March BEAT

KENNY CHESNEY: Taking Life Easy in the Fast Lane

by Shelly Harris

    I honestly don’t pay attention to what other people are doing. I just try to do my thing and keep my focus,” says an amiable Kenny Chesney, on the line bright and early on a winter's morning from his home in Nashville.

   That strategy, accentuated by a well-developed and crucial sense of individuality, has served Chesney well on his sure and steady climb through Nashville’s Music Row jungle, all the way up to the top of the Country charts on numerous occasions. Along the way he has also built a reputation for being one of the purest, most compelling and talented vocalists in Country’s “neo-traditionalist” sub-branch. Indeed, Chesney’s singing, in particular, which is as “southern” and smoothly rich as sassafras tea, epitomizes the undiluted emotional authenticity rightfully associated with the genre.

     Since the 1993 release of his debut album, In My Wildest Dreams, Chesney, 31, steadily hit the road building a grass roots following which has resulted in progressively bigger selling albums such All I Need to Know, Me &You (Gold), I Will Stand (Platinum), and Everywhere We Go (Double Platinum). Chesney (who will appear at Rosemont Theater along with Sara Evans on March 11) also recently released a Greatest Hits CD. Already platinum, that disk includes 11 songs of #1 and Top 5 hits and four new songs such as “I Lost It” and the current single, “Don’t Happen Twice.” (A testimony to the prodigious volume of stunningly diverse material he has released in just eight years, it also includes the instantly recognizable standards “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,” “When I Close My Eyes,” “She’s Got It All,” “That’s Why I’m Here,” and more.)

     Chesney’s material, as his fans also know, runs the gamut from rollicking barn-burners to elegantly poignant ballads, but, notwithstanding the typically sophisticated production, songwriting, and arrangements, his main focus consistently remains steeped in the old Country tradition of “the song and the story.” Surprisingly, though, Chesney, who was raised in Luttrell, Tennessee (also the home of Chet Atkins), was not intensely interested in Country music growing up and did not become a musician until he left home for college. As the tale goes, the flame was lit when he heard Merle Haggard’s “That’s The Way Love Goes,” driving home one day from East Tennessee State University. After receiving a guitar as a gift, he began practicing for hours on end while pursuing his degree in Marketing, and he
also began playing with a local Bluegrass band while still in college.

     However, Chesney has never “used” his Marketing degree, per se, since he headed straight to Nashville after graduating to begin his music career quest. Still, he allows that his education has been a definite asset. “The Marketing degree itself didn’t necessarily help me much,” he allows, “but the college experience was good in a lot of ways in helping to prepare me for the entertainment business…just because of the things you go through at that time, and the things you learn, and your experiences with other students and, especially, the teachers…”

    After arriving in Nashville, Chesney experienced many storybook struggles: the regular gigs at the local club, often replete with prostitutes and intoxicated good ‘ole boys in the tourist off-season, and even a stint parking cars to make ends meet. “There was a lot of resistance, a lot of people who would try to discourage you,” he admits. But, forging on, he eventually made important contacts that landed him a songwriting contract with Acuff-Rose Music Publishing. And (take note prospective Country artists/songwriters) that songwriting job led Chesney to an appearance at a
songwriter’s showcase that ultimately lead to his first record deal.

     As far as his songwriting is concerned, Chesney notes that he gets his inspiration from everyday life: “I like to read all kinds of things, especially magazines, and I like movies...there’s always something out there that can make a story if you’re tuned in. The most important thing to me is to record songs that touch emotions, and that are about things to which real people can relate.”

    However, Chesney does admit that the career pace that he’s been on for the past few years has limited the amount of new material he has been able to write himself. “I haven’t had much time to write….because there are so many demands on your time in the entertainment business now—you have to be multi-dimensional—so I haven’t had much time to really sit back and do the reflection that is required to do a lot of songwriting.” He adds, “It is hard to stay grounded because when you’re on the road so much, you’re not really part of the real world...but that’s unavoidable…”

    Fortunately for Chesney, who’s still single, he lives less than two hours from where he grew up, “So it’s not so crazy,” and he enjoys working out every day, sports (see more on that later in my new Sports & Music series now running each month in the Midwest BEAT), and he especially loves going to the Cayman Islands (the site of the video for “I Lost It”). “I love to scuba dive,” he adds. “I go there whenever I get the chance.”

      However, Chesney won’t be having many opportunities for such diversions
in the foreseeable future, as he is also set to hit the road during the summer on George Strait’s Festival tour, along with many other top Country artists, including Alan Jackson and his good buddy, Tim McGraw.

       But as far as his long-term plans, Chesney says, “I’m proud of the way my career has progressed, but I don’t have any solid goals, really. You know, it’s not about being ‘Entertainer of the Year’, although that would be nice. Really, I’d just like to keep it progressing and keep doing it for the next 10 or 15 years...because I want this to be a career.”