Kenny Chesney Salutes ‘Guys Named Captain’ in Seaside Ballad
Superstar tributes some truly unforgettable characters.
Kenny Chesney taps into his love of the ocean and respect for those who share it in “Guys Named Captain,” a just-released track from his upcoming Here and Now album.
Built on a quiet piano and acoustic guitar melody, and swaying with the gentle swell of a tide coming in, the track recalls the end of a perfect day on the water — and the self-styled scalawags who tell their tales in seaside bars. Filled with honest reverence for the lifestyle, Chesney holds these unforgettable characters up as legends in their own time.
“Any time you find yourself near the water, you’ll find these guys,” the superstar explains. “Tucked into a table in a corner, or sitting near the far end of the bar. The adventures they’ve had, places they’ve gone, the way they live their life for the sea … Free spirit might be too restricting a label for them. There’s nobody more loyal or more committed to their friends. Hell-raisers, heartbreakers, poets, pirates, they dream on the water and carry themselves with a whole other kind of strength. And it’s all in the song.”
It’s just one of the many character studies Chesney says Here and Now is comprised of — said to be a celebration of the spirit his fans in No Shoes Nation have shown year after year. “Guys Named Captain” serves as a portrait of those Hemingway-types who need the saltwater spray in their face, but Chesney says he’s recognized that same swagger elsewhere.
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“Every one of the guys in this song, every one of the people I’ve met in the islands, Key West, Mexico and even on the road, they’re all very different – except how much they love the water or the road,” he says. “Those things take them away, bring them back, but mostly allow them to be free. This song feels like it distills their soul into a just a few lines.”
Chesney’s Here and Now album is set to arrive on May 1, and its title track is rising up the country radio charts — currently just outside the Top 20. Later this year he plans to get back to his stadium-filling ways on the Chillaxification Tour, returning May 28 in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.
