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Kenny's Golden Hits, Rolling Stone's Back Pages
Taking Rare Time Off to Prep 3-D Film, Chesney Maintains Momentum

     Nashville When Kenny Chesney wrapped his Sun City Carnival Tour in September, he had played 15 major NFL stadiums - including a 5 minute sell-out in Boston, a 4th straight Philly sell-out, a seats-added sell-out in Detroit and a rained-out/made up play in Dallas - and once again sold in excess of 1.1 million tickets. It was  a whirlwind year for a high energy artist, marking eight straight years of selling over a million tickets and soundtracking life for people between the coasts.

     And people respond year after year, because they know Kenny Chesney knows: how they feel, who they are and the way their lives really look. With each of his solo projects since 2002's No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems yielding several #1s and all being multi- or close to multiplatinum - and his introspective songwriter projects Be As You Are: Songs From An Old Blue Chairand Lucky Old Sun hovering at the million copy mark - it's amazing to see Chesney's Greatest Hits, Vol II hitting gold for sales of over 500,000 on songs his fans already have!

     “I guess we do greatest hits projects so people can have all the hits in one place,” Chesney says with a laugh. “Because between the radio and the albums sold, I know the fans know these songs! It's nice to have it all in one place… and to have the chance to take the Dave Matthews song (“I'm Alive” from Lucky Old Sun) and give it a proper commercial home, because that's just magic, and it gave people the chance to hear it on the radio.

     “That first greatest hits, it kept selling and selling and is still kinda selling, so the thing, too, about these kinda records that I've learned is you don't measure their success in the first year, you measure how long people keep buying it! I hope they're gonna keep buying this one for a long, long time 'cause I want this music to remind them of all the great things they've lived with us.”

     To that end, Rolling Stone finds Chesney on their - as Bob Dylan would say - “Back Pages” on the charts they've published to recognize the biggest successes of the past decade. Though their rankings are measured in dollars - always putting Chesney with his fan-friendly prices at a significant disadvantage - the singer/songwriter from Luttrell, Tennessee finds himself as the #3 biggest touring act of the decade behind Dave Matthews and Celine Dion -- and ahead of the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Madonna and more.

     “These songs work best when we sing them with people,” Chesney says of the honor. “So I like to get out there and sing 'em for and with my friends… and that's meant a lot of miles, a lot of days gone and a whole lotta love.

     “It's funny, though, how all these magazines measure in money… rather than the people who come and buy the tickets, cause to me, that's the only thing that matters! Those fans who show up every night, who stand there in the sun, occasionally the rain and always with the biggest smiles on their faces… To me, it's not about where I rank, but knowing the chunks of their lives those fans have shared with me. Now that's what this whole crazy rides about!”

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