Well, we thought with Kenny Chesney having just ended his summer tour, he’d start to slip out of the spotlight a little bit…but lucky for his fans, he’s still around!! Here’s a few things that have been on Kenny’s mind now that touring isn’t…
- Charity ~ Earlier this year Kenny became a board member for the Plan!t Now organization and in light of all of the recent hurricanes, Kenny’s trying to help put the organization in the spotlight. Plan!t Now “provides people, communities, and companies in high-rish regions the information they need to protect their families, homes, businesses, resources, and documents from the effects of any disaster through public service announcements, information offerings via many forms, and also by providing direct relief through grants and scholarships to hurricane-affected persons.” Speaking of the orginization and of the recent hurricanes, Kenny says “Knowledge is your best defense, and putting that knowledge into action can make all the difference. A lot of this stuff is pretty basic, yet when a hurricane hits, there’s not a lot of time to get ready. So that’s the point of Plan!t Now: being ready, not needing to get ready. The last few weeks of the tour, we had so many people out with us who had homes or family in the eye of these different storms, and it becomes really personal. It really brings the reality of it into focus, and knowing that if you’re ready, rather than thinking it can’t happen to me, there’s a big difference in how you fare.” Kenny is urging people to visit Plan!t Now’s website for all hurricane related information.
- New music ~ By now you’ve heard that Kenny will release his new album, “Lucky Old Sun” on October 14th, but what you might now know is that Kenny has some special duet partners included in this project. Mac MacAnally, who wrote the Chesney concert favorite “Back Where I Come From,” joins Kenny on another song he penned, “Down That Road.” Kenny says “This is one of those songs I’ve loved forever — and that really says everything about what we fall in love with, what we value…the things that matter, especially when building a future. Mac told me he wrote it one Christmas morning, waiting for his kids to wake up and open their presents and you can tell that’s the kind of heart he writes with.” We think it’s pretty cool that Kenny is bringing Mac in to sing on the album with him…Kenny’s been fortunate enough to duet with country greats like George Jones, Reba McEntire and George Strait, and it’s nice to see him pay it forward and bring Mac in on this one! You can listen to a preview of this song here. Other duet partners on this album include Willie Nelson and Dave Matthews.
- His life ~ Kenny reflects back on 2008’s Poets & Pirate’s tour as the most fun he’s had on the road in the last couple of years. Everyone gets into a personal funk from time to time, and even with all of his fame and fortune, the past couple of years Kenny had found himself in one of those funks. Kenny told GAC Nights: Live From Nashville “We’re taught as kids, the more you achieve the more money you get and the more success you have, that’s supposed to equal happiness, and it’s not that way. I mean, if you’re not in the right place in your heart or your head, it don’t matter how much money you’ve got, you’re miserable.” Lucky for Kenny, and for his fans, time spent working with Willie Nelson this past winter helped snap Kenny out of that low time. Willie can be found dueting with Kenny on the title track to the upcoming album “Lucky Old Sun.”
- His current radio hit ~ “Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven” is a song that Kenny thinks his fans can relate to since he relates so well to it in his own life. Says Chesney, “When I heard that song, I realized there was a lot for me to live for, and I was just wantin’ to try to get as much of it as I could, you know? I got a great life, you know, and I’ve got a unique one. It’s a double-edge sword sometimes, but you know, when I heard ‘everybody wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to go no,’ I mean, it was just a phrase that I felt like that was very common among the people that came to see our show every summer. And the whole groove of it was, you know, like several songs on this record. I felt like it really defined what we do live.”
Well it sounds like Kenny is still pretty busy even though he’s not touring. Hopefully once his album drops next month, he’ll be able to take some time to rest and relax!
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