Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune has one of the best articles/interviews on Kenny Chesney in some time: “Kenny Chesney: The making of a franchise in a cowboy hat”

He grew up hustling in Luttrell, Tenn., outside Knoxville, the son of a hairdresser mother and a schoolteacher father. His parents divorced when he was young, and his mother remarried to a construction worker. He describes a humble life that revolved around “friends, family, school, church … and girls.” He was one of 135 students in his 1986 high school graduating class

“We were lower-middle class and everyone I knew was — we didn’t know there was anything different,” he says in his tour bus a few hours before the show. “I have this theory … this is a bit of curveball, but people who are really good kissers never have anything given to them. People who can’t kiss had everything given to them. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’m a helluva kisser.”

Do yourself a favor and read the full article here.