As 2010 comes to a close, Billboard runs the numbers on artists and their albums and singles for the year and comes up with their Year End Charts.
Here’s a look at how Kenny fared on the lists:
Top Artists: #54
This is an all-genre category, and pop sensation Lady Gage took the #1 spot. The highest ranking country artist on the list was Taylor Swift at #2. Lady Antebellum was at #4, Carrie Underwood at #23, the Zac Brown Band at #25, Jason Aldean at #36, Miranda Lambert at #40, Sugarland at #47, and just beating Kenny at #53 was Darius Rucker.
In an interview with CMT, Kenny’s “You and Tequila” duet partner Grace Potter reveals how she first met Kenny, and what it was like to work with him:
The first time Grace Potter saw Kenny Chesney in person, backstage at the 2008 Farm Aid concert, she was unfamiliar with his achievements. “Dave [Matthews] and Kenny were clowning around for like hours and hours and hours and I was witness to it, but I didn’t know who Kenny was,” she noted during a recent visit to CMT. “I just thought he was some crazy dude in a cowboy hat. I had no idea the levity of what he does and his approach to life.”
Likewise, Chesney had never met the dynamic leader of Grace Potter & the Nocturnals in person, even though he was a fan of her music. He invited her to sing a few sultry lyrics on “You and Tequila,” a song co-written by Matraca Berg and Deana Carter. After recording his part, he sent Potter the track. She called him back the next day to eagerly accept the overture — and she nailed her lines in the studio in less than 15 minutes. Chesney ultimately put the track on his new album, Hemingway’s Whiskey.
“Kenny’s really generous to other people in his duets. He seems to really give all of himself without ever making it about him. He’s very generous with the spotlight,” she says. And if the soft-spoken track catches on with Chesney’s fans, Potter just might end up being a country star.
CMT: What was it about this offer to record “You and Tequila” that made you accept it?
Potter: I was always sort of mystified and excited about the world of country music. Something about it struck me as enchanted. It’s something that’s so beyond what I do and what I grew up doing, it was like the unknown — kind of how I felt about gospel music when I first started listening to and studying gospel music. The song itself is just unbelievable. It is one of the most well-written songs. I knew it was just a demo. I knew it was kind of a one-tape wonder approach. And the second I heard that chorus, I was like “Oh, I’m in. I’m in.'”
Kenny has described your time in the studio together as “magical.” Do you agree?
It was, I think. Sometimes it clicks and sometimes it doesn’t. You can’t force something. If it’s meant to be, it happens exactly as it’s supposed to. In this case, he knew the kind of song he was dealing with. He knew that it needed to be something different. I think he understood that this wasn’t your traditional collaboration. I’m a complete unknown. In that way, I think he knew exactly what he was doing. He was like, “Let’s get this girl from Vermont who’s got nothing to do with country music, nothing to do with me, nothing to do with anything that I’ve sort of built my career around and let’s just see what happens with this really beautiful song.” And it worked.
Watch Kenny and Grace perform “You and Tequila” at the Ryman Auditorium here.
Another round of shows go on sale tomorrow for Kenny Chesney’s 2010 Goin’ Coastal Tour.
If you haven’t purchased already through a presale, either the fan club or other presale, tickets go on sale to the public at large Saturday morning at 10 am local time for the following shows:
Tickets are expected to go in a matter of minutes.
Talking about the Lambeau Field show, Kenny said “after Christmas, our world changes every year. I’m excited about that. We start rehearsals fairly soon, and it’s going to be a big show we bring into Lambeau. We’re bringing a lot of energy, and it’s going to be fairly loud and a lot of fun.’’
After tomorrow, all stadium shows will have gone on sale already. Though most are sold out, you can still find tickets at TicketNetwork or TicketsNow.
Arena and amphitheater dates will be announced in the next month or so. View all of the announced shows on our tour dates page.
“Somewhere With You”, the latest single from Kenny Chesney, remains just outside the top 10 this week on the Billboard Top Country Songs chart. It’s the second week in a row that the song is at #11.
At number one this week is Rascal Flatts with “Why Wait.”
Preview and download “Somewhere With You” from Amazon, or get it at iTunes.
Fresh off the announcement of a show at the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Florida in March, we’ve got another tour date to let you know about.
On Saturday, April 2nd, Kenny Chesney will perform at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Tickets won’t go on sale until February, according to the venue.
View all tour dates that have been announced here.
LiveNation South Florida announced today that Kenny Chesney will perform at the Cruzan Amphitheater in West Palm Beach, Florida on St. Patrick’s Day – March 17th, 2011.
Ticket information will be available soon.
View all tour dates that have been announced here.
In the November issue of People Magazine, Kenny Chesney reveals ten songs that have changed his life:
1. JOHN MELLENCAMP – SMALL TOWN
This song is a perfect description of how I grew up, the dreams I had back then and the values that shaped my life.
2. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – BORN TO RUN
This song is all about freedom. It reminds me so much of the freedom I felt my first couple years on the road. We had 14 people on a 12-bunk bus, and I didn’t think it could get any better.
3. BOB MARLEY – STIR IT UP
I have spent a ton of great days at sea watching sunsets to this song. No matter where I am in the world, when I hear this song, I am in that place.
4. THE EAGLES – TAKE IT EASY
It’s funny now that I live this song how I understand every struggling, conflicted emotion of it. As a kid I had no idea what it meant; I just knew I loved it! But now it is scary familiar, true to my life.
As 2010 comes to a close, Billboard runs the numbers on artists and their albums and singles for the year and comes up with their Year End Charts.
In an 
Another round of shows go on sale tomorrow for Kenny Chesney’s 2010 
Fresh off the 
LiveNation South Florida 
In the November issue of 
