Kenny Chesney wins Entertainer of the Year at "The 42nd Annual CMA Awards," on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008, live from the Sommet Center in Nashville on the ABC Television Network. Photo courtesy of the Country Music Association.
Feb. 17, 2009 — Kenny Chesney parked it at No. 1 on the Billboard country singles chart this week, and he brought a deserving passenger along with him.
Kenny’s "Down The Road," a collaboration with Mac McAnally, marks the first time that Mac has reached the chart summit as an artist, though he’s been making an impact in a variety of ways for more than 30 years. He landed on the pop charts as a vocalist on 1977’s "It’s A Crazy World" and 1983’s "Minimum Love," and he wrote a Jimmy Buffett pop release, "It’s My Job." Mac also earned a country hit in 1989 with "Back Where I Come From," which Kenny now performs regularly in his own concerts.
Behind the scenes, Mac’s built some impressive credentials:
• He produced a bevy of Sawyer Brown hits, plus the Ricky Skaggs single "Same Ol’ Love" and the Jimmy Buffett remake of "Hey, Good Lookin’" that featured Kenny, Toby Keith, Clint Black, George Strait and Alan Jackson.
• As a songwriter, Mac’s penned Sawyer Brown’s "All These Years," Ricky Van Shelton’s "Crime Of Passion" and Alabama’s "Old Flame."
• As a guitarist, he’s appeared on hits by the likes of Reba McEntire, Randy Travis, Trisha Yearwood and Steve Wariner, winning the Country Music Association’s Musician of the Year award in November.
"I am really happy about having a No. 1 with my very good friend and, frankly, one of my songwriting heroes," Kenny says. "The idea that you can go in the studio with a couple guitars and a great lyric, that people want to hear that, that it's still okay to make records like this, that says a lot about what people really want and respond to."
The No. 1 single isn’t the end of the story, though. Kenny picked up four Academy of Country Music nominations last week, and one of them honors "Down The Road" as a finalist for Vocal Event of the Year.
"Having an ACM nomination with Mac is icing on the cake," Kenny observes. "If they gave awards for heart and soul, for being gifted, for singing the way he does, nobody could touch him. To be able to be part of a nomination with Mac McAnally is about as good as it gets."
The "44th Annual ACM Awards" will be handed out April 5 in Las Vegas.
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