Kenny Chesney's Near Miss

Kenny Chesney photo courtesy of Sony BMG Nashville.

July 1, 2008 — One of the most-common mistakes people make in the music industry is over-thinking things, and Kenny Chesney almost did that on what turned out to be one of the biggest hits of his career.

Kenny released "Don’t Blink" last August, and it spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Country Aircheck singles chart. It also finished at No. 15 on GAC’s year-end countdown of the top videos of the year, even though it had only about three months to rack up votes. And yet?

"I almost didn’t record ‘Don’t Blink,’" Kenny told WSIX-FM in Nashville yesterday, "because I’ve never really liked songs that preached to people."

Its message about the temporary nature of life is one that could be fairly heavy-handed were it written another way, but it’s a universal issue, and it certainly hit home with Kenny when "Don’t Blink" got presented to him.

"I was in some kind of personal funk when I heard that song," he confessed. "It reminded me that we should take every day and thank God for it and get the most out of life that we possibly can. That’s why I recorded that song."

Kenny’s appearance on WSIX came as he promotes this Saturday’s concert at Nashville’s LP Field. It’s part of his Poets & Pirates summer tour, and the bill also features Keith Urban, LeAnn Rimes, Sammy Hagar and Gary Allan.