SHANE MCANALLY VS SHANE MCANALLY SHOWDOWN COMING AT CMA AWARDS

Hit Songwriter and Producer Earns Four Nominations Including Two in Song of the Year Category, Impacts Single and Album of the Year at the 49th Annual Awards Show

Photo Credit:  Kelly Christine Musgraves

Shane McAnally pulled off a rare, if not unprecedented feat, Wednesday morning when he was nominated for four CMA Awards – twice in the Song of the Year category (Kenny Chesney’s “American Kids” and Sam Hunt’s “Take Your Time”), Single of the Year for “Take Your Time” as a producer and Album of the Year for Kacey Musgraves’ Pageant Material (as a producer) and unofficially squares off with himself for Song of the Year for the 49th Annual CMA Awards.

The hit songwriter and producer reached a number of milestones with his four nominations. He joins Alan Jackson as the only songwriters to have two of his songs compete in the Song of the Year category in different years. He won the 2014 CMA Song of the Year for co-writing Kacey Musgraves’ “Follow Your Arrow with Musgraves and Brandy Clark.

“Considering the amount of amazing music that was made this past year, I am so honored that we are getting this sort of love from the CMA this morning,” McAnally said. “I am so excited for these artists and their teams and still can’t believe this is my life.”

McAnally also was previously nominated twice in the Song category when Kacey Musgraves’ “Merry Go Round” and Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart” were nominated in 2013. The Song of the Year nominations put McAnally in some fairly rare company in CMA history. He’s now among the awards’ most-nominated songwriters with five songs awarded nominations. Jackson and Bob McDill have written seven, Bobby Braddock, Vince Gill and Brad Paisley have six, and McAnally is tied with Don Schlitz with five. He has a total of nine career nominations.

McAnally also is up for a trophy as producer on Hunt’s single “Take Your Time” with Zach Crowell and Musgraves’ album Pageant Material with Musgraves and Luke Laird. “American Kids,” a No. 1 song that served as the thematic launching point for Chesney’s The Big Revival album and tour, also is nominated in this category, but the award only goes to the performer and producer.

McAnally is one of Music Row’s most popular songwriters with cuts recorded by many top stars, including Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and Darius Rucker. He and Kacey Musgraves co-produced her album Pageant Material, released earlier this year with Laird and is at work on Old Dominion’s first release, Meat and Candy, for RCA Records. He is currently serving as lyricist and composer for the Dallas-based show Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical, which runs at The Dallas Theater Center through the Fall.

KENNY CHESNEY’S BIG REVIVAL IS 13TH COUNTRY ALBUM TOPPER

Critical Kudos Continues To Add Up; 130,000 Copies Sold  

PRESS RELEASE

Nashville, TENN. (October 1, 2014) -In a world that’s changing, some things remain. Kenny Chesney hit the streets with the surging The Big Revival with eleven songs Billboard suggest “captures the zeitgeist of American youth,” and found himself topping the Billboard Country Album Chart for the 13th time. Selling 130,000 copies in its first week, the album has connected with the fans with a passion many country albums have not this fall.
“There are people passionate about life, about music, about their friends and how they dig in and get through as much as how they have a good time,” Chesney says. “I knew during the last tour, they were hungry for more from this music... They wanted songs that showed them more of their life, which maybe offered some different things musically.

“It’s not as simple as everyone thinks: to find great songs, to be in a creative space where you can think about that stuff, hear new rhythms or change up the lyrics you go to. I didn’t want to come back with more of the same, but more of something even better... and whether it’s ‘Flora-Bama’ or ‘Wild Child’ or ‘Til It’s Gone,’ the response I’m getting says we did the right thing.”

That response also includes some high praise from some of the nation’s most prestigious publications. USA Today called The Big Revival “a coming-of-age tale full of life-changing memories,” while Esquire.com wrote it “feels completely organic” and New York Newsday proclaimed, “(Chesney) really builds his vision of America... a big-tent collection of future hits that celebrates regular folks who stand up for each other. In turn, even more folks will stand with Chesney after hearing it.”

Even notoriously tough Rolling Stone opined the album “continuously brings a sense of musical energy and emotional urgency... His strongest collection of songs since 2010’s career-defining Hemingway’s Whiskey,” while People offered it “reclaims his spirituality” and The Miami Herald deemed it, “Chesney’s most infectious collection in a long time.”

“You don’t go on a journey to find songs, seek new players or consider how to write about life between the coats looking for awards or good reviews,” says the man The Los Angeles Times deemed “The People’s Superstar” about the time invested in The Big Revival. “If you’re truly writing songs, you’re scraping at people’s hearts, looking at what defines their lives – and you wanna remind them to dig in and really live. I think a bunch of these songs sure do.”

“Til It’s Gone” hit Billboard’s Top 40 two weeks before add date, taking the free-spirited attitude of “American Kids” and focusing it on drawing people together. Just 800 units shy of besting Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga for #1 on Billboard’s Top 200, Chesney views the diversity as a sign that good music resonates – whether it’s progressive country or postmodern cocktail – and that inspires him in big ways.

“There are things on here unlike anything I’ve ever done. That music lovers respond to my record and Tony Bennett with that amount of passion makes me believe there will always be room for interesting music. It’s up to us to challenge ourselves to make it.”

A LITTLE MESSED UP, BUT WE'RE ALL ALRIGHT: KENNY CHESNEY RETURNS WITH "AMERICAN KIDS" TODAY

Photo Credit: Allister Ann

PRESS RELEASE

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Friday, June 20, 2014) – “When I took a year off to make this next record, I knew there was something special out there, but it was going to take time to find it, to write it, to bring it to life in the recording studio,” says the man The Los Angeles Times calls “the people’s superstar.” To that end, “American Kids” – the lead single from Kenny Chesney's fall album project – arrives today.

With a 6 a.m. debut on NoShoesRadio, a simultaneous feed to all radio outlets and the opportunity to buy Chesney’s first new high-octane country single in almost four years at iTunes, “American Kids” sets the bar for what his next album will hold. Celebrating the way people live in the flyover, the song captures the details, the realities and especially the exuberance of the moments, memories and laughter that define being wildly alive in America today.

“With two hooks, three rhythm scans and some of the most ingenious wordplay I’ve ever heard,” Chesney says, “this song’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard. The second Shane [McAnally] played ‘American Kids’ for me, I knew I was going to cut it. In fact, I kinda wondered why he hadn’t played it for me sooner.”

Written by Rodney Clawson, Luke Laird and Shane McAnally, “American Kids” evokes the little pink houses and born in the USA of several generations, while embodying the swept-up-in-the-moment urgency and complete abandon of today’s teens and 20-somethings.

“There is so much more to being alive than partying, tailgates and bonfires,” says the Luttrell, Tennessean. “It’s every single detail of being young, growing up, remembering when, laughing about how, but especially knowing you can still do all those things! American kids are so much more complicated, more fun, more real – and if there’s anything about this song, beyond the rhythms, the hooks and the playing, that I love, it’s the fact that it captures all the little things that life really is made of.”

With the psychedelic bus video teaser and single cover, it’s obvious Chesney’s again pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in country music. And like all the young people dancing on the bus, it appears he’s also taken his good time savvy to a whole new place – and the living is awesome.

“Just because it makes you smile,” Chesney says, “that doesn’t mean a song can’t say something! To me, it’s the songs that feel so good that really bring home a message. After all this time, I can’t wait to see what everybody thinks...”

Co-producing with longtime collaborator Buddy Cannon, Chesney is mixing his 16th studio release. With the emphasis on great songs, pushing the boundaries without betraying who he is, the first wave hits today.

KENNY CHESNEY RETURNS WITH “AMERICAN KIDS”

Lead Single from Upcoming Project Celebrates How We Live 

PRESS RELEASE

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Tuesday, June 10, 2014) Kenny Chesney knew – when he took a year off – when he came back, he wanted his music to hit a whole new level; but he also wanted to make sure he was speaking to the people who have always invested their lives in his music. The result? “American Kids,” a multi-tempo celebration of the spirit of young America that packs not one, but two hooks and an innovative lyrical scan.

“When I heard it, I knew I was gonna cut it,” says the man whose won 4 consecutive Academy of Country Music and 4 Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year Awards. “It was unlike anything I’d ever heard – and I listen to a lot of songs. The rhythms, the images, the way the melody moved... It just grabs you and holds on, but even more importantly, it feels really good.”

Written by Rodney Clawson, Luke Laird and Shane McAnally, Chesney heard the song on a writing trip with McAnally, whose also written Chesney’s #1s “Come Over” and “Somewhere With You.” While evoking iconics of a certain generation, the song also embraces the in-the-moment lifestyle of today’s teens and 20-somethings with complete abandon. And with a chorus that contains the line – “a little messed up, but we’re all alright” -- Chesney once again brings the indomitability of the human spirit to the forefront.

“Hey, life is hard,” Chesney says. “People work long hours, have all kinds of stuff going on in their personal lives. But if there’s one thing I’ve seen over the last ten years, looking out at the faces in the crowd: you can’t keep my fans down. These are people who no matter what are in love with life, and they’re gonna find the good times no matter what.

“It’s not a perfect world. We are all a little screwed up, but we’re all okay. I love the idea of the screw up as part of it, because honestly it makes the parts that’re great, that much better. You appreciate those things that much more.”

"American Kids," which ships to radio on June 20, will be available for purchase at digital retail on Monday, June 23.

Again co-producing with Buddy Cannon, Chesney is putting the finishing touches on his 16th studio release. With an emphasis on great songs, pushing the boundaries without betraying who he is, the man deemed “The King of the Road” by The Wall Street Journal is looking forward to playing a lot of the new songs on the road in 2015.