Kenny Chesney has officially tied a record held by one of his biggest musical heroes. The Tennessee native has just scored his 61st Top 10 hit with “Take Her Home,” tying a record of the most Top 10 singles held by George Strait.
“Take Her Home” is the debut single from Chesney’s latest BORN album, released last month.
“When I heard ‘Take Her Home,’ I just laughed,” Chesney said when the song was released. “It was everything life is made of in less than four minutes. It’s true, honest and all the stuff that’s easy to forget. All those details and little moments? The deep-cut Cheap Trick, the black-and-pink suitcase in the back of the truck, a seven-pound, five-ounce baby?”
“That’s what makes these kinds of life changes what they are,” he continued. “And it’s funny: no matter what stage you’re in, you really are always scared. That’s how you know it’s gonna be worth it.”
it was Strait who became Chesney’s biggest inspiration, since the very early days of his career.
“I was a lot like a lot of artists, honestly,” Chesney said at the 2023 Country Radio Seminar (via Billboard). “I was trying to be the newer version of George Strait. I think Garth [Brooks] would tell you the same thing, he loved George. That was the bar. I wore a belt buckle. I was trying to be that.”
Perhaps ironically, it was also when Chesney stopped trying to be like the King of Country Music that his career really took off.
“I had 16 songs in a Greatest Hits package, and then I would go play a fair or whatever and people would go, ‘Oh, that’s the guy that sings that song. Oh, he sings that, too,'” Chesney shared. “So they hadn’t really connected yet. But the moment I stopped trying to be George Strait, that was the moment my life changed. I started really writing songs.”
Chesney just embarked on his Sun Goes Down Tour, kicking off the multi-city run of stadium shows in Tampa, Florida.
“It’s wonderful to walk out there and see those people truly care about the experience of it all, go through a lot be able to be in the audience today,” Chesney told Audacy’s Rob + Holly. “To be able to come to anybody’s show, you have to go through a lot to get there. And the fact that they care that much, makes us very happy. We’re getting ready to start that again … We’re going to go throughout the country and get to see their faces again. That’s always a great thing.”
Chesney’s last album before BORN was Here and Now, released in 2020. Far from being complacent, the 56-year-old used the years between the two projects to create the best album he could make.
“When you’ve been doing this for a minute, the trick is to make a record that pushes your audience, but doesn’t alienate them to a point where it’s disingenuous.” Chesney said. “One thing I learned about being up there on stage and being in this intimate place with them over the years is… they know pretty quickly if it’s disingenuous from me. We have to keep that in mind, but we also have to push the envelope a bit.”
Zac Brown Band, Megan Moroney and Uncle Kracker are serving as Chesney’s opening acts on his Sun Goes Down Tour. The tour will conclude with three shows at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on August 23, 24 and 25. Find all of Chesney’s music and tour dates at KennyChesney.com.