{"id":1332,"date":"2008-08-21T06:50:48","date_gmt":"2008-08-21T14:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2008\/08\/21\/no-shoes-radio\/"},"modified":"2008-08-22T16:49:18","modified_gmt":"2008-08-23T00:49:18","slug":"no-shoes-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2008\/08\/21\/no-shoes-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"No Shoes Radio"},"content":{"rendered":"

Driving home this evening
Could’ve sworn we had it all worked out<\/em><\/p>\n

How does that cut?\u00c2\u00a0 LIKE A KNIFE!<\/p>\n

I heard on Highway 16 that Kenny Chesney had his own XM radio station, up on channel 18.\u00c2\u00a0 I dialed in, and I heard Dave Matthews’ "Where Are You Going", Little River Band’s "Cool Change" and "Cuts Like A Knife".<\/p>\n

Kenny’s got a new album coming out.\u00c2\u00a0 The old one is done, it’s been put to rest, the tour’s almost over, time to start the cycle once again.\u00c2\u00a0 Kenny’s not worried about reaching the rap fans, those with no cash in third world countries, just his fans.\u00c2\u00a0 Fans want more music.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s delivering that, year after year.<\/p>\n

And that’s what featured mostly on No Shoes Radio.\u00c2\u00a0 Kenny Chesney tracks.\u00c2\u00a0 Deep cuts, stuff I’ve never heard, like "There’s Something Sexy About The Rain", from his 2005 album "Be As You Are (Songs From An Old Blue Chair)", from back when I thought country music was for hicks, from before I was a fan.<\/p>\n

But country music is today’s rock and roll.\u00c2\u00a0 If you can’t understand what’s on Top Forty radio, just nudge the dial up a bit to country, if you can find a station!<\/p>\n

But there’s a plethora of stations on satellite radio.\u00c2\u00a0 Both hip and\u00c2\u00a0 mainstream.\u00c2\u00a0 Sans commercials.\u00c2\u00a0 You can push the buttons and delve, and get hooked.<\/p>\n

I got hooked on Kenny’s "Never Wanted Nothing More".\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a big rock change at the end that’s only a fraction of the song but I have to listen to the cut all the way through to hear it, again and again.<\/p>\n

And then I heard my favorite Kenny Chesney cut, "I Go Back".<\/p>\n

‘Jack and Diane’ painted a picture of my life and my dreams
Suddenly this crazy world made more sense to me
Well I heard it today and I couldn’t help but sing along
Cause every time I hear that song…<\/em><\/p>\n

I GO BACK!<\/em><\/p>\n

I don’t hate John Cougar Mellencamp.\u00c2\u00a0 Loved "I Need A Lover", but what truly enamored me of his work was "Jack and Diane".\u00c2\u00a0 Remember that video with the posterization, back in the heyday of MTV?\u00c2\u00a0 I do!\u00c2\u00a0 And whenever I hear "Jack and Diane", I GO BACK!\u00c2\u00a0 Just like Kenny Chesney.<\/p>\n

I go back when I hear so many songs.\u00c2\u00a0 To summer camp.\u00c2\u00a0 To high school.\u00c2\u00a0 To the mountains.\u00c2\u00a0 The songs play and the movies start unspooling in my brain.\u00c2\u00a0 I loved that Kenny Chesney made this reference, I felt this was a guy who felt PART OF IT as opposed to ABOVE IT!<\/p>\n

Furthermore, "I Go Back" ROCKS!<\/p>\n

I became a fan.\u00c2\u00a0 I downloaded a shitload of stuff.\u00c2\u00a0 Start with the live album, great renditions of his best material.<\/p>\n

But that’s not all he’s done.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s got a whole body of work.\u00c2\u00a0 Unlike the flavor of the minute purveyed by the major labels and the big time media, a country artist has a plethora of songs.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to see this tour or maybe NEVER hear your favorite deep cuts!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like 1969 all over again.\u00c2\u00a0 Especially when the acts are good, and Kenny Chesney is good.<\/p>\n

And it’s just not wall to wall music on No Shoes Radio.\u00c2\u00a0 Kenny tells some stories too.\u00c2\u00a0 Like the very first concert he ever went to, a doubleheader, Def Leppard and Bryan Adams.<\/p>\n

Funny to think of him being that young.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, this illustrates Kenny’s roots.<\/p>\n

And we get a glimpse of his adult life, which is why he played "Cool Change", it reminds him of the islands, where he gets away.<\/p>\n

And I can’t listen to anything else.\u00c2\u00a0 I can’t change the channel.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t care if you tune in, it just roots me.\u00c2\u00a0 Gives me something to believe in, somewhere to belong.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s hard to belong when there’s\u00c2\u00a0 only a single, and it’s jammed down your throat everywhere.\u00c2\u00a0 We all want a clubhouse, where we can hang out and relax.\u00c2\u00a0 Where everybody knows our name.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what No Shoes Radio is like.<\/p>\n

But it’s the tracks abandoned by mainstream media, that live on in our brains, that cement the deal.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 They were ubiquitous once, but the oldies stations only play the gargantuan numbers, they don’t seem to realize we played those albums over and over again, we know every groove.\u00c2\u00a0 I was wowed to hear Bryan Adams’ duet with Tina Turner on "It’s Only Love".\u00c2\u00a0 And even though I know every note, own multiple iterations, I had to listen to "Cuts Like A Knife" through and through.<\/p>\n

Well I heard it on the street
I heard you might have found somebody new
Yeah
Well who is he baby
Who is he
And tell me what he means to you<\/em><\/p>\n

How can they love somebody else?\u00c2\u00a0 We didn’t know they’d be letting go.\u00c2\u00a0 WE’VE ALL BEEN HERE!\u00c2\u00a0 Even Kenny!\u00c2\u00a0 I’m sure he didn’t foresee Renee Zellweger dumping him.\u00c2\u00a0 IT HURTS!\u00c2\u00a0 You put on a brave face, but you don’t recover, not that fast.<\/p>\n

So what do you do, YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC!<\/p>\n

At first the weepies.\u00c2\u00a0 But when you gain your gumption, when you start to feel your inner strength will get you through, that you’ll survive, you want something that ROCKS OUT!<\/p>\n

Na na na na na a na na na na
Na na na na na a na na na na
NA NA NA NA NA A NA NA NA NA!<\/em><\/p>\n

IT FEELS SO RIGHT!<\/p>\n

You’re singing along to the radio in the car, tapping your fingers in time on the steering wheel, getting so involved that you start BANGING THE DASHBOARD!<\/p>\n

That’s the experience I want.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the experience I’m getting on No Shoes Radio.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Driving home this eveningCould’ve sworn we had it all worked out How does that cut?\u00c2\u00a0 LIKE A KNIFE! I heard on Highway 16 that Kenny Chesney had his own XM radio station, up on channel 18.\u00c2\u00a0 I dialed in, and I heard Dave Matthews’ "Where Are You Going", Little River Band’s "Cool Change" and "Cuts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-radio","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-lu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}