Kenny Chesney Celebrates the Present in New Song ‘Here and Now’

Kenny Chesney has released a preview of his upcoming studio album with the optimistic new song “Here and Now.” The as-yet-untitled album, Chesney’s second full-length under Warner Bros. Nashville, is expected to be released in late spring.

Composed by Craig Wiseman, David Lee Murphy, and David Garcia during a creative retreat in Malibu, “Here and Now” extols the importance of living in the present moment and follows Chesney’s turn toward more uplifting and spiritual themes in “Get Along” and “Better Boat.” Built around a syncopated, rising-and-falling guitar riff, “Here and Now” has the performer acknowledging that he’s “been there, done that, got the T-shirt and hat,” but he’s learned to appreciate what’s right in front of him as well. “You and me, ain’t it good to be alive/Ain’t no better place, ain’t no better time than here and now,” he sings.

Chesney’s most recent album, 2018’s Songs for the Saints, served as a meditation on life, mortality, and resilience through the lens of his beloved hurricane-damaged Caribbean islands. In late 2019, Chesney released the steamier-than-usual “Tip of My Tongue,” but there’s no word if that will make the cut for his album.

The new music also coincides with the Chillaxification summer tour, a trek of uniquely Chesneyan proportions that includes 20 stadium performances at places like AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, along with a season-long run of comparatively smaller amphitheater shows. Accompanying him on the stadium dates will be Florida Georgia Line, Old Dominion, and Michael Franti and Spearhead, the last of whom will also open the amphitheater shows.