Kenny Chesney Takes It to the Limits

16 Oct 09

Kenny Chesney’s big Austin City Limits show premieres on PBS Saturday (Oct. 17). And I have an assignment for you. Watch it, and then come back here and tell me your favorite parts. I want to know if other people see the little nuances I have seen. The whole thing is an hour-long show of Chesney doing his Chesney thing. But it’s not quite as rowdy as one of his stadium shows, which means you can really see and hear more. And typically, you’re sober when you’re watching TV, which is not always the case at one of his concerts.

Some of the seven standouts (the good and bad) for me were:

1. The low stage. At his shows, Chensey is a good five feet above the folks in the front row. So having him on a stage that’s only a foot or so high makes him seem more connected to the crowd. Love that.

2. Stupid cowboy hat. I hate that you can never really see Chesney’s eyes because of the shadow of the brim of his hat. The cameramen must not know that the eyes are the window to the soul.

3. Moonshine. All these years when Chesney sang “Back Where I Come From,” I thought that the second verse (“We learned in the Sunday school, who made the sun shine through, I know who made the moon shine too”) meant that he knew that God was in charge of powering the moon’s shine. But during this particular performance, he has his pal Mac McAnally sing that and it takes on an entirely different meaning. Like, I know who makes moonshine, and it’s this guy named Carl who lives in a shack in the Appalachians.

4. A guitar like Trigger. The Takamine guitar Chesney is playing has a well worn top from flat picking. I never knew Chesney played that hard, that his guitar would get to the point that it looks almost like Willie Nelson’s guitar, Trigger.

5. Banjo work. It’s crazy good on “Never Wanted Nothing More.”

6. Chesney’s youth. He talks about growing up in East Tennessee and how everything revolved around “Friends, family, school, girls, sports and church.” I wonder if he still feels that way now.

7. The closing. There’s an interview nestled into the performance, and in it, Chesney closes by saying, “I like to think that I haven’t written my best song yet.”

Photo Credit: Scott Newton/KLRU/PBS

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