Kenny Chesney - Welcome to the Fishbowl Review

The most striking scenes of Kenny Chesney‘s ‘Come Over’ video aren’t those of the bikini-clad beauty in the swimming pool or the panoramic shoreline. It’s the singer himself… without a hat on. As it turns out, those images are something of a metaphor for Chesney’s new ‘Welcome to the Fishbowl’ album.

Chesney has revealed what’s beneath the hat (both the actual and metaphorical one) before. He’s told the stories of his scars and shared his heartbreak, but never with such confidence and conviction. Two of the more vulnerable songs — ‘Come Over’ and ‘Always Gonna Be You’ — bookend the album....full text Chesney's albums have always been considerably more wistful than his radio persona, but "Welcome to the Fishbowl's" tunes, while well wrought, can be downright dour. The tonal shift is fine — the problem is that these weepies often come off less like authentic autobiography than downbeat Nashville role-playing. (The too-sleek production and ponderous, stretched-out tempos don't help.)
On the title track, a playful Internet-era rebuke, he muses, ''Everybody's business is everybody's business,'' but Fishbowl reveals less about the star's true interior life than ever....full text Most of the songs on here are from the perspective of someone who’s been kicked around and grown weary by life. On “Makes Me Wonder,” Chesney contemplates turning a friendship into a love affair, but fear seems to get in the way. As he sings on “To Get To You”: “Love’s become a frightening thing to do.” The album ends with a live version of "You and Tequila," recorded at Red Rocks Amphitheater with Grace Potter. It's not as searing as their studio version from 2010's "Hemingway's Whiskey," but fits in beautifully with the themes on "Welcome to the Fishbowl."

It’s not all dark clouds, however. On “Feel Like A Rock Star” featuring his current tour mate Tim McGraw, life’s a party where the music is always free. On “Time Flies,” the lilting island track pays homage to getting away to the sand and the surf after a heartbreak because “time flies when you’re having rum.” Bring on the Captain Morgan.

For those who like their Chesney with a side of Corona and lime and nothing but a good time, this might not be the album for you. But for anyone who’s been kicked around a little by life and knows what it’s like to wake up with your heart pounding over a lost chance that feels it will never come this way again, welcome to the fishbowl....full text The realities of maintaing a successful recording career for twenty years is a challenge few artists can successfully navigate. It's downright rare in the pop music world but in country music, where fans stay loyal far longer, it's a little more manageable. And yet, it's still relatively hard. I could probably count on one hand the amount of country artists who are still relevant 20 years after their debut with Kenny Chesney one of the few artists. In fact, he joins a small list of superstars that are still able to sell-out arenas and stadium tours and for the first time in a long time, if not his career, Kenny Chesney's launching his Stadium tour with Tim McGraw at the same time he's launching Welcome To The Fishbowl, the follow-up to the Platinum Hemingway's Whiskey, a record which gave him some of the most glowing reviews of his career. Look for "Fishbowl" to do the same....full text