“El Cerrito Place” passed through Keith Gattis and Charlie Robison before Kenny Chesney put his voice on it. Each of the three singer-songwriters gave their poetic takes on the track that was penned solely by Gattis and recorded for his 2002 album, Big City Blues.
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Two years later, Texas country star Robison included a cover of it on his 2004 album, Good Times. His rendition caught the attention of Chesney, who then gave it another life when he released it as the third and final single off his 2012 album, Welcome to the Fishbowl.
Meaning Behind the Song
Though Gattis is a native of Texas, “El Cerrito Place” is a result of his time in Los Angeles. He wrote the song about longing for a lost love while living in the El Cerrito Place Apartments in Hollywood. The lyrics also name-check other local legends like La Brea Street and the native Joshua trees. Think I’ll go back to the city/Back to El Cerrito Place/That’s the last time I saw that pretty smile upon your face/I’ve been lookin’ for you baby, they sing in the final lines that capture the lovelorn spirit of the song.
Chesney’s recording followed Robison’s model. The latter artist called on The Chicks’ Natalie Maines to supply background vocals, while Chesney utilized his “You and Tequila” duet partner Grace Potter for his version of “Cerrito.” Though both Robison and Gattis’ versions failed to chart, Chesney’s was a Top 10 hit on the Billboard Country Airplay chart and has become one of his signature hits. As a longtime fan of the song, Chesney was taken by Robison’s rendition and wanted to wait until the right time to record his own.
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“There is a certain longing in this song that in a lot of ways I really relate to. It’s about wanting something that’s obviously not there and this searching that we all have for love and lust and somebody that is obviously not in your life anymore, or something that’s not there, that you need to be there to fill this up,” Chesney explained about the meaning of the song and why he was drawn to it. “It talks about all of the measures that we all go to to feel loved and to get that thing back that is driving you crazy emotionally. ‘El Cerrito Place’ has that certain insanity about it that I think is very relatable with a lot of people because there is this certain searching and longing that I think all of us have inside of us.”
The country superstar adds that he recorded when he felt like he had enough life experience to connect with the song’s sense of longing and mystery. “I have been that person in that song,” he continued, calling it a “very unique song.” “I have felt every bit of that emotion that the character in this song. It felt authentic and it felt real to me.”
In a 2012 interview with Texas radio station KILT, Robison said he had a feeling Chesney would one day record his own version of “El Cerrito Place” after calling Robison years prior to say he had it on repeat. “It’s hard to [take] a song where there’s a definitive recording of it and make it your own,” Robison observed of Chesney. “I think he did a good job with it. You have to stay true to it, but you have to put your own twist on it at the same time.”
Gattis died in a tractor accident in April 2023 at the age of 52. Robison followed not long after–he died in September 2023 at the age of 59 after suffering cardiac arrest.
Correction: This story previously said Gattis died in a motorcycle accident. It has been amended to state he died in a tractor accident in April 2023.
Photo by Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images for CMT
