“Live in No Shoes Nation”: How an audience in Kansas City set the tone for Kenny Chesney’s new record

Blue Chair Bay/Columbia NashvilleKenny Chesney’s 30-song Live in No Shoes Nation album comes out Friday, showcasing ten years’ worth of the superstar’s performances.

Even better?  The “All the Pretty Girls” hitmaker sifted through an arsenal of concert recordings himself to choose the tracks.  

“Going through a decade of hard drives was an amazing experience because you forget about certain moments,” Kenny explains. “You know, you forget certain connections with an audience, because you get on a bus and then you leave. I think one of the things that I thought about a lot in putting together this live record — the main criteria was the audience, the people that [were] listening and the people that gave you that energy back.”

Kenny says one particular group of fans helped set the bar for the rest of the project.

“When we did ‘Anything but Mine’ in Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium, they literally took over the song,” Kenny recalls. “I mean, it was just such an unbelievable magical moment. It was a moment that I just couldn’t believe that I was standing there listening and watching this, and I knew that that was going to make the record just because it showed so much passion you could just hear how much passion that they had, and how much they cared. You know, so that was a barometer listening through a lot of this content.”

Live in No Shoes Nation also features plenty of guest stars:  Taylor SwiftEric ChurchZac Brown BandOld Dominion and rocker Dave Matthews among them.

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