New Tunes Tuesday - Kenny Chesney

"Life On A Rock" is the latest collection of island living songs from Kenny Chesney. After the first listen, I knew this album would become a favorite of mine at the lake this summer.

It's short, only 10 songs, all slow-to-mid-tempo about living life in the islands. Perfect for lounging in the water, a dock, or a beach. But that's just touching the surface. Dig a little deeper and the album is so much more than that. It gives a very personal glimpse into his very personal life.

My favorite song is about his favorite watering hole "When I See This Bar." He sings of his friends, the memories made, the shared laughs and drinks. He sings of how life happens when you're busy having fun, but some places can bring the past to the present. That's when you know you were really living in the moment when that moment occurred. "Pieces of our past slowly slip away / But time just stands still when I walk in this place."

"Lindy" is the song of a homeless man that caught the attention of Kenny while others might have dismissed him as a crazy man. "He plays piano at the church when nobody's watchin' / Takes cigarettes from strangers and sometimes you see him talkin'... to himself, laughin' to himself." A man with his music, who lives a very different life than Kenny, but they have music in common and maybe more. We're all just people living a dream, aren't we?

Another very touching song is "Happy On The Hey Now (A Song for Kristi)." It's a tribute song to his friend Kristi who died young. The Hey Now is the name of a boat they would hang out on. "I'll always see you dancing, up there on the bow / Living life in the moment, happy on the hey now. / And you'll live with us as long as memories stay alive / And you left us with so many, Kristi / You will never die... never die..." After listening to the song, you can't help but think about your own life and the people who come and go through it. The people may be gone, but their memories live on.

The whole album is made up of little moments and memories. The lesson here is that life moves really fast, and we tend to want to move even faster. This album reminds us to slow down, live in the moment, write it down, sing about it, or take a picture before the moment slips away forever. Good reminder for us all.