Kenny Chesney Explains Why He Retired Two Songs For A Decade
Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Kenny Chesney Explains Why He Retired Two Songs For A Decade

Having been in the business for decades, Kenny Chesney has plenty of songs to choose from when it comes to performing. However, if you went to one of his concerts in the past decade, you wouldn't have heard two tunes in particular.

Chesney quasi-retired "Big Star and "The Good Stuff" from live performances. Speaking on The Bobby Bones Show, Chesney explained that he just recently resurrected both of these tunes at concerts. There's no big reason why Chesney decided not to play either tune in a long time. He simply just got tired of playing both songs and decided to focus on other tunes that entertained him more.

"Over the years, I got really tired of playing Big Star, and we didn't do it for a long time. Then, one night we did it. We did "Good Stuff" last year, and we hadn't done it in 10 years for some reason," he told the radio host. "We did those two songs last year, and I went "Wow, it has new energy. New people listening to it."

Kenny Chesney Found Renewed Energy With the Tracks

Chesney found a renewed energy for both of the tracks. He explained, "They sounded great and felt good to us." Chesney is currently putting together the setlist for his Sun Goes Down 2024 Tour. So it's possible that Chesney may add both songs to the setlist, given his renewed enthusiasm for both. Chesney explained that it's hard to find a balancing act between songs that people want to hear and songs that he enjoys to play.

Chesney explained that he gives a better performance if he enjoys the songs. "Big Star and "The Good Stuff" aren't the only songs that Chesney has had issues with throughout his career. In an interview (via Country Chord), Chesney also explained that he wasn't a fan of the song "Don't Blink." He really hated the song and thought it was going to damage his career.

He explained, "When we released that song, Joe Galante (Sony Music Executive) and (Sony Music Executive) Renee Bell really wanted that song released. And I hated it. I felt like it just touched every button you could possibly touch to get somebody to like a song and I hated it. I've worked really hard to be here and you're gonna cut my legs off with Don't Blink.''

However, it turns out that the tune ended up being a hit, proving Chesney wrong.