Chesney does Hemingway

Although the ubiquity of the lead single “The Boys of Fall” makes it seem much older, Kenny Chesney’s 14th studio album, “Hemingway’s Whiskey,” just dropped Sept. 28.

While the aforementioned song struck enough of a chord with middle America to launch it into the Top 40, the rest of the album falls just shy of its wonderfully schmaltzy romanticizing of high school football. 

As with most modern country albums, the sappy, slow songs are the highlights, at least partly because they connect at the most basic level of human emotion. Everyone understands nostalgia, lost love and loneliness, but how many of us drive tractors and spend our vacations drinking tequila on the beach?

Fortunately, most of the shortcomings of “Hemingway’s Whiskey” are inherent in its genre. Taken strictly within its context, it’s a solid disc. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, and it offers a semi-essential glance into a modern country scene dominated by acts like Rascal Flatts and Lady Antebellum that is rarely worth examining.