Chesney Delivered Chris Young the News on His First #1

by Josh | 03.15.2010 | Posted In: Personal, Related Artists

When Chris Young earned his first number one hit with “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song)” back in October, the person to deliver the news to him was none other than Kenny Chesney:

Just as the plane landed, he called Keith Gale, one of the promotions reps for his record label. When he answered, Keith said, “Hold on. Somebody here wants to tell you what happened this week with your single.”

“Congratulations on your first No. 1 hit,” said a familiar voice Chris couldn’t quite identify. “What a great song. I’m so proud for you and proud of you.”

The mystery voice on the phone was none other than Kenny Chesney, who’d dropped by the Sony Music Nashville office that day. When he heard the news about Chris’ single, he wanted to be the first one to congratulate him.

“Can you believe that?” Chris told me, still a little shocked that a superstar would go out of his way to tell him the news.

“Yep, Chris,” I told him. “I believe it. That’s the way it is in this town. Everybody is for everybody else. When someone hits No. 1 for writing or singing a song, there is always a brother or sister in music ready to offer congratulations. When you’re as successful as Kenny, you know to say thanks and congratulations. A man like Kenny never forgets where he came from — just a few miles up the road east of you, Chris.”

Read the full article here.

Chesney Pulling for Payton over Peyton

by Josh | 02.05.2010 | Posted In: Personal, Sports

Though Kenny Chesney is good friends with both the Saints coach Sean Payton and Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, Kenny will be pulling the hardest for the Saints on Sunday:

“I would love to see the Saints win the Super Bowl, because they’ve never won it, and what it would mean to the city of New Orleans,” Chesney said. “After Katrina, the music scene in New Orleans took such a hit. Everything did. If they win the Super Bowl, it would be a shot that the town needs. I’m pulling for that.

“Of course, if the Colts win, I’ll be happy for Peyton, too — nobody works harder than him.”

After spending much of the week in Nashville editing his forthcoming concert film, “Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3-D,” he planned to roll down to South Florida with his father and a bunch of buddies.

They’ll take in the game from Chesney’s suite in Sun Life Stadium. Afterward, per Sean Payton’s request, Chesney will perform at the Saints’ private post-game party.

The singer is still riding high from watching the Saints beat the Vikings from Payton’s suite in the Superdome.

“I didn’t have an allegiance to New Orleans growing up, but the more I’ve played there and been there and seen the spirit of the town…it’s a great music town and a great sports town,” Chesney said. “It’s a town that I’ve grown to love.”

Be sure to read the full article here, and the full transcript of the interview here.

Kenny And Kracker Still Good Friends

by Josh | 01.06.2010 | Posted In: Personal, Related Artists

An article on The Boot explains how Kenny Chesney and Uncle Kracker have been really good friends since their 2004 hit song “When The Sun Goes Down”:

“I talk to Kenny probably every other day,” the DJ-turned-singer tells The Boot. “We became really good buddies out of that song. And having toured with him for the couple of years that I did, we got really close. We talk all the time. He’s a great dude. He’s one of my best friends in the whole world. He’s just a genuine person. He’s one of those people who are genuinely passionate about music and just loves what he does. I think if anybody needed a break from touring, though, it was him.”

Watch the “When The Sun Goes Down” video with Kenny and Uncle Kracker in our Video Gallery.

Kenny and Friends Enjoying the Sunset

by Josh | 12.29.2009 | Posted In: Personal, Photos

For those of you that are on Facebook or Twitter, you’ve probably already seen this picture.

It was posted on Kenny’s Twitter account earlier this evening and on the No Shoes Radio Facebook page with the caption “Kenny and friends enjoying the sunset tonight (12/29/09) somewhere south. Magic.”

Kenny Surprises Sammy Hagar at Cabo Wabo Grand Opening

by Josh | 12.05.2009 | Posted In: Personal, Related Artists, Special Appearances

After a movie premiere in Hollywood on Thursday, Kenny Chesney surprised Sammy Hagar at the Grand Opening of his Cabo Wabo Cantina in Las Vegas on Friday night:

Rocker Sammy Hagar’s family and friends had a special surprise up their sleeves at last night’s official grand opening festivities for his flagship Cabo Wabo Cantina on the Strip. They pulled off a miracle by keeping Sammy’s friend country king Kenny Chesney a backstage secret and in hiding until it was time for him to stroll onstage in the middle of Sammy’s concert!

Kenny insisted that they duet together on “I Fall in Love Again,” and that propelled other musicians to join Sammy onstage for a jam session later. The music gods included Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, Van Halen guitarist Michael Anthony and Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul.

Read the full story and view more photos from the grand opening here.

(photo Wicked Creative)

Chesney Attends Hollywood Premiere of “Invictus”

by Josh | 12.05.2009 | Posted In: In The News, Personal, Summer In 3D

Hollywood hosted the premiere of Clint Eastwood’s “Invictus” on Thursday night and Kenny Chesney was in attendance with a handful of other celebrities including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Orlando Bloom and the stars of the film Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.

“Invictus” is the true story of how Nelson Mandela and the mostly white South African rugby team won the Rugby World Cup shortly after apartheid had damaged the nation.

Chesney was in town to do voiceovers for his upcoming 3D movie, and described how he wouldn’t normally be able to do something like this because of the demands of planning a tour:

“It’s a powerful story. And you know anything Morgan’s in, he’s going to bring a lot of heart and humanity to the role,” Kenny said in a statement.

“You know, this is the kind of thing I don’t get to do when we’re building one of those tours… and it’s really nice to be able to share this kind of thing with my friends!”

(photo by Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

No Reality TV for Chesney

by Josh | 11.25.2009 | Posted In: In The News, Interviews, Personal

Kenny Chesney’s life is “real enough”, so don’t expect to see him on reality TV or even acting on the big screen:

My life’s real enough, you know? I don’t think so. I really don’t. I just don’t think that I would. I would rather concentrate on tryin’ to connect with fans in the audience and tryin’ to write a great song and cut great music, and that takes up a lot of time, to be honest with you. I don’t think you’ll ever see me do that.”

Kenny adds that he lacks the desire — and the talent — to act. “I’ve even had a lot of people ask me if I want to act. I’m never sayin’ never, but it’s not something I wake up everyday wanting to do, and so I don’t think I’d ever take a year off to go do a movie or something. I wouldn’t be that good at it anyway. I think I realized doin’ the ‘You Save Me’ video where it took us three days to shoot three minutes of an opening of a video. I realized right then I wanted my day job back — that I was never gonna have the patience to act (laughs).” .)

(h/t to Bonnie for passing this along)

A&E Biography of Kenny Chesney Airs This Week

by Josh | 10.31.2009 | Posted In: Personal, Television Appearances

A&E’s Biography channel will air their profile of Kenny Chesney this Thursday, November 5th at 9 pm ET:

A look at the career of the wildly popular singing star who has invigorated the country music scene like few before him. Chesney has sold nearly 25 million albums and won most major honors, including the CMA’s “Entertainer of the Year” award. Chesney’s public image took a hit when his marriage to Hollywood superstar Renee Zellweger lasted only four months, but that turned out to be only a small career speed bump. Chesney continues to grow his enormous fan base while staying true to his musical roots.

The show will also air Friday morning at 1 am.

(hat tip to chesneychic1 for passing this along)

Clarification – The episode airs on The Biography Channel, which is a separate channel from A&E.

Kenny On Next Year’s Plans

by Josh | 10.22.2009 | Posted In: Albums, Personal, Tour, Videos

On Wednesday Kenny Chesney announced a couple of festival shows for next summer. Here’s some more insight into next year’s plans from Kenny himself:

“I can’t imagine a year not rocking the fans… not seeing those faces or hearing my songs sung back to me,” says Kenny. “That is where I’m the most alive, and those people are such a big part of who I am and why I do this. To me, not being out there would be the worst thing I could imagine.

I honestly don’t think people realize how much work goes into one of our tours: I am looking at technical stuff that needs building in November… I am working on video in December and January… then we start rehearsals so we can get the kinks worked out of each system in January – as well as rehearsing the band, so we can troubleshoot how the tech stuff is incorporated without sacrificing the music, because in the end, that’s what people come for.

For us to be able to get out there and rock at a few of these festivals, it means we can do the big show people expect without having to put 6 months into getting ready for it. Me and the guys can come on out, play the songs as hard as possible and get to be part of everybody’s summer… whether it’s kicking it off at LSU’s Tiger Stadium or getting June started at Bama Jam!

“A summer without my fans? I can’t even imagine it,” Kenny explains. “They are the reason I do what I do… and while I’m working on this next record, working on some special projects we’ll be talking about in the coming months and staying on top of NoShoesRadio, I don’t want anyone to think I’ve gone to the house or could go a year without getting out on some big stages and making music.

There’s no way! And these two festivals are perfect! They’re everything we try to do when we’re out on our own tours: a good day, a lotta great music, a place for friends to come together and have fun! If we can do that, then I’d say I’ve maintained the connections that are so important to me!”

(h/t Rosi)

Chesney Won’t Be Totally Absent Next Year

by Josh | 09.22.2009 | Posted In: Personal, Tour

Though Kenny Chesney is taking a year off from major touring next year, you can still expect him to do a few shows here and there.

According to GAC, he’ll continue his role in the Hard Rock Café’s international Ambassadors of Rock series. His recent show in New York City was part of this special tour.

“And I hope people understand, I’ve never been an all or nothing kind of guy,” he stated. “This doesn’t mean there will be no shows or no music. It means I’m not going to be staging a major tour – I’m not going to take two weeks off and be meeting with people to build a stage, to start thinking about how we can do the lights different and what the video’s gonna be.”

And memphistiger on our forum attended the Indy show and was told by Kenny’s road manager David Farmer at the No Shoes Radio party at Hooters to expect 10-12 shows next year. He said you’ll definitely be able to still see Kenny but may have to travel a greater distance to see him.