Kenny Chesney Has Challenges, Shares Tough Moments on Tour

Kenny Chesney checks in from the road to update us on his current tour, working with Hardy & what some of the toughest moments of his career have been.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
All right, it's Wayne d AndI gotta tell you, I don't know

(00:01):
how we nailed this guy down,because NonStop, Kenny, where even are
you right now? I'm in Tennesseeright now. It's been a very busy
couple of months. Uh, gettingthe sun goes down, tour going,
and it's we're just having a blastout there. Man. But I've got
a few I've got a few daysoff before we head back out. Uh.
The latest album is fantastic. Fansare enjoying it. But like at

(00:24):
this point, you're out, thealbum is out, you're out performing these
newer songs. Are you getting theit to start to start writing, writing
and recording? Are you already inthat already? I think I think that
when you're a creative person like me, you're always in it. Yeah,
you know, it's that never goesaway. I mean, it's just it's
just I'm not so much now,I mean, since we just put the

(00:47):
record out, but and and it'shard for me to create on the road.
So but but I'm always creating,you know, sometimes it's more intense
than others, but we're always kindof creating. Are you a guy that
tours tours with any sort of likebus that has a little recording studio or
anything in it. No, II let all the If I bring any
of the riders out, you know, they all they have that all that

(01:10):
stuff on their computer. I Ireally don't. Some of my friends have
studios in their house, and Idon't have a studio in my house or
my bus, or on my onmy boat. Nothing. So when I
go to when I go to thestudio, it's pretty intentional, you know.
And I like getting away from ittoo. Yeah, you need to

(01:30):
unplug it at some point. Uh. We talked to you right before this
album came out. We talked toyou right before you were you were hitting
the road again. Obviously you havesome cities you're looking forward to seeing.
Have any city surprised you with theenergy that they're showing up with so far
on this tour? Oh, Imean all of them are really great,
you know. But we played Imean this past Saturday, we we did

(01:51):
the Pittsburgh Steelers Football Stadium and thatwas our twelfth time playing it, and
it was as loud as anything thatwe have ever heard. It was.
It was a amazing couple of hoursup there. And uh, it's just
you know, it's just everybody onthe show is just doing a great job,
from Zach Brown to Mega Maroney andUncle Crocker. I mean, that's
a lot of music to hear beforeeven we come on, you know.

(02:13):
So it's as a fan, it'sjust a it's a great night of music.
Well, knowing how your shows arelike mini festivals, uh on tour,
how how involved are you with withother people's sets? Are you kind
of just give them the time frameand then they roll with it, because
obviously you don't want fans to belike, you know, tired as hell
by the time you hit this.Yeah. No, no, I don't

(02:35):
get involved in anybody set. Imean that they have they have their time
frame, you know that that theygotta that they that you know, their
their show length. But I don'tget involved in anybody sets at all,
you know. I'm just we're stilltrying to figure ours out, you know,
but we have I don't really Idon't really tell anybody what I think
is best, you know, I'llleave it up to them to do that.
Uh. Last time we caught upwith you, you also talked about

(02:58):
how you're not Over the years,you've learned that you're not afraid to call
audibles on stage with with where you'regoing. What's the biggest audible you've had
to call so far on this tourif you have one? Oh wow.
Well, the other night in Pittsburgh, like I said, was a great
night, and we hadn't done PirateFlag all year, and I thought,
well, we're in a pirate town, so it might as well as do

(03:19):
Pirate Flag. And you could justsee the band kind of look around because
it's been a few years since we'veplayed it and we haven't rehearsed it.
It was just an audible on thefly, and we did that. We
did a couple other things the othernight that I mean, we're finally into
a place now where we've got,you know, the hour and forty five
minutes down to where we want it, and now we're going to start adding

(03:39):
stuff, you know, and we'vegot about twenty songs that we can add
or not play or you know,or add in. And so that's that's
kind of where we are now.Man, I can't wait. This year
will be the first year I've seena full Kenny Chesney show because I've only
seen you at festivals. So I'mdying to dive into the experience when it

(04:02):
comes to off the road, becauseyou're pretty good at making sure that you're
hitting these these cities. You're you'reyou're doing the shows, but you also
have uh ample time in between thedates, right for the most part.
Yeah, but I've got I've gotmy life now where it's literally you know,
like we play uh some there's afew weeks this week. There's a

(04:23):
few weeks this year where we playa Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Uh,
you know now we play now we'redoing a Thursday Saturday and so uh
we'll do it like a Thursday nightAmphitheater and then uh, the Friday night
we're in a stadium market offf wedo soundcheck and then Saturday we do the
stadium show. And that's that's ourwhole year. We'll be we'll be doing

(04:45):
that all the way to the endof August when we do you know,
our our weekend in Foxborough, Massachusetts. What does that do for Obviously,
when you start a career in anyformat of music, you can't you can't
work that way, right, Soyou've worked situ waited this fun You'll never
You'll never make it. That's thecase. But but but you, but

(05:05):
you have made it. What doesthat do for you? Number one?
Confidence in your career and success andand enjoying the success in your career.
What does that do for that?And what does it do for your mental
health to not have to be like, you know, Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday, Saturday, home, Sundayback when's it? What does it do
for that? It's a good routineto be in. Like, like you
said, it hasn't always been thisway. I mean, there were several

(05:28):
years of my life where I wouldpack to come home, you know,
I was gone all the time.And but yeah, I mean in the
last several years, I feel veryfortunate to have gotten my life into a
place where we we pick and choosewhat part of the AAR WePlay and usually
it's a Wednesday, Thursday, Fridaynight off place Saturday, and so it's

(05:51):
it's it's really great. I mean, it's it's great for the band,
it's great for uh, your brain, it's it's it's to know that you're
just not out there grinding constantly.But look, when you're a new act,
you're grinding. It's part of thejob. You know. I grinded
for a long time take me throughthe album, because now since we caught

(06:14):
Up, the album is out,fans have wrapped their arms around it.
What are some surprises on either songsthat fans are loving more than you thought
they would, or maybe feedback you'regetting on certain songs that maybe didn't expect.
No, yeah, we're getting alot of great feedback on just to
say we did. We're getting alot of great feedback because it's great,
you know, like you said,to get your record out there and let

(06:35):
it seep into into the everybody's life, you know. And so I think
Born is a song that keeps comingup, Guilty Pleasure is a song that
keeps coming up, and of coursethe single take Her Home is is doing
really well. And so those songsthat seem to be the ones that are
getting the most attention, you know, number one songs are are are such

(06:59):
a big deal to at least recordlabels and I'm sure management teams and all
that we talked before. That's notthat's not going to gauge success on the
song necessarily for you. But takeHer Home being the first offering off this
album, it would be nice tohave that crown on top of it,
right, yeah, always, Yeah, it really would be. It's a
great way to start the start thecycle of this record. But I mean,

(07:23):
what really makes what really makes youproud is when you know, now
we're out there on the road andyou know, take Her Home has been
out there for a little while,and you can see the audience start to
react to it and start to singit back to you. And that's that
means it's truly connecting. And that'swhat that's what that's what making music is
all about, you know, Andand so that's that's that's the best thing

(07:45):
you could possibly ask for as anentertainer is to see the look on their
faces when you're up there singing asong that they can relate to, that
you find some commonality with. Andthat's that's the that's the best thing you
can That's the best you could askfor. What song is raising his hand
the highest to be the next offeringthe country radio for you if you could
pick now? Ah, I can'tanswer that. I don't know. I

(08:07):
don't know yet. Listen there willbe an official social post and an email
from the record label. I willwait. Yeah, yeah, last thing
I want to ask you, man, uh, you are a guy who
works his tail off and puts outphenomenal music, and the way you have
built your your and I don't evenlike calling it a fan club because you
treat these people more like family thanth nation. But uh, but but

(08:31):
a guy who has has has donesuch a great job at celebrating his fans
the way you do. What isthe the best part about being Kenny Chesney
when you look in the mirror,something that you're most proud of or something
you're most excited about. And what'sthe toughest part that maybe somebody would have
no idea. Oh, well,I don't know. I mean, like,
the toughest part is being you know, is being gone a lot,

(08:54):
you know, and the toughest partis having to get reacquainted with your family
and that's the that's not normal.So that I would say that that's always
been the toughest part for me becausewhen we when we go, we go,
and and we're gone a lot.So it's it's that's that's always been
the toughest part for me. Uh, the part that I'm what was it?

(09:16):
What was the first part the partthat the best part of being you
or maybe you know you look inthe mirror The best part of being me
is is that as that is,no two days are ever the same.
Ever. I mean, I We'realways going somewhere. We're always got a
different thing to do. And whenyou're creative, that's that's always something different.

(09:37):
And when you put a record outand you go on the road and
play music, you're always going somewhere. So I mean, look, I've
got there's parts of my life thatare mundane, just like everyone else's.
But the part of my life thatI love is that there's always somewhere else
to go, you know, AndI love that or something to look forward
to. God, you just said, you just said something. It sparked

(09:58):
what felt like a song title,always going was always going somewhere. Yeah.
Yeah, I'm just saying it feelsgood. Uh, Kenny, I
know you're a busy guy. Man, I'm gonna let you run. I
apologize for the issues earlier and uhproblem. Thanks thanks for making it work
man, You're always world class.I love catching over with you, O
pal, Thanks for everything. Takecare, Kenny Sea Bud Feeler