Despite his success, Kenny Chesney has spent the last five years searching: He's looked for a new sound, a new way to describe his life in his songs and a new approach for incorporating his love of the islands into his music.

With "Lucky Old Sun," Chesney seems to have found what he wanted: He's never sounded so relaxed and sure of himself. Still, it's a risky venture, as the country superstar steps away from the party anthems and middle-class sentiments his fans expect from him.

Instead, he creates a personal album about escape. The settings often feature beaches, boats and rum drinks: Familiar territory for Chesney, in both his music and life. But this time he's not heading into the sunshine to get loose; instead, he's getting away from it all to find who he is and what matters to him.

Whether singing with Dave Matthews on the atmospheric, modern ballad "I'm Alive" or with Willie Nelson on the sweet American songbook standard "That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)," Chesney focuses on philosophical lyrics about a successful overachiever who knows he should be happier than he is.

Songs like "Down The Road," ''Spirit Of A Storm," ''Key's In The Conch Shell" and the agreeable first single, "Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven" — with the world-famous Wailers providing the island rhythms this time — shift Chesney's compass toward a direction for the star to age with grace, as a musician and as a man.

CHECK THIS OUT: Chesney had a hand in writing five of his 11 new cuts, but the intimate "Nowhere To Go, Nowhere To Be" is the only one he wrote alone. Ostensibly a song about wasting a day at a bar, it's really about how refreshing, and important, it can be to completely break away from routine once in a while.

By MICHAEL McCALL
For The Associated Press

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