Kenny Chesney is Hitting the Charts Once Again

Kenny Chesney’s single I’m Alive from his latest album, Lucky Old Sun, peaked at No.8 on Billboards Hot Country Song Chart as of November 14, 2009. Prior to this, the single spent a week at No.55 on the chart. It also peaked at No.48 at US Billboard Hot 100 and No.6 in the Canadian Radio and Records Country Singles.

The album Lucky Old Sun debuted at the top of the U.S. Billboard 200. It was Chesney’s fifth consecutive album to top the U.S. Top Country Albums charts. At the same time, it is the thirteenth studio album released by the country music artist. The album has produced two singles in Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven, that reached No.1 on the Billboard country charts and Down the Road, through collaborations with The Wailers and Mac McAnally, respectively.

Chesney co-wrote the song with Dean Dillon and Mark Tamburino. However, it was Willie Nelson who first recorded the song on his album Moment of Forever, which Chesney also produced. The song was later recorded by Chesney with Dave Matthews on his 2008 album Lucky Old Sun but did not release it as a single from that album. This version later appeared on Greatest Hits II album which was released to radio in August 2009.

“I had already written ‘I’m Alive,’ and Dave told me he loved that ‘I’m Alive’ song and that he felt like that would be something that would fit on one of his records to stand alone,” Kenny recalls. “I said ‘Well, why don’t we try doin’ it?’ And then it was just magic in the studio when we did it. I didn’t realize how natural my voice and his voice would sound together, you know, ’cause it’s completely two different styles. We come from completely two different worlds. I mean he was born in South Africa. I was born in East Tennessee. So it just goes to show you how universal music can really be.”

In an interview, Chesney said, “It was never meant to be some kind of a message except to maybe myself. It’s one thing when Willie Nelson at seventy sings it, and something totally different when Dave and I do. One is from a place of really knowing; for us, it was more just the fact that we realize it.”

So far, I’m Alive has been met by mixed critical reception. J. Freedom Du Lac of the Washington Post said, “The song is supposed to be an anthem about strength and survival and soldiering, yet it sounds more like a weary wish than a declaration.” Meanwhile, “A genuine reflection about the way they choose to live their lives” is how Matt Bjorke of Roughstock described the song. A more negative feedback was given by CM Wilcox of The 9513.

He conferred a thumbs-down review saying the song has “somewhat ambitious” lyrics and made note of Matthews’ vocal performance. However, he also said that Chesney sounded like a “workaday singer” and that the duet did not have a sense of interplay between the two vocalists.