Kenny Chesney grew up in East Tennessee, but his real home is Margaritaville. Chesney is Jimmy Buffett's spiritual godson, specializing in easy-rolling country-pop songs about fleeing the humdrum to go boozing and boating in tropical paradises. "No more building transmissions/He's going deep-sea fishin'," crows Chesney in "Coastal." On his 12th studio album, Chesney serves up the usual carpe diem anthems (the burly "Live a Little") and holds his own with the great George Jones on the rollicking honky-tonk duet "Small Y'all." When the mood turns serious, he slips: He can't muster the gravitas to pull off the title track, a maudlin tribute to Ernest Hemingway. As long as the weather's sunny and the blender's whirring, Chesney's fine company.

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“Time to Pretend”

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”