Kenny Chesney will revisit some of the tour markets that marked the early days of his career when he launches his 2023 I Go Back Tour.
The outing will kick off on March 25 at State College, Pennsylvania’s Bryce Jordan Center the first of 21 dates that will criss-cross the country, including stops in Lexington, Kentucky; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Lincoln, Nebraska and more.
“When a year is as hot and alive as 2022 was, you don’t want to try to recapture that magic. Or maybe it’s me,” Chesney said via a statement.
“I still have the sounds of diesel engines and No Shoes Nation in my head – and that made me ask, ‘What else could I do? What would be something that would put me every bit as much in the music and give No Shoes Nation another reason to believe?
“And that’s when it hit me: ‘I Go Back.’ That song is about holding all those things that shaped you very close, recognizing how special they are – and keeping them alive any way you can.
So, I decided that rather than just go repeat what we did, I wanted to take this band and these songs to a lot of the cities we played on our way up! Let’s call the tour I Go Back – and do just that.”
Joining Chesney will be fellow Knoxville, Tennessee, native and country artist Kelsea Ballerini. Ballerini and Chesney previously earned a No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hit with their 2021 collaboration on “half of my hometown,”
“Kelsea understands everything about where I come from, because she’s from there, too,” Chesney said in his statement.
“Music has taken me so many incredible places,” Ballerini added. “Around the world, singing with some of my heroes in pop, alternative and contemporary music, but singing with Kenny is going home.
He was the only voice I heard on ‘half of my hometown,’ and when he comes in, it’s just like hitting the Knoxville city limits. So to be able to go out to those cities like the place he and I grew up with an artist who’s accomplished what he has, it’s a lot like going home.”