Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates (CD - 2007)

Personnel: Kenny Chesney (vocals); John Williams (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, gut-string guitar, talk box); William F. Bowman, John Willis (acoustic guitar); Joe Walsh (electric guitar); Quentin Ware, Jr. (trumpet); Gary Prim (piano, Hammond b-3 organ, Wurlitzer organ, keyboards); Randy McCormick (piano, Hammond b-3 organ, keyboards, synthesizer); Paul Lein (drums); Mat Britain, Mat Britain (steel drum); Chris Stapleton (acoustic guitar); Kenny Greenberg, Pat Buchanan, Vince Gill (electric guitar); Sonny Garrish (steel guitar, dobro); Dan Dugmore (steel guitar); Scott Vestal (banjo); Rob Hajacos (fiddle); Mickey Raphael (harmonica); Jeff Coffin (tenor saxophone); Jim Horn (baritone saxophone); Steve Herman (trumpet); Chris Dunn (trombone); John Hobbs (piano, keyboards); Larry Paxton (acoustic bass); Paul Leim (drums, percussion); Eric Darken (percussion); Jon Randall, Jonell Mosser, Andrea Zonn, Bekka Bramlett, Melonie Cannon, Tim Hensley, Wyatt Beard, Buddy Cannon (background vocals).

Additional personnel: George Strait, Joe Walsh .

Audio Mixer: Kevin Beamish.

Liner Note Author: Judy Forde Blair.

Recording information: Blackbird Recording Studios; Emerald Nashville, TN; Keith Harter Music, San Antonio, TX; Love Shack Studio; Masterfonics Recordings Studios; Studio Without Walls, Los Angeles, CA; The Sound Emporium; The Tracking room; Westwood Recording Studios; WEstwood Sound Studios; Willisoundz.

Photographer: Glen Rose.

Kenny Chesney titled his 11th studio album JUST WHO I AM: POETS AND PIRATES out of the belief that modern country musicians contain a bit of both, due to their artistic nature and their peripheral, "on the road again" lifestyles. The album features elements of both, combining some of Chesney's sweetest love songs with a handful of rowdy country rockers for balance. One of the latter, "Wild Ride," is a manic party tune featuring the Eagles' Joe Walsh for just the right shade of dissolute atmosphere. The other duet, the twangy working man's anthem "Shiftwork," features George Strait in his comfortable new role as the elder statesman of Nashville's new traditionalists. Between those two songs, highlights include the philosophical "Don't Blink," the rowdy "Got A Little Crazy," and the lovely "Better As A Memory." Chesney is in fine voice throughout, and the song selection is, as always, a top-notch set of Music Row's finest, making JUST WHO I AM: POETS AND PIRATES yet another solid outing by one of Nashville's most dependable hitmakers.

There's no denying that the title Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates, Kenny Chesney's tenth studio album, bears an undercurrent of autobiography, as if he's telling us exactly what he's all about. Given this, it would seem logical that this album would be built upon original songs -- especially since its title echoes Be as You Are (Songs from an Old Blue Chair), his intimate 2005 album of originals -- but Just Who I Am has not one original song, when even its 2005 predecessor, The Road and the Radio, had a pair, including the very good "Beer in Mexico." Just Who I Am might not come from Chesney's pen, but these songs nevertheless have the appearance of being autobiographical, as they dwell upon teenage nostalgia, bittersweet memories, and the importance of family because life speeds by faster than you'd think. All of this gives the impression that Chesney is living a comfortable, familiar middle-aged existence, surrounded by his wife and kids, appreciating what he's got but looking back on his life with a fond eye. This isn't quite true -- Chesney is leaving his thirties without a wife and kids, which makes the number of songs celebrating close family feel a little odd (even if the song "Wife and Kids" finds Kenny pining for this close-knit family), since these are not songs about who Chesney is; they're about who is audience is. This carries over to his breezy, steel-drum island songs -- particularly the George Strait duet "Shiftwork," a mellow workingman's anthem where George and Kenny playfully soften the F in the title, making for a genuinely funny highlight -- right down to the arena-filling ballads, such as "Dancin' for the Groceries," an instant camp classic where Kenny looks sympathetically at a single mom stripping to support her kids (a kindness undercut by hammy, clumsy lyrics, epitomized by "in sequins and laces/she's dancing for braces"). These mawkish sentiments are heavy-handed, as are the arrangements in the power ballads, which are just slightly too clean and commercial, produced with an eye on the middle of the road. This measured, polished production does mean that the ballads, of which there are just a bit too many, do blend together unless they tend to go a little over the top, whether it's the seize-the-day sentiment of "Don't Blink" or that stripper-mom salute. Fortunately, then, Chesney does spend some time creating party songs for the islands, songs that may be just as calculated as the power ballads but at least are livelier, which make them more immediate and more lasting than the ballads, whether it's the cheerful morning-after memories of "Got a Little Crazy," a ridiculous Joe Walsh-driven version of Dwight Yoakam's rocker "Wild Ride," or "Shiftwork." That's not a whole lot of good times for an 11-track album, but when paired with the couple of light, midtempo cuts that have a little more snap -- such as the opener, "Never Wanted Nothing More" -- it does mean that Just Who I Am just manages from sinking into adult contemporary murk, even if it's hard to shake the feeling that Chesney is spending too much time acting how his audience expects him to be instead of just being who he is. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine minimize