ShareThisBy RONNA RUBIN
Sunday, October 15, 2006
"This is a place to kind of get in a good mood and get our mind right and remember exactly why we came because you can sit backstage all day and forget sometimes. This is a place where we remember, where we get our game face on," says country music superstar Kenny Chesney of his backstage Vibe Room, a place he and his band go each night for a pre-concert ritual.
"We play a bunch of loud music and kind of wash away anything and everything that is bothering us before we go on stage."
Until now, fans could only imagine what exactly a Vibe Room might look like. But on "Conversations From the Road with Kenny Chesney," Saturday, Sept., 16, at 9 p.m., ET/PT, on GAC, host Storme Warren and the singer take a seat in the special backstage room prior to a show in Birmingham, Ala., to talk about what Chesney did on his summer vacation.
For the Tennessee-born star, summer vacation means taking his highly-charged live show to eight stadiums and countless amphitheaters around the country, entertaining fans by the tens of thousands ... a far cry from his regular bar gig near the campus of Eastern Tennessee State University.
While pursuing a degree in marketing and advertising, the singer, who performed on Friday and Saturday nights "just for fun," played in a less-than-perfect environment. "It was a bar that had absolutely no ventilation and no windows," he tells Warren. "I was one of the few guys who played country music. My musical taste was and still is very diverse.
"I've always been a big believer that the music you take in as a kid is the kind of music that comes out of you as an adult," Chesney says. "People at shows tell me, 'You know, we didn't listen to country music three years ago and you're one of the reasons we do,' and that makes me feel great."
The 38-year-old singer/songwriter has sold more than 25 million records and recently racked up four more CMA Award nominations _ including one in the Entertainer of the Year category. He'll release a live album, "Live Those Songs Again," Sept. 19.
Several of today's country stars have something in common _ they once had one of the coveted opening act slots on a Kenny Chesney tour. Keith Urban, Gretchen Wilson, Rascal Flatts, Sara Evans and Pat Green all have been on the road with him and Urban and Green are two of the grateful acts offering up stories of their touring experiences on the GAC special.
Selecting just the right opening act is something Chesney takes seriously. "They've got to bring something more to the tour than just a hit record," he says. "They've got to be able to connect with somebody, they have to bring personality and we've had a lot of people out here who've been able to do just that."
This week's GACtv.com Country Q & A comes from Charma in Washington, Ohio:
Q: Does Billy Ray Cyrus plan on making a video for the song on his new CD called "I Want My Mullet Back," and, if so, would he ever wear the mullet again if he could actually get it back?
A: Here's what Billy Ray Cyrus told us about the song, "I Want My Mullet Back." He likes the song so much that it was originally going to be the first single from his new album. But they decided that "I Wanna Be Your Joe" should be the first release, with "I Want My Mullet Back" to be released sometime in the future, at which time they may do a video. Will Billy Ray ever go back to his mullet? When asked recently, he said, "I want it back bad. You got some scissors? I'll show you." We'll likely to find out if he was kidding or serious when the mullet song is released.
