He’s one of country music’s most celebrated singers. But Kenny Chesney’s latest work is a book, „Heart Life Music,“ in which he describes his life’s journey, from East Tennessee, to No Shoes Nation and beyond.
Just as the sun was going down in the heart of old Key West, Florida, a self-described pirate rode his rust-ravaged bike to the Blue Heaven restaurant to meet a friend – a friend we just happened to be in the middle of interviewing. „She said come in!“ David Wegman laughed, as he joined Kenny Chesney.
But that’s the thing about Chesney – down here, he’s not really a country music superstar. He’s just another laid-back local. „We know a lot of the same people“, Chesney laughed.
He collects characters like seashells – he met Wegman at Ivan’s Stress-Free Bar down in the British Virgin Islands. „Above the bar was written in shells: ‚No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem'“, Wegman recalled.
That 2002 song, „No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems“, helped make Chesney one of the biggest touring acts around. Almost every summer he turns stadiums into beach parties. Among his many accolades: the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year Award, which he won four years in a row. And just last week, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame – a career-topping accomplishment that he credits to taking that tropical turn in his career.
„You know what’s crazy?“ he said. „I had an 18-song Greatest Hits album, and nobody knew who I was. They knew the songs, but I wasn’t comfortable in my skin yet. I didn’t know who I was supposed to be as an artist yet. I would go do shows and they would go, ‚Oh yeah, that’s the guy that sings that song.‘ And then, ‚That’s the guy that sings that song.‘ When I started being my true, authentic self, that’s when everything changed.“
He could have taken us to some Tiki bar down in the Keys to keep up his tropical brand.
