Kenny Chesney Tones Down His Anthemic Quality To Provide More Intimacy On ‘Song for the Saints”
Kenny Chesney is a very easy artist to get along with, as the Rock and big anthemic hooks he normally incorporates are generally solid and enjoyable – and while he has sometimes been labeled as too commercial and arena-orientated in the past, I always felt that he was the type of Garth Brooks talent to pack a stadium while at the same time possessing an understated side, just looking for the right moment to glow. That moment seems to have been preempted by environmental catastrophe, as Chesney’s world view was deeply effected by 2017’s Hurricane Irma, which devastated his beloved town and residence of Caribbean island Saint Martin. The title track of the album, “Songs for the Saints”, is a ballad with a quiet Rock ferocity that encapsulates this lament, with a dust-yourself-off spirit – “this brokenness will heal, this weakness will be strong / let's lift our voice together as the saints go marchin' on.”
