career. You want a reason to criticize Kenny as a pick for the Hall of Fame? Well here you go.
It’s just one song though, and luckily, a sore thumb outlier. The other weaker, or disappointing moments are some of the 808 drum programming in the production of the song “Remember Me That Way,” and the ultra-weird and awkward duet with Colbie Caillat on “What We Got Going On.” The latter sounds like one of those remote studio duets where the two parties likely didn’t even meet before recording. The way Colbie comes in mid chorus with her lifeless delivery just makes you wonder why they even bothered.
But most every mainstream album is usually good for a few songs, and Kenny Chesney’s have been historically good for a few more than normal. It’s a very Kenny Chesney song for sure, but the sentiment behind the opening song “Burn My Boat” is very appealing, and the writing by Casey and Tucker Beathard is clever enough. The title track starts to grow on you in that sort of nostalgic, “Boys of Summer” by Don Henley sort of way, and this time in the calendar is the perfect opportunity to reflect back on summer love.
They really tried to sell us on the song “Goldfish” as one of the album’s early release tracks, perhaps trying to be the antidote to “Talkin’ Dirt” that it comes right after. And sure, you appreciate Chesney including a more traditional-sounding country song on the album. But the writing feels a little thin, and the cussing is counter to the sonic appeal. “Sad Casino” written by Matraca Berg and the late Brett James (who wrote numerous hits for Chesney in the past) might be the standout track even if it’s more contemporary than traditional country.
Kenny Chesney knows his demographic, and it’s not throwback hipsters in East Nashville, or even the 20-something neotraditional crowd. This album is 50 and 60-something divorcee country at it’s finest, and Chesney underscores this with the songs “It Just Got Weird” and “Remember Me That Way.” Also, give some credit to the song “Shot a Car into Space.” You sort of hate this song coming from Chesney since it doesn’t really fit him. But the song itself is super solid, and was written by a couple of cool independent country artists in Adam Chaffins and Brit Taylor with Adam Wright.
If nothing else, Kenny Chesney comes from a time when you put out an All Points Bulletin for the best songs instead of slopping out whatever you co-wrote with six others trying to capitalize off of current trends and demo it with Suno. There are some misses on Silver Sands Marina for sure. But there are also some solid cuts.
Nonetheless, you listen through an album like this, and then you listen to an album from Dwight Yoakam or Clint Black, and you’re left wondering how and why Chesney got into the Hall of Fame first, or at all? Not a single one of these songs was written by Chesney where he’s usually good for about 1/3rd of the co-writes. Of course he’s been commercially successful. But is it quality? What truly is Kenny Chesney’s legacy and contribution to country, and is it more applicable to credit that to Jimmy Buffett?
Silver Sands Marina, just like so much of Kenny Chesney’s output, is just fine. But is “just fine” Hall of Fame worthy? The point might be moot now. But it would be heartening to see Chesney try to be somewhat of a leader, or a country music Statesman, or to go back to his roots in a twangier time. Silver Sands Marina is not that moment. But it’s also not that bad, with one big exception.
6.7/10
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The Good:
The Very Bad:
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September 30, 2026 @ 8:06 am
Kenny Chesney might be THE name an entire generation of Americans recognize and know as country music. For better or worse, that’s the reality and why he deserves to be in the hall of fame. As for this album, I like that didn’t reinvent the wheel or try anything crazy outside of that one track. It’s just him making the music he likes and has always made. It was an enjoyable nostalgia trip back to a simpler time. Not worth repeat listens, but I liked it.
September 30, 2026 @ 8:31 am
I’ve never bought a Kenny Chesney record (even back when buying someone’s records was a common thing to do and I had a hell of a lot of CDs) and usually think his music’s just blandly pleasant at best, with the occasional grabber of a song (“That’s Why I’m Here,” for example).
But the only quibble I’d have with him being in the HOF is that maybe it was too soon. Number of hits, albums sold, longevity, live draw, (to a lesser extent) influence … mission accomplished. There’s no reason he (and Toby Keith and Tim McGraw, who shared the era and were comparably famous) shouldn’t be in except for accounting for taste. And if you lean too much on that … I’m sure there were plenty of old-guard types who thought that Alabama were a bunch of wannabe-rockers marketing themselves as a country band, or that Conway Twitty was a shallow horndog trying to charm housewives’ pants off, but at some point they got outvoted and that’s for the best: those guys were important to their eras. If you’re leaving out Chesney you might as well leave out HIS whole era. Which I’m sure is tempting for some, but if the goal is to enshrine historically important artists nobody is gonna like everybody who makes the cut.
Unlike the overstuffed Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I think there’s very few CMHOF inductees that threaten to de-legitimize the honor. Ray Stevens definitely, maybe Ray Charles since country music was just sort of a side project for him (even though those records were great and his affection for the genre was obvious). I think there’s way more controversy about who’s been left out thus far than who made it in. But I think that also makes it an even bigger deal.
September 30, 2026 @ 10:32 am
Agree with everything you said, MEM. I agree that it was too soon. Chesney and McGraw should have had to wait until others made it, in my opinion.
October 2, 2026 @ 4:00 pm
Good to see “That’s Why I’m Here” mentioned. That’s the only song of Chesney’s I know, but it’s really, really good. Doesn’t seem to fit with what followed, from what I’ve heard about what followed.
September 30, 2026 @ 8:43 am
Ah, i miss his early album output.
September 30, 2026 @ 10:33 am
Agree. This is how I felt about Toby Keith, also. I loved his early albums. Post “How Do You Like Me Now” he mostly did novelty songs. Once it a while he would do a serious single and they were awesome. But his early stuff was loaded with great songs.
October 2, 2026 @ 2:10 am
You both echoed my sentiments about Kenny and Toby. I loved their music before their breakout songs (“Tractor” and “HDYLMN”), but their breakouts changed the entire trajectory of their outputs. Who needs introspective, well-written songs when you can get boatloads of cash from beach songs and drinking songs?!
September 30, 2026 @ 9:05 am
I’m not of fan of Chesney’s music past about 1998, and won’t listen to this album. But his Hall of Fame inductions doesn’t bother me. If you look at his success it would be a mistake if he was never inducted.
Jerry Lee Lewis’s birthday was yesterday and his induction bugs me a lot more than Chesney’s because Lewis leapfrogged so many deserving artists stuck in the backlog in the veterans era category
September 30, 2026 @ 9:13 pm
Jerry Lee Lewis ” leapfrogged so many deserving artists.”
Yeah, I’m picturing Jerry Lee Lewis, in 2022, at 86 years old, 65 years after his first #1 country single, “Great Balls of Fire” (and 50 years after his sixth one, “Chantilly Lace.”) “leapfrogging” over the most deserving Rose Maddox, Johnny Horton and Earl Conley, through the doors of the Hall of Fame, while holding onto his walker, a la “Jumping” Bill Carlisle at the Grand Ol’ Opry.
Where to people come up with this stuff? You may or may not thin Jerry Lee should be in the H-o-F, but the guy didn’t leapfrog anybody.
September 30, 2026 @ 9:06 am
“Divorcee Country” needs to be a new category on the Country DDS!
September 30, 2026 @ 9:31 am
It’s definitely a subset of Y2Country. I have to thank Dale here in the comments section for coining that term some time back. It’s a perfect descriptor for the Kenny Chesneys and Little Big Towns of the country world.
September 30, 2026 @ 12:03 pm
Old Dominion has a bunch of songs that would fit that category, too.
September 30, 2026 @ 8:45 pm
It’s going over my head.
I’d’ve thought that artists like Tammy Wynette, Rosanne Cash, K.T. Oslin, Reba McEntire, Lorrie Morgan, Tanya Tucker, Pam Tillis and Wynonna Judd woud qualify as divorcee country. I think every one of them has been divorced, and they’ve all sung songs about dealing with divorce and uplifting songs promoting women’s empowerment.
I don’t know where Chesney fits in there. Or is he seen now as a safe guy with some dreamy catchy tunes and a an inviting personality–a modern-day Barry Manilow, if it were. I remember that a woman whom I once worked with who was divorced just loved Barry.
September 30, 2026 @ 9:49 pm
Tanya has never been divorced because she’s never been married. I don’t think Oslin ever married, either.
September 30, 2026 @ 10:11 pm
OK, you got me.
I know she’s had children with different men–I thought one of those was a marriage, but evidently it was not.
September 30, 2026 @ 9:11 am
I think “a Kenny Chesney album” is the best way to describe it. It’s not going to land on my end of year favorite albums list. It’s not groundbreaking in any sense. And yeah, “Talkin’ Dirt” was absolutely a WTF moment.
But overall, this is the type of album you can sit on your back porch/balcony/wherever, sip a beer, and generally enjoy with very few qualms. Will anything stick with me long after it’s over? Not particularly, but it’s a good ‘in the moment’ listen.
September 30, 2026 @ 9:17 am
I’m 69 and a fan, so feel like “Carry On” was written for me. Enjoyed listening to the entire album a couple times last weekend. Good for Kenny!
September 30, 2026 @ 9:57 am
Try 82 years young. It’s good in my mind but then again I like kenny!
September 30, 2026 @ 10:22 am
I don’t like disparaging an artist. These people work hard at their craft. And even if I don’t particularly enjoy an artist, I hate to speak badly about the artist.
That said, I am truly baffled that Kenny Chesney got in the HOF. And I am even more baffled that he got in as soon as he did.
Chesney’s first album was released in 1994, and he got in the HOF in 2025. 31 years after his first release.
Kenny Rogers’ first country album was released in 1975. He got in the HOF in 2013. That is 38 years he had to wait. And he had contributed to country music far earlier than 1975 with hits like “Ruby” and Reuben James.” But I only counted from 1975, his first true country LP.
I’m not looking to get into arguing the merits of Kenny Rogers being in the HOF here. Ya’ll know by now that Kenny Rogers is my guy. I could give you a list 100 miles long why he belongs there.
But Chesney? That fast? I just don’t get it. So many artists are backlogged to get in. They made Tanya Tucker go in under the Veteran category, but Chesney gets in that fast?
The majority of Chesney’s career was being Jimmy Buffett “Light.” Chesney’s early material…I get that. But that’s not what he did for most of his career. It was early “bro country,” talking about sand and beer and beaches. I think it traces back to “How Forever Feels,” with lines about “toes in the sand” and such. I actually liked that song. But then he went Buffett full-time.
Finally, I know this entire post will piss everyone off, and I’m about to make it worse. Tim McGraw deserved to be in the HOF in my opinion. His success was significant, and again, in my opinion, he contributed songs that can be pointed to as important in the history of country music (“Don’t Take The Girl,” “Everywhere,” “One Of These Days,” etc.) just like Rogers did (“The Gambler,” “Lucille,” “Ruby,” “Coward Of The Country,” “Love Will Turn You Around,” etc.).
And Chesney got in before McGraw!! Both should have had to wait longer. And if it took 38 years for Kenny Rogers to get in, it should have taken 50 years for Chesney to get in. Again, in my opinion.
The Country HOF makes no sense to me. At all. That Circle at the hall is incredible. But the organization baffles me.
September 30, 2026 @ 12:47 pm
I am not.
Kenny kept his nose clean, made commercially successful music, devoted himself to Nashville, and played the game perfectly.
Clint and Dwight are much better musicians. However, Clint was stubborn and tenacious about not using outside songs and his massive debut set up a career that seemingly failed to match expectations. Dwight preferred to hang in the Golden State and never made nice with Nashville.
The HOF is like high school.
September 30, 2026 @ 9:54 pm
Hey, Waylon was only voted in when he was on his deathbed. And how many years did Hank Jr take?
October 1, 2026 @ 9:21 am
Yeah, that is my point. Waylon famously antagonized the powerbrokers. Hank Jr.’s political takes and family tradition delayed his induction.
The HOF doesn’t decide purely on talent. It never has and never will.
If Alan Jackson hadn’t penned his 9/11 anthem that gave his career a second wind, he might be in the same boat as Clint and Dwight. Alan tweaked noses by standing up for country music. But he remained too big to slight and since the genre nosedived starting in the early 2000s, they couldn’t keep him out.
October 1, 2026 @ 1:30 am
@T–Kenny Chesney has had 30-plus #1 singles, 20-plus gold album (at least 15 of which were multi-platinum) over 30 years and has sold damn near as many stadium/arena seats as the Alabama Crimson Tide over that time. He’s the biggest country music star of the 2000s and you’re truly baffled that he’s in the Country Music Hall of Fame and more baffled that he got in when he was 56 instead of when he’ll be 76, and baffled that the Hall of Fame does not induct artists in a set order that matches your opinions of them.
I take it you’re also baffled by pop-top soda cans.
October 5, 2026 @ 6:42 am
You’re a really fun person. Your snarky comments clearly make you better than everybody else. Think you are really clever, don’t you? I’d like to see you run your mouth in person like you do here.
September 30, 2026 @ 10:29 am
I don’t mind some of Chesney’s music. He and his team usually have an ear for picking good material, but he’s the last guy who should be singing something like “Shot A Car Into Space.” Not only is the dig against Musk ill-informed, it’s childish.
I’m willing to bet Musk has done more with his money for the good of humanity than Chesney. And hearing a guy who is worth hundreds of millions spouting off about a man worth hundreds or billions (a trillion on paper), is laughable, and embarrassing. The opening line is goofy. Chesney has more money to “waste” than 99.9% of his fans. The virtue-signalling and self-righteousness here is off the charts.
I agree “Talkin Dirt” is out of place, although I’m not sure it’s the worst song Chesney ever recorded (there are a few).
Over all a solid and fair review, Trigger.
September 30, 2026 @ 11:45 am
“I’m willing to bet Musk has done more with his money for the good of humanity than Chesney”
Are you really?! Please let us know just how much you’re willing to bet on this asinine theory – I could use the extra cash.
September 30, 2026 @ 12:11 pm
Let’s please not get into a back and forth about Elon Musk here.
I will say that I don’t take the song as a direct criticism of Musk as much of the musings of someone who doesn’t have a lot of money deciding they don’t need a lot of money. As I said in the review, Kenny Chesney is a weird messenger for this message, but I think it’s a good song by a couple of really cool writers, and will probably really help support them with some serious mailbox money.
September 30, 2026 @ 12:44 pm
That sentiment is one of the oxymorons of country music. The successful country star has millions in the bank yet the genre’s image is rural and blue collar. Some musicians, like Alan and Strait, can still pull it off.
I believe Kenny when he sings about island time.
September 30, 2026 @ 12:50 pm
Kenny Chesney and Elon Musk both wouldn’t piss on you (or I) if we were on fire.
This is peak modern internet “my rich guy is better than your rich guy”.
As George Carlin put it “It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it” when it comes to the wealthy.
As for the song, I don’t think it is great, but I also find the critique a weird one. We get tired of songs about trucks and Hallmark card style love songs and all that, but when an artist releases a song that touches on the oddity of modern society when it comes to income inequality we say “you can’t sing that”.
September 30, 2026 @ 1:35 pm
Carlin was a wealthy guy, himself.
He wasn’t some street preacher.
September 30, 2026 @ 3:03 pm
Okay? Doesn’t change the point he was making.
Musk, Chesney, Carlin all live/lived lives 99% of people never will.
I will say this – rich artists are more tolerable to me than rich Tech guys like Musk. The tech folks are just f’n weird people. Musk falls into that category 100/100 times. Weird, weird dude.
October 1, 2026 @ 9:24 am
It is not much of a point when he belonged to the same club.
Rich artists are just as weird. Steve Earle for example. They are all strange people that would be locked up if they couldn’t sing.
September 30, 2026 @ 8:06 pm
“This is peak modern internet “my rich guy is better than your rich guy.”
I don’t have a ‘rich guy’, my comment was how silly it is for one super wealthy guy to take a dig at another super wealthy guy.
As for MM, go be a clown on another thread, I’m talking about the song and the lyrics, goofball.
September 30, 2026 @ 10:41 am
I’m no Chesney fan, but I find the consternation around him getting in the HoF a bit puzzling. Like him or not – he was one of the biggest acts in the genre for a decade and even while that burning star has faded a bit, it’s not like he has sunk as low as Keith Urban has both in terms of creative output or general popularity.
In a just world other acts would have gotten in before him. But HoF’s – regardless if they are entertainment or sports have been degraded to the point I’m not sure it means much to anyone but the most devoted.
September 30, 2026 @ 10:45 am
Not a fan of Chesney at all, but I do think people like him that defined a certain period in the genre (for good or bad) without blazing any artistic trails do deserve a place in the Hall. I think it should be (far) down the line in time though. About now, for example, would be a good time for Earl Thomas Conley to get in.
(I did like ETC back in the day probably because I was younger, less cynical and had some appreciation for radio country that was easy and pleasant enough to listen to.)
September 30, 2026 @ 10:46 am
There’s still an untapped market out there for grown-up men singing grown-men songs.
October 1, 2026 @ 6:29 am
Amen to this!
September 30, 2026 @ 11:02 am
I personally don’t miss the twang of his first two albums because it’s so fake. You listen to a song like don’t that make you wanna fall in love and it’s a great song but you can’t possibly believe him. For better or worse the island guy is really him. Anything but mine remains one of the great songs of its era and at least it feels more real
September 30, 2026 @ 11:57 am
I couldn’t agree more. Chesney was 32 when his greatest hits album was released in 2000 and he is now 58. I miss the quality songs he was singing when he was younger. I’m also growing tired of songs that just rattle off a lot of specific imagery back-to-back. Similar to how list songs have a ‘checking boxes’ style, naming different kinds of adjective heavy-imagery and then coming in with a generic chorus hook/idea doesn’t do it for me. It comes across as trying too hard and gets distracting. Like that friend who is telling you a story about what happened to them last week and gets bogged down in too many details. Give me a little imagery, but don’t salt the whole song so much.
September 30, 2026 @ 12:14 pm
The twang was real. I live close to his hometown. He used to talk like us. Living away from home, his accent fades in & out. Loved ” The Tin Man.” Kenny has his cheese ball moments/misses, but his music represented a place in time. I am fine with HOF. I like that he found his lil island niche. It’s not my favorite music. I’ll always be proud of an East Tennessean.
September 30, 2026 @ 8:08 pm
That’s interesting, I met Chesney many years ago, and he didn’t have any twang when he spoke.
October 1, 2026 @ 2:35 pm
His East Tennessee pride is probably why his guest vocal made Kelsea Ballerini’s “Half of My Hometown” several notches better than the average Ballerini song. (Kelsea, incidentally, retains even less of her accent than Kenny does of his, and she’s from Knoxville.)
September 30, 2026 @ 12:41 pm
Chesney has a good ear for songs. His desire for commercial appeal and success tends to crowd it out.
Hence, his uneven albums with great songs and let’s pander to the radio tunes.
September 30, 2026 @ 2:44 pm
I liked some of early chesney, young, and thats why im here. But have never really got into his island music. Its ok. Its ok to say he got into the hall too soon but to say he doesnt deserve to be in at all is absurd. He was a face of a generation and he has continued to have hits long after lots of great singers of his day stopped having them. In a world where june carter cash is in the hall, kenny def deserves to be there.
September 30, 2026 @ 8:38 pm
Kenny Chesney has had some incredible ballads on his albums. “Better As a Memory,” “Better Boat,” “Demons,” “The Road and the Radio,” “Old Blue Chair,” “The Boys of Fall”… I actually look forward to his releases. I didn’t care for his early stuff (well, “When I Close My Eyes” was pretty good), but after “Anything But Mine” he really turned a corner. I think what really appeals to me is as he has gotten older his music had gotten more introspective. Unlike, say, Keith Urban who still sings about partying all night, you get a sense of looking back on life with a lot of Kenny’s songs.
September 30, 2026 @ 8:58 pm
Chesney has grown old with his music compared to Keith Urban and Luke Bryan for sure. And I think it’s served him well.
October 1, 2026 @ 8:08 am
I don’t know how you can grow much older with your music than putting out an album of old Yacht Rock songs.
September 30, 2026 @ 9:56 pm
When I want beach-themed country music I’ll listen to Jimmy Buffett.
October 1, 2026 @ 5:36 am
Exactly.
September 30, 2026 @ 10:48 pm
Isn’t late September a weird time for a KC album to drop, given his whole no-shoes, beach bum, Buffet schtick?
October 1, 2026 @ 6:47 am
Not necessarily. Like I said, the title track take a reflective mood back on the summer, so maybe it’s the perfect time. Also, this isn’t in total a beach bum album. There is some of that for sure, but there’s a lot of reflection and nostalgia in this album.
October 2, 2026 @ 5:41 am
Yep, fair. It’s actually pretty good, save that one awful song.
October 1, 2026 @ 3:41 am
I’m not a Chesney fan, but the reason I think his HOF selection was wrong is because so many deserving artists were passed over. But the HOF lost all credibility before this.
October 1, 2026 @ 4:26 am
I never really cared for his music, I always considered him to be “Faux Country.”
“You and Tequila” with Grace Potter was probably the only song of his that I actually liked.
October 1, 2026 @ 4:37 am
I don’t own Kenny Chesney albums, but ever since Pandora became a thing, I’ve heard more of his album cuts on my stations based around country artists. That gave me a new appreciation for him. Do I like beach songs? No. Can’t stand them. Never have been able to. It doesn’t matter who it is. Chesney, early Zac Brown. You name the beach song, and I consider it audio vomit. But those were usually singles. His deep cuts, like “Always Gonna Be You,” are practically a different artist. Absolutely phenomenal. There’s also the fact that his good singles are just that–really, really good.
“I Lost it”
“Don’t Happen Twice”
“The Good Stuff”
“There Goes My Life”
“I Go Back”
“Anything But Mine”
“Don’t Blink”
“Better as a Memory”
“Somewhere With You”
“You and Tequila”
“Come Over”
For more recent singles, “All the Pretty Girls” is super catchy, as is “Tip of My Tongue,” even with the rather overt lyrics.
The thing about Kenny Chesney is that when one steps back and evaluates his history, he has released a lot of garbage singles that make us roll our eyes, but most of it was inoffensive if annoying. He was not releasing worst of the worst drivel. Then you factor in that he has released some of the best singles of his generation of artists, and you can’t help but tip the scales in his favor.
I will be listening to this album.
October 1, 2026 @ 5:18 am
Should he be in the hall of fame?selling lots of records,and bunch hits and packing out stadiums… yeah probably.i will concede the quality part though.he has a hand full of quality songs.the good stuff being one of my favorites.co writen by the great bill anderson definitely helps a song I would say.
October 1, 2026 @ 5:28 am
Before trigger corrects me.i was talking about a lot of things different written by Bill Anderson and Dean dillon.see there is another quality song.
October 1, 2026 @ 5:35 am
‘Shot A Car Into Space’
Is the most Country/Redneck sort of thing a good ol’ boy would do.
Wealthy, or not.
This song is quietly, genius.
Puts a wicked smile on one’s face.
The song, ‘Burn My Boat’, is Pure Trash.
For someone who laments “boyfriend country” as much as you, am surprised that you like it.
Not knocking you, just surprised that you like it.
October 1, 2026 @ 6:04 am
I always find it wild that the same guy who produces Willie and Allison Krauss’s “Windy City” produces Kesney Chesney.
October 1, 2026 @ 9:26 am
“Well, his money’s as good as anyone else’s.”
-Frank Barone
October 1, 2026 @ 8:14 am
…mr. chesney burning his boat, you bet. also, not quite sure, whether he’s the most credible messenger of the message in “shot a car into space”. does anybody know, why they put the bathrooms of silver sands marina on the cover of this album? some kind of an easter egg thing?
October 1, 2026 @ 9:22 am
Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw have both earned their spots in the CMHOF, in my personal opinion.
That said, it’s nothing short of criminal that Dwight Yoakam and Clint Black are still waiting for their turn.
The CMHOF definitely seems to have turned the page to the next decade at this point, though. It seems all but a done deal at this point that Shania is getting in this year, and we’ll likely see Keith Urban’s induction next year – followed by Faith Hill and Martina McBride over the course of the next five years.
Then there’s the very real possibility of seeing Taylor Swift’s induction at some point in the next decade.
The only real way to clear the backlog is to open up a mass induction at some point, their stubbornness be damned.
October 1, 2026 @ 2:17 pm
A msss induction is illogical. if allowing in two artists ier year is not enough, then make it three a year, for the next ten years. That maintains the essence and integrity of the institution.
Making it 15 in one year, just cheapens it.
October 1, 2026 @ 8:36 pm
That’s what they did to Waylon. Inducted him with several others when his health was failing.
October 1, 2026 @ 8:49 pm
This is the very reason they should consider a mass induction. It doesn’t have to be 10-15 people. But even if they inducted five in the Veteran’s category, it would help clear the backlog. Ralph Stanley, Toby Keith, and others died before they got to enjoy the accolade. Yes, I know that Waylon didn’t care, but a lot of people did and do. If we know certain artists are going in, let’s put them in now while they’re still around to enjoy it.
October 2, 2026 @ 5:18 am
Why not simply do 2 veterans a year for several years , rather than 1. 1. 1. 5, 1, 1….?
Toby’s induction was rushed and fast-tracked because of his illness. Absemt the special circumstances, his induction was more “premature” than Chesney’s or McGraw’s. (And it seemed to violate the rule against inducting someone in the year after their death, if that matters._
October 1, 2026 @ 10:16 pm
Shania, Urban, Hill, and McBride in a row.
Disgusting. Turn the hall into a funeral pyre.
October 1, 2026 @ 10:23 am
I loved Kenny Chesney. I quit listening to Kenny Buffett. I like his stuff before the Everywhere We Go album far more than everything he released afterwards and that was when he was the equivalent of a lower midcarder. He’s made a fortune, he’s in the HOF, he’s had a ton of commercial success, but sometimes you can write a song that’s not about the beach
October 1, 2026 @ 3:15 pm
In any arena, HOF honors are subjective, to say the least. For example, Barry Bonds should have been in the baseball HOF long ago. Steroids are the reason given as to why he hasn’t been inducted, but his pre-steroids career would have been enough on its own. No, he’s not in the HOF because he was an absolute (jackwagon) to everyone around him. Sportswriters and associates have long memories.
All of this is to say, Kenny played it right, as far as Nashville was concerned. Waylon, Bocephus and JLL, not so much. It’s not much more complicated than that.
October 2, 2026 @ 6:47 pm
Barry Bonds is not in the H-o-F because all the players who were deemed to be PED users in the “steroid era” have been blackballed. It has nothing to do with him being a “jackwad,” McGuire, Sosa, A-Rod, Palmeiro, Giambi, Manny Ramirez, Roger Clemens–weather they were nice or nasty, they’ve all been effectively banned. It’s so many, that it doesn’t carry the stigma now that it did when it was only Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe (for association with gambling).
October 3, 2026 @ 6:47 am
The blackballing of the steroid era guys makes less and less sense every year when guys like Jeff Kent (not a HOFer) and Carlos Beltran (Astros sign-stealing which was his idea mostly) are in.
But I agree with you that it has nothing to do with his personality. Jeff Kent was and is a egotistical prick on and off the diamond and he got in. Short of murder or rape most BBWA members could care less if a guy is “nice” or not.
October 2, 2026 @ 2:20 am
“Talkin’ Dirt” has to be a Luke Bryan or Jason Aldean reject demo. I get the lyrics due to the small-town gossip mill, but the delivery is horrific. It gives off Tim McGraw “Truck Yeah” energy in the worst way. You have to wonder if the song is Kenny’s way of subtly shading all the rumors and speculation about him over the years, especially during the Renée Zellweger saga.
October 2, 2026 @ 12:50 pm
Underwhelmed at first SSM listening but it’s growing on me. Clint Black and Dwight Yoakam probably deserved to be in the Hall long before Chesney, though while I’ve seen all remain superb in concert over the years I’ve only seen Kenny get stadium sized crowds rocking joyfully for an entire set. Lead Belly outranks them all but I’m not so sure he could light up Vegas’s Sphere. Kenny Chesney’s catalog and ongoing popularity have definitely been a contributing factor to the current status of “country music” (traditional/properly classified/whatever the heck),
and he is worthy of HOF honors.
October 4, 2026 @ 6:55 am
Don’t like this guy. Hard to listen to a guy who built his career up singing sentimental love songs (e.g., How Forever Feels, If I Lost It, Fall in Love, Me and You, etc.) yet appears completely content to never start a family, take his testosterone injections, and (I’m assuming) screw the groupies every night. Maybe he should sing about his annulment. That would be much more authentic. Plus his music isn’t even country anymore so not really missing out by not listening to his stuff.
October 7, 2026 @ 1:04 pm
“It was Chesney who established beach songs as one of the bedrock themes of contemporary country for better or worse.”
Trigger, I have Jimmy Buffett’s ghost on line 4 for you.
October 7, 2026 @ 1:50 pm
I consider Jimmy Buffett a country artist. I’ve argued that he’s a country artist and deserved to be in the Country Music Hall of Fame. People have argued against me on that, and at the most, the majority of people consider him country 2nd or even 3rd. His singles were only promoted to country radio very selectively. So even though he definitely inspired people like Chesney and Alan Jackson, it really was Chesney who established beach songs as part of the country canon.