David Lee Murphy, Kenny Chesney Are Doing 'Alright' with Feel-Good
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BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 27, 2017 | PAGE 14 OF 19 MAKIN’ TRACKS TOM ROLAND [email protected] David Lee Murphy, Kenny Chesney Are Doing ‘Alright’ With Feel-Good Reminder Don’t go hitting that panic button. Creating a country song that takes place in a bar isn’t a new idea, but that David Lee Murphy, who threaded that message into the chorus of his Kenny was never a concern in the writing room because the message went way beyond Chesney collaboration “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” knows a little about its locale. trusting time. After notching four top 10 singles on Billboard’s Hot Country “We didn’t focus on the bar or the beach,” says Yeary. “We focused on the Songs chart in 1995 and 1996 — including the now-classic No. 1 “Dust on problem — the monkey on the back of that guy.” the Bottle” — Murphy waited eight years to return to that tier with “Loco.” That set up one of the song’s most unique images in the second verse. Most Thirteen years after that, early indications are that he’s got another hit on his situations require some wrestling to shake that monkey, but in this case, the hands as an artist with three minutes and 52 seconds of timely reassurance. sign provided just enough calm that no fight was necessary. The monkey slides “I’m getting a lot of nice notes from people throughout the industry,” says off the protagonist’s back “right into the deep blue sea.” Murphy of his return, “so it’s really cool.” “There’s probably some deep underlying psychology to that,” says Stevens. It’s not like Murphy has been sitting idle in the 13-year interim since “Loco.” “It’s basically the power of the mind — your ability to let something go and all He has written a series of hits for other artists, including Jason Aldean’s “Big of a sudden it jumps off.” Green Tractor,” Thompson Square’s “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not” and “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” was nearly completed that first day, though Chesney’s “Living in Fast Forward.” the writers reassembled the next day to tweak a few lyrics. Stevens played “His songs are part of what has kept country most of the instruments and programming for music grounded through all this phase it has a demo, and Murphy offered a sly, easygoing been going through where everything was vocal. After living with it a bit, Murphy got synthesized and getting away from the roots,” additional inspiration for the closing section says producer Buddy Cannon (Chesney, Willie and overdubbed a mantra-like chant, complete Nelson). “David Lee’s music roots have been with harmonies. Justin Ostrader also added a firmly planted. It’s like a tree that has stood short, twin-guitar instrumental that provides a while all this stuff is blowing down around him.” moment of contrast. In that context, “Everything’s Gonna “That was just a genius solo,” says Stevens. Be Alright” is a reflection of Murphy’s very “It was perfect.” existence. The hypnotic midtempo, which is The writers were initially optimistic it would No. 32 on the Country Airplay chart, is built get recorded — they could envision Chesney, primarily on two chords (though a third serves Dierks Bentley or Keith Urban singing it — as a replacement chord after the initial chorus), and Chesney considered it for his album Cosmic with a single, vibrating guitar string playing Hallelujah, but he ultimately passed on it and rhythm on the tonic note to set up its trance-like advised Murphy to hang onto it for himself. As qualities. Written at the Starstruck building on it turned out, Chesney and Cannon stepped in Nashville’s Music Row in January 2016, it was, to produce an album for Murphy (“David Lee perhaps, a personal reminder to Murphy and is not only the original hillbilly rock star, he has his co-writers — Jimmy Yeary (“I Drive Your been my friend for a long time, so it felt right,” MURPHY, (left) CHESEY Truck,” “I’m Gonna Love You Through It”) and says Chesney), and Chesney cut a duet vocal for songwriter-producer Chris Stevens (TobyMac, another track on the album. Colton Dixon) — to stay centered in an unstable business. It was fairly late in the game when they decided “Alright” should be part “All of us songwriters, every day we’re out here digging around in the dirt, of the project, and Chesney decided to take his voice off the other song and trying to find that one little gem,” says Murphy. “Maybe subconsciously we add it to “Alright.” He did three or four takes at Nashville’s Blackbird Studio, were saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to do it, everything is good, everything is going finding the right attitude for the song with little trouble. to be fine.’ ” “That was easy: ‘Make it like two guys sitting at the bar at the end of a long Murphy was the instigator that day. He submitted a telling visual — “She day,’ ” he says. “Just be real with it.” rattled the ice in my plastic cup” — that became the opening line of the song. Chesney convinced the writers to add the pre-chorus — that understated Stevens kicked into the one-note rhythm pattern, and a story began to emerge section that focuses on the sign on the wall — into the second verse, as well as the of a guy sitting at a beachside bar, lamenting the agitations in his life to a female first. Outside of a little mixing, Chesney and Cannon made few other changes barkeep. How, they asked themselves, could they turn his bad day around? to the demo, allowing that original recording to become the finished product. “I just remember us getting to [the idea] of, ‘Maybe there’s a sign on the “It was pretty much a record when they brought it to us,” says Cannon. “I wall,’ ” says Yeary. “I remember us taking some time to think about what didn’t want to start over and mess it up.” that sign should say that would make me feel good. We spent a little time on Murphy ended up signing with indie label Reviver, which has racked up three ‘everything’s gonna be all right,’ and then elaborating on that.” hits with LoCash — “They’re really aggressive, and they’re out there doing a “I can’t imagine that isn’t a common saying on a sign,” adds Stevens. “It’s lot of great things right now for a new label,” he says — and everyone agreed just something that you would probably see at a bar, hanging up among some on “Alright” as the first single. It was released to radio through PlayMPE on license plates or whatever.” Oct. 31, and its early success is a sign that they made the right choice. It has Even in the early stage of development, they pulled back on the supporting re-energized Murphy’s career, and it is culturally on point, reminding the sound at that point in the song, bringing some attention to the sign’s importance general public not to hit the panic button in very unsettling times. in the pre-chorus and allowing the music to rev back up at the chorus. “Everybody just needs to slow down and realize the world is not going to “Think of it as changing gears, moving you into a different place,” says end,” says Murphy. “There’s going to be some roller-coaster-ride things that Chesney. “That was a sonic cue.” happen, but we’re going to be all right.” .