Kenny Chesney’s ‘Born’ Had No ‘Master Plan’

Kenny Chesney releases his long-awaited Born album today (3/22). It's been four years since his last album release, and in that time, he held some song camps with good friends.

Kenny told us that he didn't see the new album coming. He spent the time since the world shut down playing music with friends, writing, listening to songs he loved, and recording when the moment struck with longtime collaborator Buddy Cannon.

He noted, "I can't call it a 'process' because we never set out to make a record, just explore songs and moments for the sake of music. All of a sudden, time had passed, and somehow, we had all these songs that looked like different pieces of who I – and just about everyone in No Shoes Nation, too – am."

Chesney continued, "It wasn't a master plan. There was no theme we were singing about that held it together. But if you listen to all 15 songs, you'll get the high-energy fun, chasing adventures, don't let people get you down, and you'll get the more reflective thinking about someone who's died, the person you know you shouldn't call emotions that have always been in the music, too."

Kenny explained, "Making music to make music, suddenly there's room for a few road trip songs like 'One More Sunset' or 'Just To Say We Did,' songs that sound like me and my buddies growing up. And you don't worry as much about having a few songs that are more introspective or looking at the tough spots of letting go like 'Thinkin' Bout' and 'Come Here, Go Away,' which everyone's lived through."

He concluded, "When you listen to 'Born,' there's a whole lot of truth about living, life, the big questions, and what we're all trying to experience. That banjo out front really throws you into the song, which feels great. I love a lyric that throws out all the options, but it never actually tells you what to do. Here it comes down to one existential truth, no matter who you are or what you're chasing: 'One thing's for certain, we've all been living since the day we were born.'"

Zac Brown's announcement that he and his soon-to-be ex-wife Kelly Yazdi were divorcing just four months after their August 31 wedding was sad to hear about. However, in the entertainment industry, divorce is very common.

Long-lasting marriages in country music like Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, and Dolly Parton and her husband of over fifty years Carl Dean are wonderful but rare in the music industry.

Gossip site TMZ recently revealed the news of Brown's pending divorce, and the couple stated to TMZ, "We are in the process of divorce. Our mutual respect for one another remains. We wish each other the best and will always appreciate our time together. As we navigate this personal matter, we simply request privacy during this time."

Yazdi, a model/actress, recently disappeared from Instagram, and when she returned to the social media platform, she took Brown's name off her bio and stopped following Zac on Instagram. She even took down every single post and photo that included him.

It wasn't until November of 2023 that the couple confirmed their marriage. This was Brown's second marriage. He was previously married to Shelly Brown for 12 years until 2018, and the couple share five kids. Zac and Kelly have no children together.

Country music's most recent short-lived marriage before Zac's was the union between country stars Carly Pearce and Michael Ray. Her album 29: Written In Stone addressed the divorce, and she told us in early 2023 that she was excited to share the next chapter of her music.

Pearce said, "Obviously, I learned a lot sonically about where I want to continue to push myself into the rootsier side of my music. But I think more importantly, I just learned that fans they just wanna hear what I'm going through and what my perspective is, and how I see the world in that period of time in my life. And so, I'm thankful that I don't have to write about a divorce anymore."

She added, "This phase of my life, while it is very exciting and fulfilling and fun and upbeat, there are still struggles that come with that, and I think I'm just really excited. I feel like, in a lot of ways, I've become a little bit more private with my personal life, to the point that maybe people don't even know what this music is gonna be like, and that's fun for me. I like the mysterious side of that."

This couple was married in an Indiana church in 1993 when Julia was one of the biggest movie stars in the world. Lyle scored a few country hits over the years, including a top ten on the Billboard Country Songs Chart in 1986 with "Cowboy Man." When the couple announced their divorce, they said: "We remain close and in great support of each other."

This couple was all anyone, including Carly and Michael, could talk about leading up to their 2019 October wedding at the Grand Ole Opry. Then, to everyone's surprise, Pearce filed for divorce in June 2020. She talked to the media about the breakup, but most of her feelings about the marriage and divorce can be found in the songs on her 29 Written In Stone album. She said of the album in a statement, "What you hear in this project is every stage of a relationship ending, the realization, the grief, the anger, the confusion...as soon as I could see all of these songs, I saw the pieces that they represented, and I felt like it was finished."

While Miley has made herself known as a world pop star, she is country music royalty as she was born in 1992 during her father Billy Ray Cyrus' massive success in country music. Miley and Liam met while filming the movie The Last Song in 2009. The couple broke up and got back together many times before they wed in 2018. Hemsworth filed for divorce in 2019, and the couple's divorce became final in early 2020.

Released in 2023, many of Cyrus's fans speculate that her song "Flowers" was about Liam.

One of country music's most talked about short marriages, Kenny and Renee met at NBC's Concert of Hope tsunami aid telethon. The couple started dating and then wed in the Virgin Islands just four months after they met. When the shocking marriage ended as quickly as it had started, the couple released a joint statement saying, in part, "The miscommunication of the objective of their marriage at the start is the only reason for this annulment. Renée and Kenny value and respect each other and are saddened that their different objectives prevent the success of this marriage."

Kid Rock and Pamela wed "officially" on a yacht in St. Topez; the couple then had a second ceremony in Beverly Hills and then even a third at a bar in Nashville. The couple first met in 2001 at a VH1 Aretha Franklin tribute. They became engaged in 2002, broke it off, rekindled, and re-engaged in 2006. Pamela announced their pending divorce on her social media, saying at the time, the couple just did not belong together.