Nashville, TN. (Top40 Charts/ RCA) - Even though he still thinks of himself as being 'on break,' two-time and current Country
Music Association and three time and reigning Academy of Country
Music Entertainer of the Year
Kenny Chesney has already begun thinking about next summer. With some of the very best production people and technical experts in the world, work is underway for Chesney's next big tour - and to set the mood, the high-energy musician decided on a name for the tour.
'I'm calling it the Poets & Pirates Tour,' he says, 'because everyone I see at my shows has a little bit of both inside. Whether you're working in an office, a restaurant, driving a truck or building houses, there's a part that wants to be free, that maybe dreams of those moments when you are.
'And I know the way we live out on the road, for sure, we're pirates in our own way: knowing you have to make the moment as intense as it can be, because once the show's over, it's done and we're gone� It's a little rootless, but it's part of where the songs come from, that poetry to how this life is.'
The Poets & Pirates Tour follows on the heels of Chesney's wildly successful Flip Flop Summer Tour, which included 6 NFL Stadiums in Boston , Cleveland , Detroit , Philadelphia , Pittsburgh and Seattle and marked the 6th summer in a row that he played to more than 1 million fans. With over 1.2 million fans played to over just 57 dates, Chesney remains country music's biggest ticket seller� a man continually ranking with the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, the Dave Matthews Band, Justin Timberlake and Madonna when those acts are on the road.
As details are coming together during what is called 'off time,' Chesney admits, 'You start to miss it after a few weeks. It's what you know, and what you live for.' There is one for sure detail: the Grammy and Country Music Association Award-winning LeAnn Rimes will be joining him as the special guest on this year's tour. Currently burning up country radio with 'Nothin' Better To Do,' the 12-million-selling vocalist will be part of what promises to be a massive summer for the man from Luttrell , Tennessee .
'I think LeAnn Rimes is as good a singer as there is out there, and she knows how to have fun onstage,' says Chesney. 'I am a big fan and everybody better be ready for pretty incredible time. I know I'm looking forward to seeing her out there and getting to hear her sing.'
With his current 'Don't Blink' setting at the top of Billboard's Country Chart for the fourth straight week - threatening to match his five-week stint with 'Never Wanted Nothing More,' so far the year's longest running No 1 country single - Kenny Chesney's got plenty of fun to come. With four CMA nominations - Entertainer, Male Vocalist, Video for 'You Saved Me' and Vocal Event for 'Find Out Who Your Friends Are' with Tracy Lawrence and Tim McGraw, his Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates in stores and a big tour heating up, Kenny Chesney more than lives the songs he sings.
