NEW YORK (BNA Records) - With a definite sense of fall in the air, the man who sold almost 1.2 million concert tickets packs up his parka for a Nov. 22 appearance on NBC's "Today Show."
Kenny Chesney takes part in the Thanksgiving week festivities as part of the wake-up show's Morning Concert series - appearing live on
Rockefeller Plaza where he will perform 3 songs.
"I'd say it's about as far as you can get from the islands," says the man who's When The Sun Goes Down is triple platinum and his previous No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems is well past quadruple platinum. "But when you start to think about the holidays, about Thanksgiving, about the season, there's something to be said for a little cold snap... as long as it doesn't last too long!"
As a man who was raised in the Smokey Mountains of East Tennessee , Chesney is no stranger to the notion of winter. "It's not like I've never been in the snow or the cold," he admits with a laugh. "But if you get to pick between 75 degrees and sunny or icy cold and snow whipping in your face, which would you chose? Even when it comes to skiing, I'm much more water than snow... which makes no sense given where I'm from."
One thing that's not hitting a cold spell is Chesney's career. The man who's new record has only been outsold by Usher and Norah Jones this year has picked up 5 CMA nominations - Entertainer, Male, Album for When The Sun Goes Down and a pair of Vocal Events - and 3 American Music Awards: Top Country Male, Top Country Album and a genre-pitting T-Mobile Text-In Award to measure the fans' favorite between Evanescence (rock), Norah Jones (pop), Outkast (rap/hip-hop) and Usher (soul/rhythm & blues).
"It's a funny thing when you're making a record," he muses. "You're trying to figure out stuff in your own life, and maybe play a few songs you think would be fun to listen to when you're getting ready to go out or whatever... And you hope that what hits home for you will connect with the fans beyond that, but you never know. You have to be true to yourself, then you hope that who you are is someone other people can relate to.
"When the nominations come out, and there you are - well, it's a pretty wonderful feeling. But, and I've said this before, it's those faces that we see from the stage every night - those people in the rafters whose faces we couldn't make out if we tried, but whose energy we can feel like they were standing on top of us, THAT'S how we really know.
"And it's one of the things I love about doing the 'Today Show'... When you're out there on Rockefeller Plaza , you can see all those people looking right straight at you. You throw the music at them, and they throw it back! It's about the coolest thing there is."
In addition to his Nov. 22 "Today Show" concert series, Kenny will perform on both CBS's "Country Music Association Awards Show" Nov. 9 and ABC's "American Music Awards" Nov. 14.
