I'm Alive Newest for KC

Nashville, TN: When Kenny Chesney and a bunch of friends realized they'd survived a night of staggering revelry somewhere in the Caribbean, his boat captain summed the feat up most succinctly with the declaration: “I'm alive…” Bur rather than embracing that utterance with his usual effervescence, the man who makes summer official for most of America considered the basic courage of survival and took the post-party anthem in a whole other direction.

Certainly the song, which arrives at country radio this week for an August 17th add date, has already had an amazing life. Originally recorded by Chesney - with his good friend Dave Matthews for the more introspective Lucky Old Sun - their duet was brought over to the 4-consecutive Academy of Country Music and 4-time and current Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year's Greatest Hits II, on sale everywhere. Prior to that, it was a key track on Willie Nelson's critically-acclaimed Moment of Forever.

“I'm Alive” isn't about living to party again, but more recognizing the gift and grace of merely being on this Earth. And also recognizing the blessings that are so easy to overlook.

“We all lead pretty amazing lives,” says the man who's in the midst of his Sun City Carnival Tour - slated to play a dozen football stadiums this year in such non-country strongholds asPhiladelphia, Detroit, Boston and San Francisco. “The trick is to see what you've got… to count your blessings… rather than worrying about what you think you need.”

And now as Chesney's Corona Extra sponsored tour rolls on, “I'm Alive” finds its way onto the nation's car radios. With its life-affirming, happy-where-you-are message, the duet between the singer/songwriter from Luttrell, Tennessee and the jam band front man from Virginia stands as a reminder about the things that matter when times get challenging and circumstances get rough.

“It was never meant to be some kind of a message - except to maybe myself,” admits the man who launches NoShoesRadio.com live on August 6. “I think when you go through stuff, even if it's just an awful morning after a real good night, you consider how lucky you are to be where you are. That's what the song is all about…

“It's funny, though. It's one thing when Willie Nelson at 70 sings it, and something totally different when Dave and I do. One is from a place of really knowing; for us, it was more just the fact that we realize it.”

Certainly Chesney has plenty to be grateful for. Beyond his tour, which is doing unprecedented business in a very tough economy, the man who's sold over a million tickets each of the last seven summers is set to check into “Good Morning America” August 14 as part of the walk-up to his sold-out-in-less-than-10-minutes return to Foxboro, MA's Gillette Stadium - and is hard at work on his next record.