"Keg in the Closet" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Chesney. It was released in May 2005 as the sixth and final single from his 2004 album '' When the Sun Goes Down''. The song peaked at number 6 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart in mid-2005. A revamped version of the song, featuring a more aggressive, Southern rock inspired sound, appears in '' Live: Live Those Songs Again'', a

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

that came out in 2006.

Content

"Keg in the Closet" was written by Chesney and

Brett James Brett James Cornelius (born June 5, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer based in Nashville. James' compositions have been credited on 494 recordings by a wide variety of artists. Signed to Career Records ( ...

, who also wrote the title track to ''When the Sun Goes Down''. The song is an uptempo tune that recalls various details of college life in the late 1980s, including a

beer keg A keg is a small barrel. Wooden kegs made by a cooper (profession), cooper were used to transport nail (engineering), nails, powder keg, gunpowder, and a variety of liquids. A keg is normally now constructed of stainless steel, although alum ...

which was hidden in the closet at Chesney's

fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, "wiktionary:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal ...

, Lambda Chi Alpha.

Critical reception

Kevin John Coyne, reviewing the song for Country Universe, gave it a negative rating. He said that Chesney "only seems to record two types of songs – drinking anthems, and nostalgic longings for the days of youth." He goes on to say that this song is both a drinking anthem and a nostalgic longing. He sums up his review by saying that this song "is basically “ Young” all over again."

Chart positions

The song debuted at number 38 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week ending May 7, 2005.

Year-end charts

References

2004 songs 2005 singles BNA Records singles Kenny Chesney songs Lambda Chi Alpha Song recordings produced by Buddy Cannon Songs written by Brett James Songs written by Kenny Chesney {{2000s-country-song-stub