NASHVILLE, TN. (CBS/ BNA Records) - Considering that most people go to
Kenny Chesney concerts, over 1.4 million last year alone, making him the 2nd most attended tour over everyone but Prince, to escape the stress of real life and deep thinking, it's fascinating to see 'Sunday Morning,' the jewel of CBS' news/public affairs programming, take an interest in the high-energy, soft-talking showman/songwriter from Luttrell, Tennessee.
But CBS' award-winning newsmagazine has done just that, capturing the reigning CMA and ACM Entertainer of the Year behind the scenes at the first of this year's stadium shows at FedEx Field outside Washington, DC and in a more intimate portrait in Nashville, Tennessee.
'When I think of that show, I think of Lyle Lovett and Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen,' says the man whose been breaking attendance records, often his very own, since his Somewhere In The Sun Tour kicked off in February. 'I certainly don't think a good ole boy from East Tennessee would be of very much interest to them, you know, I mean, I'm just a pretty regular guy, nothing all that special, nothing all that unique.'
'I kinda figured once they spent a little time with me, they'd think they made the biggest mistake. But they seemed to have a big time, and they didn't pull out of Nashville, so I guess I did okay? We sat at the pool, talked about life, and love, and writing songs. I showed Rita Braver a little bit of the Nashville I found when I first came to town, a Nashville that's mostly been paved over, then took everybody to the studio where we're working on the next record.'
Correspondent Rita Braver, who's no stranger to music, profiling everyone from Steve Earle to Trisha Yearwood to Gillian Welch, got in the truck and drove around Kenny Chesney's Nashville, in addition to soaking up some sun with the man whose introspective self-penned Be As You Are: Songs From An Old Blue Chair, which debuted at No 1 on Billboard's all-genre Top 200 with no single or tour to support it, in addition to closing in on double platinum.
With his CMA Album of the Year When The Sun Goes Down just certified quadruple platinum, along with his other 4-million-plus sellers No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems and Greatest Hits, his first network special, Kenny Chesney: Somewhere In The Sun, set to air on ABC Nov. 23 and a summer tour that's stadium-sizing in Boston July 23 and Pittsburgh July 30, Kenny Chesney is sitting on top of the world.
So it's a good time for the guy who spent multiple weeks at No 1 with 'There Goes My Life,' his Uncle Kracker duet 'When The Sun Goes Down' and the recent 'Anything But Mine' to reflect upon his life, times and the path to getting there. On Sunday July 24th, all you'll have to do is tune in.
