Chesney’s Heartbreak Hotel

Country singers need heartbreak like pastrami needs mustard, but Kenny Chesney's new album, "Lucky Old Sun," is extra spicy: he wrote it after his marriage to Renée Zellweger was annulled in 2005. Chesney spoke to Ramin Setoodeh.

You ' re late!
I moved into a new house. I have 10 different groups of people working on 10 different things. So I'm out here coordinating all of it. I looked down at the clock and I realized that I was late. I apologize.

One of your songs is called " Nowhere to Go, Nowhere to Be. " Is that a theme of your album?
It's the root of the record, for sure. In 2006, I was probably as emotionally and mentally exhausted as I'd ever been. And that was due to a lot of things—having the foot on the gas pedal constantly, and my breakup with Renée Zellweger. I got in a plane and went down to the Virgin Islands. I was completely by myself. I didn't want to be around anybody. So the next thing you know, it's me and a pen and I sat down and wrote a lot of lines of this song, "Nowhere to Go, Nowhere to Be."

Didn ' t you worry about writing about your breakup with Ren é e?
It's the truth. It's my life. I've been in a lot of states of mind in the last three years. In that way, it's a pretty honest record. I've let myself be more emotionally vulnerable in some of the lyrics. I think that was good therapy.

Are you still heartbroken?
Not at all. I already wrote those songs. I'm on to something else.

How long did it take for you to heal?
It was horrible. It took a while. Years. It's been since 2005.

How do you think Ren é e will react?
I have no idea. I don't know. It's unpredictable.

Do you still talk to her?
No. Well, every now and then. I don't want to say this whole record is about her.

Are you dating someone else now?
Oh, yeah.