Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Kenny Chesney

Episode Date: March 24, 2024

On this week's episode, Willie sat down with country music superstar, Kenny Chesney. They got together just ahead of his latest album dropping, and as he gears up for his next big tour performing at stadiums across the country.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. Very excited to bring you my conversation today with one of the biggest acts in all of music. His name is Kenny Chesney. He's about to go out on his latest stadium tour. He's been selling out football stadiums across the country and around the world since 2003 for more than 20 years. One of the most established acts, obviously, in country, but truly one of the biggest in all of music when you look at sales and attendance and everything else. He's sold more

than 30 million albums over the course of his 30 years or so of success. He's a guy who grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, went to college. He was an athlete, played baseball, played football in high school. His mom buys him a guitar for Christmas while he's in college and he starts playing little places where he went to school in Johnson City at East Tennessee State University, moves to Nashville when he graduates, and the rest is history. Now he is the Kenny Chesney, you know. Interesting thing, though, about his career, he was having success through about his first five albums, had a greatest hits album and everything, but he felt like it wasn't clicking yet. People didn't really know who he was. He didn't have an identity. Then he puts out the

album, no shirt, no shoes, no problems, and creates this entire culture, more of like a beachy country vibe, and creates no shoes nation, which is what his family. call themselves. So interesting to hear how we sort of figured that out, crack the code, and went on to this incredible career. I should tell you, for background, we got together at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Yes, the home of the New York Giants and the New York Jets, my hometown Giants, by the way. We did the interview there because he will be there again on his tour. Sun goes down to her this summer selling out football stadiums in New York City. tells you about his appeal far beyond the reaches of country, but everything else that comes

with his level of success. So a great conversation about music, about figuring out who you are, about grinding and fighting and being aggressive to get your way to the top, mixed in with a whole lot of talent too. So a great conversation with Kenny Chesney around the release of his new album, Born, and his son goes down to her from MetLife Stadium out in Jersey right now on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Thanks for doing this, man. Good to see you. Thanks for having. Look at us in football stadium right now with a big old sign behind us. These are your people. These are my people. These are your people. I'll come on a rainy day like today. We're hoping it's not going to rain on August 17th though when you're at MetLife Stadium. So tell me how excited you are about

number one, the new album and getting to play it in big football stadiums like this. Well, look, new music is wonderful because it leads to new energy. And, And knowing that, you know, it's kind of surreal to sit here. Because I've never been to the stadium without working. Right. Right. So I've never seen it this quiet. And so it looks like an empty church now, you know.

So, but it's, I think when we come in August, the guy from the building here said this is going to be our eighth time playing here. And so what's really crazy for me is when we, when this all, this journey first, started. You know, my manager and my booking agent and my concert promoter, everybody says, okay, what's some of the wish list, you know, because we could see that we might be moving into this, to being able to play these kind of places. I say it would be great to, you know, to play in New York and some other places like that. And this will be our eighth play this August. So it's crazy to think about that. But being able to be in that spot to be to stand there and have the have everybody like focused in on what you're doing is is an amazing feeling.

It really is. And to know that and to know that they care that much. Yeah. That they care about the songs and they care about the experience and being here. And so with new music brings that new energy. And so I'm very, I'm very excited about. it and you know thrilled about that I get the opportunity to do that again you know I feel I live in a place of gratitude a lot for that even just driving in here today I put myself on August 17th that afternoon right what that parking lot's gonna look like no shoes nation coming out here does your mind drift a little when you like what's the stage gonna look like here what's the crowd gonna be well I know exactly

where the stage will be which where it's been every time but we faith yeah We face this way. It's crazy to be at a place in your life where you walk in here and go, oh, this feels like home, you know, and other places that you play, because it's been a minute. You know, we've been here several times. And I can look, what's crazy is during football season, you know, when the tour's over, I can look at an overhead view of some of these stadiums and just kind of, you know,

observe it and go, yeah, it's for the buses part. Catering's in this part of the stadium, you know. It's pretty surreal to look at that. There's something, too, about being in New York, like you said, which is the explosion of country music, with you right at the center of it and with your help, that you can come to a place like New York and sell out football stadiums.

Does your ability to do that here speak to where country music is now? That, you know, obviously this is not a southern thing anymore. It hasn't been for a long time. This is an international thing. But we've had, we have a very eclectic audience. We do. I mean, I think for a, maybe in every genre, you know, there's a, there's a certain percentage of people that are going to go to those shows because, oh, there's a, you know, they love this kind of music. After that percentage, you kind of build your audience.

And I feel like that's what we've done on the road, you know, ever since I started, is every year, this was before social media, it's before, you know, we never had. a lot of smoke and mirrors. It was always just doing our show and the people that were there went and told other people. And the next year they brought those people with them. And that's how it happened. It happened very organically. And I think especially, you know, here at the Giants and the Jets football stadium and other stadiums across the country, look, we didn't, we didn't just wake up and this happened to us, right? It was built. And so that's what I'm getting at, you know, because it's, it was year after year, song after song, record after record. And it just, to be on stage to see what that's grown into and to see how much love is in the

room for what we do and how much love is in the room from them being there to share it with their family and their friends, they're, they're, they're, they're just everyone together is one of the most amazing feelings. And I don't have that anywhere else in my life, you know. And some people would say it was an illusion, but it's not. It's real to us. Yeah, it's their, your concerts have been described as a party, but in some ways, I think that kind of undersells a little bit. It's community, isn't it?

Yeah. To say that it's a party is, it's a, I don't know, it's an easy way out to describe it. There is that element. But it is a community. It's, it's, if it was just a party, we wouldn't have kids here. You know, we wouldn't have families bringing their kids here. I would like to say that it's, I think that in ways, what we've built and what we try to, to bring to the audience every night is, is the anecdote in ways of what they get on TV from the news, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from. whatever it is, all the devices and stuff.

Because if you, you, we have so much negativity thrown at us. Every single day. And I'm a big believer. If you listen to enough negativity, you can become it. And I think that our shows, if it's just for two and a half hours, is the antithesis to that. Because nobody in this football stadium this summer is going to be told how to think. They're not going to be told who to vote for.

they're not they're just going to be we just open up our arms and say come on in let's all give each other a hug and enjoy this moment because it's a fun loud energetic beautiful moment for us and for them i feel like music and sports are the two places that do that so well which is to your point where we're sitting here right now is you come in to watch a game i have no idea who you voted for what you drank or who you worship or any of that because it doesn't matter and it's not and it's not that i don't have my own views yeah of course it's not that i don't but have my own beliefs, but I'm not going to impose them on 60,000 people in this stadium or use that platform to do so. So I've never, I've just never been one of those hours, you know.

So the new album is called Born. It's amazing. I've been listening to it on repeat for the last night and this morning. And I'm thinking as I listen to some of the songs, including the title track, that maybe it was written, maybe it was designed to echo through a stadium like this one here? I think so. I think, You know, without even knowing it, a lot of this record was made with the idea of people getting off their couch and feeling alive. And that's, that's, there's a threat of that through a lot of this record. And I think we all in ways, you know, kind of ask ourselves, are we doing the right thing? Are we, or it was, you know, am I doing, am I being the best son I can be?

Am I being the best person I can be or the best entertainer? am I doing the things that that are getting me to that place? And I don't know, I'm very guilty at that. Yeah. You know, and when I heard born and I went, this is exactly, you know,

if I open the show with a song, it, like you said, it just, it ramps to a place where it's just it's just on after that. You know, and that's what I looked for. But also look for songs that will fit this element, that will fit this environment.

And not every song has to, but a lot of songs on this record, and I'm guilty of it. I'll admit, but I edit myself in ways of knowing what it feels like as a human being and as a singer and a songwriter and an entertainer to be in this position and what it takes to reach out and grab them. And a lot of this record has that within it. Not every song, but I feel like for me, and coming here today and singing it empty, adds a whole other layer of a mental note, you know. So I'm glad we did this, but yeah, this record has a lot of a live element in mind.

Yeah, it feels like some of the songs can be anthemic and get this place rocking, but then there are also songs about grieving and people who pass and lost. You seem to touch a lot of different bases. And that's a hard thing to sing about. Yeah. Because it makes people uncomfortable. It just does. I mean, to talk about someone that's passed or someone that's, it's just, it's, and to sing

about it, it does make people uncomfortable sometimes. But with this song, it was, I think the song you're talking about is, uh, wherever you are tonight. You know, my friend Mike Reed wrote this song and he wrote, he wrote a really wonderful song for Bonnie Rae. And still, it's, it's part of our American fabric is, I can't make you love me. if you don't. When I heard this song, it just, it, it, it, it, look, I hope that, um, a lot of the people that I loved that have passed on, we would all like to think that

they're there for us in some ways. And they don't die. I mean, they live, they live within us. They, they linger, like it says in the song, they linger in the lives that, of all that love them. And I really believe that. And I don't know that I would have recorded this song four or five years ago. You know, I just, it's just, I don't, I don't know that I would have. Because like I said earlier, I mean, a lot of the songs that I, that I was editing myself so much for this environment. But then I woke up one day and I said, not everything has to be for this environment. And I'm glad that I was able to wrap my arms around it. It may be hard to hear, but it's, also reaches out and grabs people in a different way, right?

I mean, it's like everybody hears something about their own life in that song. Yeah, and I can, wow, just as we sit here, I can think of three or four people just in the last 12 months that aren't here. You know, so I guess, you know, the order you get, the more you travel and the more you do this, the quicker the years go by. You know, and when I heard this song, it just stopped me in my tracks, you know, it really did. It's beautiful. It was a really beautiful song. It's been, what, four years since your last album, something like that.

Yeah. Which is maybe a little more space than you usually take. How did you know it was time to get back out there and put some music down? The last record we put out, we put out right when COVID started. So it was really, it was an awkward way to put out a record, you know. And so I'm at a point in my life now and in my career where I'm, I'm, I'm, done just releasing records and releasing music because your whole life you have you you did it every 18 to 24 months right right you know what I mean like that's that that that there's a freedom

within that as a as a as a songwriter as an entertainer as a as a music person to just do it when you think it's done and when it's you want to do it instead of when it makes business sense to do it And I'm at that place in my life now, which is really wonderful. I mean, it feels really good. But I just felt like, you know, one of the best blessings that I have in my life is the fact that I get to be creative and that I get to give the world something that didn't exist yesterday. You know, when you write a song, it's like you know a secret that nobody else knows, right? And you're going to give that to the world one day. And I had written a few songs and I had found some and I just felt like that I had a collection of songs where it was Tom for me.

And I'm proud of it. Hey guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Kenny Chesney right after the break. Welcome back now more of my conversation with Kenny Chesney. So you're going out on the road as we sit here just a little over a month now, right? Your first shows in April in Tampa. Yeah. What does it feel like to get back on?

that horse and knowing okay I've got this big tour ahead of me right now yeah that's why I don't have any fingernails you know what I mean like I have I have it there's a certain level of anxiety I have with it yeah there's a certain level of um I'm very excited for it but it's like okay like usually after after the new year okay there's this little we got these big lights on us right now they're really big right well those lights started at new year just like a And every day that light got bigger and like a train. It was like a train coming out. And the light's pretty big right now.

Yeah. And, um, but it's exciting because I, I get to take this music and these songs and this experience and what we've built. And that I just feel, I just feel so grateful that I get to be in that spot again. You know, we don't, we don't look at it like, okay, we got to go on the road again. We look at as we get to. We get to do this. And to feel that love and to feel that connection with all those people, that is a real gift.

It's special. You know, and to see how music has truly changed their life. And you can see it in their faces. You can just tell that these aren't songs that they just listen to on the radio the past the time. They took this music that we've been able to write and record over the years to build our audience, and they have lived our life with it. And to see that on their faces and how much they care is I'm looking very forward to that. And that's just something that I take with me every day. Every day.

I mean, because it's not always like that. My life isn't like that. Okay? And I try really hard to leave that person on stage. I do. I try really hard to leave that person on stage. Because to keep that person, the ego and the persona, if that person was with me every day in my life,

I would not, I would. Right. But I really love saying hi to him when I get to go back up there, right? Does that make sense? Yeah, absolutely. So I'm getting ready to say hi to that guy. again and it's exciting. Don't you have to have, I've always thought this,

some measure of ego, even if you're creating it to convince yourself that you're worthy of being up there in front of 50,000 people. No question. No question. But it's like I've got a lot of friends that play in these stadiums. Drew Breeze is a great example.

Drew Breeze, I've known Drew a long time. Away from this environment, he's one of the, very humble, great guy. But you get him in this environment, he's got a lot of ego. He wants to kill you when he played, right? So it's kind of the same thing. It's like, you got to have a certain amount of ego to be great at what you do in that environment. And that's the best way I can explain it for me. I mean, I don't take that person with me in my everyday life. Probably wouldn't be healthy, too, would it? It wouldn't be healthy. It wouldn't be, it wouldn't serve me, honestly.

But when I'm up there for those two and a half hours every night of every summer, it's a great feeling. I cannot imagine how gratifying it is to write a song somewhere maybe in a dark room with some guys, you know, or alone. Record it and then come out here and stand on the stage and have 50,000 people sing it back to you. The idea you thought might connect with some people you hoped really connected with all these people. What is that sensation like? it's a level of validation that you don't get anywhere else. I mean, it's to take a song that you wrote about whatever it is. And look, one of the hardest things to do as a creative person is find commonality.

And it's really hard. And when you do that, and you can tell that not only did you find commonality, but they really, really care. And I got a lot of heroes that I look up to that did that very well. When you see Bruce Springsteen in this stadium or on stage giving all of himself, not just a little bit, not just some of himself, but all of himself, with songs that they really care about, that's the bar that was set, if you will. and to be a songwriter and to go out there and do that is the most validating thing.

It doesn't always happen. Look, you can, that's the thing. That's what makes it so great when it does happen. You can take those songs, you can write those songs, and you can put them out and hope they care. And then whether you're a writer of songs or if you're writing a TV show or if you're an actor Look, the shows that didn't happen, the actors worked just as hard. Yes. So it's hard when you're a creative person.

So when it does, when you do see that connection, when you do feel that energy and that people care about it, that's the best thing in the world now. Yeah, actors will tell you that the movie will come out, bombs the first weekend, and the world moves on from it. Wait a minute. And they worked for years of this. Wait, no, hold it.

Come, watch it again. Watch it again. You don't get that. No, then just move right along. So we're talking about your album, Born. If I could go back for a minute to the way you were raised and how you came up. And I know you're a ball player, baseball, football, all those things. At what point, was it really not until college that music came into your life?

Or did you dabble in a little bit earlier than that? Music was always a part of my life, but I didn't really know. that it was going to be my life. I had church. I had, my mom is a twin. And as children, my grandparents had them going around and singing everywhere.

But I, and I, I, I just had music in my life everywhere, but I didn't know that I was going to take it and run with it. I wanted, I mean, I wanted to play second base for the Red Sox. But I knew in high school that that wasn't going to happen. And I was like everybody else. I went to college and had

No idea what I was going to do. No, I was a marketing major at East Tennessee State University. And I picked up a guitar and I just always felt this need to create. It's not like I wanted to go do what I do out here. I wanted to create. I wanted to write songs. And that's where this started. But as a child, I wanted to be a ballplayer.

My dad gave me all my love for athletics. He was a coach, and that's one thing that, you know, with fathers and sons, you always don't have a, with fathers and sons, you always don't have a lot in common. But we had sports, and that was enough. You know, and he gave me my love for sports. My mom gave me my love for music. and that both things have been very prominent in my life to this moment. And I just, if you had asked me, though, early, it would have been, as an athlete, I would have thought that the athlete would be here and the music would be here.

I didn't think it would be. Right. I didn't think the pendulum would swing all the way this way. Right, right. Yeah, I played high school football and basketball, too, and there is a point we all have where you go, oh, I'm not going to play. playing the NFL. Okay, got it. So what am I going to do? What am I going to do now? So I was the kid in college sitting in a, sitting in a corner with a tip jar. I played at a

Mexican restaurant in Johnson City, Tennessee called Chuckie's Trading Post. And I played for $15 a night plus whatever I made in tips. Some nights was pretty good on weekends. Free enchiladas. That's pretty good when you're in college. That's a good doubt. I'm going to say, that's not a bad deal. So that's where, and in a ways, I swear, man, in ways I still feel like I'm doing the same thing. I just got a lot more stuff around me. You know, the interaction is still the same. Right.

But it's just with a lot more people. Yeah, you're connecting with one person, eating enchilada versus this. And you are at quarterback's barbecue, right? All those spots. That's right. Right? Yeah. Different spots around Johnson City.

And you must have been good enough to give yourself the idea that I'm moving to Nashville and take a shot at this. So when was that moment where you said, you know what, let's see where this takes me? When people, there was a moment, when people come up and said they really enjoyed what I, you know, what I was doing. And they were putting money in the tip jar. And I was, I'm actually getting paid to sing my hero songs. And then I was creating a few songs. And I was, I went, that's what I really want to do. I want to, like, I love these, I love being able to create.

And then I would throw some of those in, you know, in some of those places. And then they would just, you know, we would lose that. Okay, okay. Here's one you do now. But I knew then there was a couple of moments when I was a senior at East Tennessee State. And I was like, okay, my buddy David is going to go run a credit union. And my buddy Tim was going to go do this. And my buddy Darrell was going to do this and these guys are going to go do this.

What am I going to do? And I decided that I wanted to pursue it. It was all creative-based. I didn't know that I was going to turn into this. I keep saying that. I didn't. But it was all led with a creative soul. But, yeah, there's something about being in those bars in college,

and all of a sudden you got, I mean, the place I played was, I mean, it wasn't, it was really small, but it was packed. And I was lost in that moment of playing It's not for hours And next thing you know, I'd been on stage for four hours And I went, wow, this is this is This is something that I might want to do And I had no idea where it was going to take me

But that's where the dream was born And in a lot of ways we're still pushing the limits Of that same dream Stick around for more of my conversation With Kenny Chesney right after a quick break Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Kenny Chesney. I know you started as a songwriter and can you believe it's been 30 years next month since your first album? Wow.

No. No. No. That was 30 years ago. What was the thrill of getting somebody to put out an album for the first time? The thrill of it for me was that I got to work with a very famous person. The first two albums I ever made, I made with a guy that was a part of it. the muscle show sound. He played a lot of hit records, not just country, I mean a lot of hit

records. But I got to work with a guy named Barry Beckett. And Barry Beckett taught me a lot about how to make records in the studio. And I remember to this day, I would be in there singing and he goes, you're technically doing it right. But he goes, I want you to imagine the world listening to the song. And he goes, I want you to put a smile on it. You know, and I think about that all the time. Even when I'm in the studio today, I can hear Barry going, put a smile on it. When I'm on stage, put a smile on it. And I've never forgotten that, ever. And like, it's crazy to think about making music for 30 years and what a blessing that is, you know, that I still enjoy it, that I still feel the urge to create and give the world something that didn't exist yesterday.

That's what, that, that's, that's purpose. That's what, that's my, purpose. That's... And Barry Beckett taught me a lot about that, along with my producers now, Buddy Cannon. We've made a lot of music together. And they, all those people taught me, all those guys taught me so much about making, making music and what it takes. It's all changing now and how it, how music is made. Yeah. But as far as what I do and how we learn to create and just take all that energy and bring it here, all All those guys taught me all that.

But I remember Barry always saying, put a smile on it. You're still doing it. Still putting a smile on it. Trying to. But that gave you the foundation, right? And then it wasn't too long. A couple of years later, you get your first number one song. First of 32, which I had to read twice when I saw it, which is kind of an amazing thing.

Yeah. Number one song kind of puts you in a different place. Does it not? Like, not just that you're trying out in Asheville and see how it goes. Right. Now you're Kenny Chesney that we know today. What was crazy about that, though? Yes.

I mean, the answer to your question is, yes, a number one record does a lot for you, a lot for a lot for your psyche, a lot, okay, well, it's validating something. Okay, we're, we're going to be able to do this for a minute, right, to see what happens. But my career was very strange with getting started. I had a lot of number one records before anybody really knew who I was.

Like, I had a greatest hits album that had 18 songs on it. they knew the songs, but they didn't know me yet. It was really strange. I mean, to be in a place in your life where you've got so much music that you have a greatest hits record. But we would still go out and people would go, ah, who's this guy? I mean, all that changed around 2001.

And that was sort of like you've said, you were doing, I think you said this, like a version of George Strait, right? With the bell-cuckle in the hat, and you wanted to be that, and you realize I've got to be me. Well, we're in an industry of followers. We are.

I mean, like, especially we're in a society of followers now. Yeah. Technically. Yes. Yes, we are. So, but, yeah, I was trying to be another version of what was popular at the time instead of really being myself. And when I started not trying to be somebody else and just took a deep. breath, went into the studio with a collection of songs that I wrote about my life, and just gave it to them, that's when it started to change.

And yeah, I had a lot of, I had several number one records when that happened. But there was a bunch of number one records that were, I don't know, I don't, I don't, I don't have a better way to say it. And they were just nameless. I mean, they were just, I don't know. Could have come from anybody. It could have come from anybody. Anybody could have sang them in ways. But once I started to really get genuine and authentic about what I did, that's when it all changed.

What a concept. Was that because you've had enough success that you felt, okay, I've got the clout anyway to make this change. It's time to step out and be who I want to be now? Yeah, I think so, but I just think it was just a natural progression of growing up and becoming different and having more to write about. And just being okay, maybe you're right. Maybe there was a safety net a little bit, you know, having several number one records and making that choice, okay, I'm not going to be this person. I'm going to be authentic. I'm going to be me.

but when that happened man it was it was so great was it liberating yeah it was it was and on top of it it was it was working you know and all of a sudden and when it changed

it changed I mean within four to six months when it really changed when we put out the no shoes no shirt no problems album it changed when about I would say

six to seven months. It was just, it was different. People knew. All of a sudden, there was an image, and there was a person branded in their brain who had these songs that they were just now figuring out, but also had a catalog of 18 number one records that they didn't know I sang. And then when they put all those dots together, I mean, we had a two-hour show. But people thought we were just starting.

Right. But no, no, no, we've been doing this a while. We've been doing this for a long time. An overnight sensation has been doing it for years. So that's what was the beauty of it. You know, is when it really happened, we had a catalog of music that they could hear somewhere, that they had heard a lot of places in our life, but didn't know that this guy would did all this, too.

And then when we got to When we got to put all that together It was on man I mean it was on So what was the difference do you think then Was it that they understood who you were This whole no shoes energy It's a vibe

You know I just felt I just I don't know I think I got to a place as A human being As an artist and as a creative person Where What I was doing wasn't good enough And I was doing wasn't good enough

and I wanted to change myself. I wanted to get in shape. I wanted to start writing better songs. I wanted to look for better songs. I wanted to get really creative in the studio. And I wanted to push the limits of this dream. Because once you get to this place, that's not good enough.

Not for me. Like, I'm too curious. I was just too curious about what was out there. And I saw the way my heroes did it. And I could tell that we were inching into a place where we might get to, we might get to try that. You know, and from that moment on, I said, I'm just going to try to wake up every day and try to be as positive as I can and give as much as I possibly can, which has been all of it. I mean, I haven't given just a piece of, I was talking about Bruce earlier. I mean, I didn't learn that from him.

Maybe I indirectly observed it or directly observed it. But people say to me a lot, they go, we just think it's great that you've given so much of your life to what you do. And I stopped them. No, no, no. That's because I just, without giving all of it, I would have been really upset with myself. And you push yourself further. Because I was so curious to see where this dream would take. But no guarantee that it's going to pay off.

No guarantee. There was a risk to it. Oh, of course. Yeah. No guarantee. But look, I had already, in my brain years earlier, had already decided that I'd made it. I went, oh, this is as good as it's going to get. Right?

I told the band, I forgot who we were opening for. We were all on one bus. We were, you know, eating three pizza after the show. and we were opening up for some act. I don't know who it was. I remember having the conversation with the band. I said, God, this is as good as it gets right here. That was a long time ago.

You know? So, but to be, you know, to get to a place where you really want to push yourself as a creative person. And as a, just, there was a fire lit inside of me that it's hard to explain. And it's still there. and I don't know I to be able to have that in your life I keep going back to it

but to have music in your life at all is a blessing but to be able to create it and give it to the world and to see them give this energy back to you because of that that's what that is I mean that's what no shoes nation is

and when it's laced with positive energy and love when a lot of the world isn't, it makes me very happy to see that. People want it right now, I think especially, more than ever. So when I said, you know, it's been 30 years, 30 million records, 32 number ones, your 20th album, is this a good moment to stop and pitch yourself a little bit and say, wow, look where I've come since I I rolled in Nashville in January of 91 and I'm going to fill up this place? a couple of months. Do you do that?

I don't do that. Do you stop to look back? No. No, I'm terrified of being complacent. You know, and failure. I think that's one thing that's always driven me was the idea of failing just doesn't sit well. But the only time that I do, and it's on purpose, like, okay, so this is the New York Giants

and New York Jets football stadium. We always get into a stadium market on a, on a Friday. And on a Friday, after sound check, I'll go to the very top and sit just by myself or with a couple of my buddies that work with me. And

I'll just sit in silence because I want to do a couple of different things. I want to be grateful for what's happened. And I want to sit up there and go, wow, this is, and just reflect on all the years it took to get

to this spot. But also, So it's a way for me to emotionally and mentally measure how far it is to down here. Because I know what it looks like from the stage to up there, but if I'm going to get close to connecting with these people, I've got to have their perspective. So that's why I do that. And I've done it. I mean, we've been playing football stadiums now, I think, since 2005.

And I didn't do that the first year, but the second year in 2006 is when I started doing that. So if you want to find me on a Friday night, the rest of the band's doing whatever they do on a Friday night, and the crew guys, you know, they're having a good time and enjoying the summer. I'm probably sitting up here alone thinking about what I've got to do the next night. And just taking a moment to reflect and have a, and remember how grateful I am to be there.

It shows. Congratulations, man. Thank you, man. Thank you very much. Great to talk to you. Yeah, appreciate it. My big thanks again to Kenny for a great conversation. You can hear his latest album, Born and his full catalog wherever you stream your music.

And his son goes down to her kicks off in April and runs all summer long across the country. My thanks to all of you for listening again this week. If you want to hear our conversations with our guests every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sitdown Podcast.