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Playgirl June 2000 Magazine

With two platinum albums, a repeat
spot on this sum-
mer's George Strait
Country Music
Festival and the chart-topping hit
"How Forever Feels," Kenny Chesney
is on a roll. The personable 32-year-
old arrived in Nashville from his native
Lutrull, Tennessee in 1991, and sang
for "good 01' boys, drunks and prosti-
tutes," before recording his first album.
Chesney has since signed with a
new label and is now blazing into
major league stardom with his cur-
rent album, Everywhere We Go. And
everywhere he goes, the women
seem to follow. Discover the reasons
why in this intimate PLAYGIRL chat.

PLAYGIRL: You've had spectacular
success in the last several years.
Why do you think people are
responding so strongly to you?

Kenny Chesney: I think they realize
that my music is genuine, and not
something that's marketed by a studio.
I hope that's what they see, because
it's real.

If you had to sum up who Kenny'
Chesney is on record, who would 1
that be?

I hope he comes across as the guy
that all the girls want to love and all the
guys want to hang out with

You've had a big hit with "She
Thinks My Tractor's Sexy." What
drew you to that song?

It made me laugh. Not every song
to change the world, and this lyric
obviously isn't going to And peo
ask, 'Is there a hidden meaning
behind "She Thinks My Tractor's
Sexy?"' And I say, 'No, it's for you t
make it whatever you want it to be.

Actually, it's not really a sexy song.

No, it's not, really.

But the video is sexy.

The video is sexy. Some people would
say we kind of went overboard.

Define sexy.

[Big laugh] Don't ask me that! What is
sexy? I don't know what sexy is.

I read that you never feel sexy.

Never!

How can that be?

I think I just feel fat. We were taking thEf!!.ic,
group picture for this year's George
I Strait tour the other day, and I had this
T-shirt on, and I was constantly going,
s 'God, I feel fat!' And LeAnn Womack
said, 'You remind me of a girl. Shut
up!' But I never feel sexy. I never do. I
Ir don't know what sexy is. I think it's for
somebody else.

What about when you see a wornan?

Well, if I think a woman's sexy, it's in
the way she walks, the way she car-
ries herself and the way she talks. I
There's just an aura about a person
that's sexy.

You were an athlete in high school,
though. Did girls think you were a
hunk then?

No, I was a lot skinnier back then than I
am now. I've bulked up [since then],
because I've been working out.

What's your workout regimen?

Well, I work out every day. I work my
chest, triceps and stomach one day,
then the next day I work my biceps,
shoulders and back. And I usually
do about 45 minutes a day on the
treadmill. I've built a small gym at
the house.

So would you say that you're pretty
body conscious?

Yeah, I am. I just want to be the best I
can be. I'm not working out because I
want to look good in the video. I'm
working out because it makes me feel
good, it makes me feel better about
myself and it makes me feel more
secure on stage.

Who's the sexiest man ever in coun-
try music?

I would say Elvis when he did the
Aloha Special. My mom always said,
'God, he looked better then than he
ever did.' But there was an aura about
him. And when he did the '68
Comeback Special, he looked so cool
in that black leather outfit I thought,
'Man, I'd like to look like that!'

How about the sexiest woman in
country music?

I think Sheryl Crow is sexy. I like her
when she plays bass. And obviously
Faith Hill's a very sexy woman. She's
a gorgeous girl, and she's just as
pretty as a person. And there's
something sexy about Patty
Loveless, too.

Country performers usually Play
down their sexuality, which is sort
of a shame.

Yeah, until Shania. She is definitely one
of the first women to flaunt her sexual-
ity. Shania has proven that you can be
a really good songwriter and artist, and
still be sexual. I love what she does.

When you sit down to write a love
song, what are the elements you
try to include?

When I'm writing and looking for
songs, I've got to know that some-
body is gonna sink their teeth into it,
so that it becomes a part of their life in
some way. I've got to know that It'S
got  heart-especially on the ballads.

Like "You Had Me from Hello."

Yeah, that's a very special song for
me, because it was the first number
one record I had as a writer. And
even though I got the idea from [the
film] Jerry McGuire, it has got nothing
to do with the movie. It's about
somebody that fell in love, got their
heart broken and decided that they
were going to build all these walls
around their heart and never love
again. Then they meet somebody
who tears down [the walls] by just
saying 'Hello.'

You're engaged to a girl named
Mandy Weals. What first attracted
you to her?

Well, she's from the same area I'm
from in east Tennessee. We went to
college together, but I didn't see her
for ten years. Then we went on our
first date, and it was her eyes, skin
and hair-the combination of every-
thing-[that attracted me to her]. She's
very smart, and she's a great kisser.

What's the most romantic thing
you've ever done?

Well, I love the beach, the
Caribbean and especially the
Cayman Islands. Last year, Mandy
and I went down there, and rented a
catamaran one night. We had a
captain and a cook. They took us
out into the middle of the Caribbean
Sea, and we had lobster and white
wine, and watched the sun set in
the Caribbean. It was awesome.

How did you propose?

That's probably the most unromantic
thing I've ever done. I proposed in
Columbus, Ohio, on my tour bus. I
picked Mandy up at the airport, and I
had six dozen roses and little candles
in Dixie cups, and got her so drunk
she had to say yes. No, I'm just kid-
ding about that.

That was a couple of years ago,
right? Any wedding date set?

No, we had a wedding date set, then
postponed it. Actually, Mandy and I
have been through a fairly rough year.
She and I broke up, then got back
together, and we're working a lot of
things out. I love her to death, and
we're still very much in love, and I do
hope to marry her.

How are you going to handle
being on the road and being
engaged at the same time?

I love being with someone who does-
n't care about the music business. It's
tough, but it [can be done]. Mandy
knows that, for now, she's not going
to be number one on my priority list.
That's really bad to say, but that
doesn't mean she's not going to be
[number one eventually].

In concert, you shake your rear
around and women seem to go
crazy.

Well, I try not to shake it too much,
because I want my music to be more
than me up there in a cowboy hat
shakin' my ass But I like to wiggle
around a bit.

You have a song on your current
album called "A Woman Knows"
that says a woman can tell when
her man is cheating. Do you think
that's true?

Oh, there's no doubt about it. Women
sense things. They have a certain
intuition, especially if someone is
cheating on them. That's definitely a
song I wrote from experience.

Do you still cover "I'd Love to Lay
You Down" in concert?

We do it every now and then.

That's a pretty sexy song. What's
the sexiest thing you've ever done?

Wow, I don't know! You might have to
ask Mandy [long pause].

Are you censoring yourself?

Yes!

What's the clean version?

Uh, let's just saya beach and a blanket.

I think we get it. So you're defi-
nitely a romantic.

No doubt about it.

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