Nashville, TN. (Top40 Charts/ RCA Records) - It's not just one Lucky Old Sun when you're country music's biggest superstar. For known islander Kenny Chesney, it's two great big suns rollin' around heaven all day. With so much music being made this year, Chesney knew it wouldn't fit on his upcoming Lucky Old Sun - and yet, with its carefree attitude, he wanted to find a way to not leave it behind.
'Sometimes I go back and listen to the shows, to just remember,' says the singer/songwriter whose 'Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven' is currently No 15 in its 2nd week on the Billboard Country Singles chart, 'and you get thinking about those nights that are just so perfect. You know, that's a lot of what Lucky Old Sun is about in a whole other way� So I wondered if there was an alternative way to share these memories from Gillette Stadium and our taking over Margaritaville down in Key West .
'Thankfully, the record label totally gets that my hardcore fans are so much a part of this, and that it's something they may want� beyond our studio release. So, they're allowing me to do a first week deluxe CD that will have 'Boston' (a song Chesney wrote with his tour production assistant Mark Tamburino) and 'Got A Little Crazy' from our Boston show and 'Soul of a Sailor' and 'Guitars And Tiki Bars' from the Hogs Breath' as something a little extra.'
Those little extras sure add up. Beyond the four tracks, fans will be able to access downloads of the wildly animated opening from this year's Corona Extra Poets & Pirates Tour as well as the 'Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven' video featuring the Wailers, which was filmed in Jamaica earlier this summer. In addition, two lucky winners and a guest will be flown to the opening of Chesney's 2009 tour, wherever in the world that might be, in a contest called 'Kick It Off With Kenny.' Full details will be available soon. The music-only edition, which does not include the extra content or contest, will be released October 21.
'Lucky Old Sun is a really personal record,' allows the man who's sold more concert tickets this century than any other act in any genre. 'It comes from some pretty deep places, and it looks at my life, how I've evolved and the way the ocean can take you places beyond location. There are a bunch of fun songs on the record, for sure, but nothing quite as immediate as these live tracks, so in some ways, it's the very best of what we do in the studio and what we do in people's hometowns.
'In reflecting that, it seems only right that a couple fans who helped us close out this year with our new music will be in the front row at the first show of our next year. When you're trying to find new ways to engage the people who love your music, I think the more direct the better� and what could be better for us than having two winners who're that into the music we make front and center when next year kicks off?'
With Poets & Pirates: Just Who I Am still enjoying space in the Top 10 nearly a year after release, hunger for Chesney's distinctive brand of country remains high. Having his 15th No 1 with the multiple week chart-topper 'Better As A Memory,' Chesney soundtracked the past year with the 6-week No 1 'Never Wanted Nothing More,' the 5 week No 1 'Don't Blink' and the ACM Vocal Event nominated 'Shiftwork' with George Strait . Given his track record, both versions of Lucky Old Sun should be lucky, indeed.
