‘Guitars And Tiki Bars’: Turn Up The Heat With Kenny Chesney’s Top 3 Beach Songs

CMT

Over the years, Kenny Chesney has developed a persona as the country music-singing island boy. In addition to his more “typical” country songs, Chesney has recorded a number of beachy tunes throughout his career, many of which you can hear playing on repeat whenever summer comes around. 

Of Chesney’s 28 number one singles, many of them are his beach-themed songs, and many more have made their way into the Top 10 on the charts. Most of the same songs have crossed over onto the Billboard Hot 100, making Chesney one of few successful crossover artists in country music.  

Chesney has sold over 30 million albums since the start of his career, and announced on March 7, 2016 that he is working on his 16th studio album. Although no release date for the album has been named, Chesney has already released its first single, called “Noise.” It doesn’t sound like “Noise” is all that beachy, but knowing Chesney, we’re sure his latest album will contain a good island song or two.

In the meantime, join us in celebrating Chesney’s 48th birthday with three of the greatest beach songs he’s recorded so far!

“When The Sun Goes Down”

From his album of the same title, “When the Sun Goes Down” was recorded as a duet between Chesney and multi-genre artist Uncle Kracker.

Released in February 2004, the song claimed the top spot on the Billboard country chart only two months later. It held on to the top position on that chart for five weeks, and also went on to take the 26th spot on the Billboard Hot 100. The song marked Chesney and Kracker’s first time collaborating, and led to Kracker’s first appearance on the country charts. 

Written by Brett James, the song celebrates the fun in being on the beach after dark, as the narrators sing “Cause when the sun goes down, we’ll be groovin/When the sun goes down, we’ll be feelin all right.“

The music video for “When the Sun Goes Down” was filmed in South Florida, and serves as the perfect setting for Chesney and Cracker’s chart-topping beach song.

“Guitars And Tiki Bars”

In January 2005, Chesney took his love of beach songs to a whole new level when he released an entire beach-themed album. Called Be as You Are (Songs from an Old Blue Chair), Chesney never released any singles from the album, since he only intended for it to be a side project.

Despite that fact, one track off of the album, called “Guitars and Tiki Bars,” made its way into the 53rd spot on the Billboard country charts based on unsolicited airplay alone. 

Co-written by Chesney, the narrator in the song shares his frustrations over his busy work life. Whenever the narrator gets fed up with his life, he takes off to the beach “to guitars, tiki bars and a whole lotta love.“

Since “Guitars and Tiki Bars” was never released as a single, Chesney didn’t film a music video for it. However, during a 2012 concert he was still able to film his performance of the song at Wildwood Beach in New Jersey.

“No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems”

Chesney’s 2003 single, “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems,” was his original expression of frustration over a busy life, and a desire to escape to the beach. Written by Casey Beathard, the song plays off of the sign sometimes seen hanging in stores, reading “no shoes, no shirt, no service.”

In the song, the narrator sings about how having on no shoes and no shirt isn’t a problem where he’s at on the beach, as he sings, “Want to soak up life for a while/In laid back mode/No boss, no clock, no stress, no dress code.“

“No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems” peaked at the second spot on the Billboard country chart, and also took the 28th position on the Billboard Hot 100 following its release.

The music video for the song was filmed on, you guessed it, a beach, and opens with Chesney speaking about his love of island life. “The notion of no shoes, no shirt, no problems isn’t a song title, but a way of life,” says Chesney.”My way of life.”

No pool or beach party would be complete without these three fun, beachy tunes by Chesney. Which one is your favorite?