If you’ve been watching the Major League Baseball playoffs, you’ve likely seen a new State Farm Insurance commercial featuring Kenny Chesney’s “There Goes My Life.” The ad focuses on teen driving safety, following a little girl from toddler to teen driver.
State Farm is debuting the commercial leading up to the fifth annual National Teen Driver Safety Week, October 16 – 22, 2011. The week is dedicated to raising awareness about the tragedy of teen vehicle crashes, the leading cause of death for young people in the U.S., and is meant to spark communication among teenagers, parents, educators and civic leaders about the causes of and solutions to teen crashes.
“Teen car crashes affect all who share our roads,” said Laurette Stiles, Vice President – Strategic Resources at State Farm. “During National Teen Driver Safety Week and year-round we invite everyone to join the national conversation aimed at preventing unnecessary injuries and loss of life.”
Grace Potter and The Nocturnals played the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville Monday evening and Kenny Chesney made a surprise appearance to join Grace on “You and Tequila.”
Last week the New York Times profiled “Kenny Chesney, Inc.,” and now the Boston Globe has an article on what it takes to produce each stadium show. They’ve also got a time-lapse video of the construction of the stadium stage.
“Kenny’s special,’’ says Trunnell, a friendly Kentuckian who has worked for Chesney for seven years and previously logged miles with Elton John and Britney Spears, among others. “He’s not the artist that goes to the hotel or just flies in for the show. He has breakfast, lunch, and dinner with us. He comes in and out of the production office. He sees the whole process of the stage being built. He knows all the crew members by name. There’s not other artists that do things the way Kenny does it.’’
Different from an amphitheater like the Comcast Center, where there is a fixed stage, a stadium show requires that everything be built from the ground up. The construction starts nearly a week before the show, says Wannebo.
“The stage shows up in 13 trucks,’’ says the veteran who has worked with everyone from Van Halen to Hall and Oates. “The steel takes 30 hours to build.’’ The staging team works until Thursday. Friday morning the actual production equipment arrives in 16 trucks, and it takes nine hours to build, right up until sound check.
Be sure to read the full article and see the video here.
Fresh off a massively successful show at New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey that he said was “one of the best nights of our lives,” Kenny Chesney slipped up to Burlington, Vermont and joined Grace Potter at her Waterfront Park show.
He and Potter sang “You and Tequila,” with Chesney briefly bestowing Potter with his trademark cowboy hat, before Chesney declared “I think I’m going to spend the night.”
He stuck around for cover versions of the Bad Company rocker “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and the Tom Petty tune “Free Fallin’,” alternating verses with Potter. Chesney left the stage with high praise for Potter and the Nocturnals: “This is the best band in America, the world, right here,” he said as the show ended.
Watch a video of Kenny and Grace singing “Free Falling” here.
Chesney previously joined Grace last November when she played the Ryman in Nashville, and just last month she joined Kenny at Red Rocks in Colorado.
Did you miss Kenny Chesney on the Today Show this morning? You can watch his performances of “Beer in Mexico,” “You and Tequila” with Grace Potter, and “Somewhere With You” below:
If you’ve been watching the Major League Baseball playoffs, you’ve likely seen a new State Farm Insurance commercial featuring Kenny Chesney’s “There Goes My Life.” The ad focuses on teen driving safety, following a little girl from toddler to teen driver. 
Last week the New York Times 
Fresh off a massively successful show at New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey that he 
