Kenny Chesney's "The Good Stuff"

Date: 22 Apr 2003 08:21:53 -0700
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic
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Apparently, this song was #1 on the country charts for eight weeks
last year. I don't listen to much country, though, so just stumbled
across the song recently. The lyric blows me away, so I've started
learning "The Good Stuff" and suspect that it will be "new" material
to a lot of the folks that I play for. I was just wondering if anyone
else here has been similarly moved by this song. Does anyone here
cover it? If so, what has been the reaction?
Anyone who's curious can find lyrics and chords at this site:
http://www.thetabworld.com/Kenny_Chesney__The_Good_Stuff_guitar_tab_71883/showtab.jsp
The songwriters are Jim Collins and Craig Wiseman. The story is based
partially on the marriage of Rusty Martin, a security director at the
RCA offices in Nashville.
It's been many years since I've lived in Nashville and followed the
country music scene closely. It still seems, though, that a lot of the
current country stuff is either light amusement or a mundane lyric
idea dressed up in appealing music. I'm reminded, however, of some
comments made, many years ago, by ace Nashville writer Don Schlitz. He
felt it was important for a writer to go to work every day and
struggle to make the best of the not-so-great ideas. He felt that this
kind of work ethic would help a writer develop the creative skills and
stamia necessary to follow thru with the occasional great idea that
might fall into his/her lap. Indeed, I belive that "The Good Stuff" is
an example of what can happen when a couple of hard-working pros
stumble across an inspiring story.
Gary Hall