Kenny Chesney made the decision to take the summer of 2014 off from his massive stadium tours to make sure he got the music for his 15th studio album right. “The whole point of taking the time to get to a really creative place was to have the room to look at not what we’d done, but where we wanted to go,” Chesney says. “After all this time, if I can’t push myself and give the fans something that inspires them, that gets them pumped up, there’s no reason to just make a record to make a record.

That record is The Big Revival. Produced by Chesney and Buddy Cannon, the album goes deep. With guest appearances from Alison Krauss, Dan Tyminski, and Grace Potter, the 11 song album moves from the double-hooked, triple rhythmed “American Kids” to thumping rockers, a few personal ballads, and even the amped-up title track. Working with a new team of mixers, the sound of the new project is both more aggressive where it should be and more expansive with the acoustic instruments.

Kenny is once again pushing the boundaries of what a country can be while also celebrating how people between the coasts get their living done. “There’s so much more to the country than trucks, creek beds, and cut-offs,” Chesney laughs. “That stuff is fun, but when you look at how people really dig in and work, the things they face every day, you wanna remind them how hardcore they really are, show them that and also show them that you know there’s more to them than people might think.”