Tennessee native Kenny Chesney has covered a lot of ground during his storied career– from county fairs and beer joints to multiple nights in NFL Stadiums, as well as producing Willie Nelson, writing with the Wailers, recording with Grace Potter, Dave Matthews and Joe Walsh. Just outside of St. Louis, MO the popular country music artist saw his original tour bus roll over 1,000,000 miles.
“Talk about heavy,” he laughed. “We were on Interstate 64 headed west, just passing exit 24 – and all those zeros just rolled over. It was a used Silver Eagle when I bought it – and the bank had no business lending me the money ‘cause all I owned was a little pickup and my guitar. But I knew if I owned my bus, we could keep doing this, keep bringing the music to the people!”
The white Silver Eagle dubbed “Moby” is the subject of “If This Bus Could Talk” on Chesney’s 13th No. 1 The Big Revival album. The piano-grounded ballad captures the essence and innocence of the road through the headlights: “He’s seen pool halls in Texas/ And every corndog county fair…Late night conversations, full of drunk philosophy/ On politics and religion, football and family/ The loved ones that we missed and the lovers that we lost/ Oh the secrets he could share, if this bus could talk”
“I always thought it was important, no matter what happened, to keep Moby on the road. He’s seen it all – and it reminds me and the guys who’ve been here from the beginning where we came from. Right now some of the No Shoes Radio folks and the tech people are riding it, but we park it right up front… and everybody who walks by just smiles.”
Chesney doesn’t know how to slow down, the crooner will surpass 113 NFL Stadium shows this summer – and has already sold in excess of a million tickets. This weekend at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium, the high velocity musician rocked 47,265 people. With a jam packed tour schedule there’s plenty of highway left in front of Chesney – and Moby.
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