 NASHVILLE (CMT) - Country Music Association (CMA) entertainer of the year nominee Kenny Chesney hopes to take the award home come CMA Awards night November 6. Chesney also received nods for male vocalist and album of the year for his multiplatinum-selling No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems, but the night's biggest award is definitely foremost on his mind. The singer says winning entertainer of the year would be the ultimate, but all is not lost if it doesn't happen, Chesney tells LAUNCH. "Awards are great, but they're not what drives me. They're not my focus, and if I were to win one, I'd want to win entertainer of the year cause I feel we're out there sellin' more tickets than anybody, and I'm probably not gonna win it this year, but we've sold more tickets than anybody that's gonna win it, so that's just the way it is." Chesney says that what his fans think about him, and the fact that they turned out in droves to see him on his recent top-grossing tour, means more to him than an industry award--not that he wouldn't be happy if he won one, however. "They mean a lot, but they don't mean everything, because the public, a year after somebody wins it, they couldn't tell you who won it last year, to be honest with you," he says. "I think the industry sees awards more important than the fans do, I think. I'm not sure. You know, I'm starting to get nominated a few times here and there now. I mean, I've been doin' this eight years, and I've never been nominated for that much. I've won a couple of things here and there, but I've never thought to myself, 'If I don't win this award, my career is over,' because that's not the way it is." Chesney's current single, "The Good Stuff," holds firm to the Number One spot on the World Top 40 Charts Country Singles chart for the seventh week in a row.
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