For Immediate Release
11 January 2004
For More Information
Holly Gleason for Joe's Garage
Wes Vause for BNA Nashville

When The Sun Goes Down Golden First Week
550,581 Kenny Chesney Fans Can't Be Wrong…
As #1 Debut on BOTH Billboard's Top 200 and Country Sales Charts Confirm

   Nashville, TN: There was only one number that didn't keep changing
throughout the night -- the number 1, which was the position on both the Billboard's
all-genre Top 200 and Country Albums charts that Kenny Chesney's When The Sun
Goes Down would debut at. Having topped both Billboard Album charts with his
nearly quadruple platinum No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems, being the
best-selling album in America wasn't something new for the 13-million-selling Luttrell,
Tennessean, but scanning over half a million units in a single week was.

   "We've been playing the shows, trying to capture the lifestyle in the
videos and staying in touch with the people in the parking lots," a clearly moved
Kenny Chesney said, from Chicago during a pause in a whirlwind 3-city-a-day
promo tour. "I do this to make friends, to feel connected to other people, to
say 'this is my life… does any of it look familiar?' Sitting here in the hotel
bar of a very cold city, it sure feels like it looks familiar to an awful
lotta folks, which is awesome. Because to me, that's what music's about:
celebrating the things we have in common."

   When The Sun Goes Down is not only Chesney's biggest debut ever (No Shoes
bowed at just over 250,000 pieces), but it also marks the highest debut in
the history of the RCA Label Group in Nashville, which is home to Alan Jackson,
Brooks & Dunn, Alabama, Martina McBride and over the years the Judds, Restless
Heart, Waylon Jennings, Ronnie Milsap, Dolly Parton and Keith Whitley. Sun
also outperforms progressive rock/rap icons Incubus, one of only three
multi-platinum acts slated to release new music during the first half of 2004.

   "It shows the power of teamwork, of artist development, of believing in
someone's work and dream," says Chesney of the foundation that's brought him to
here. "Slowly and surely, we built this thing. I kept knowing that it was
about giving back the things that I always wanted from the artists I loved… and
Joe, Butch, Tom and the whole BNA team got what I was trying to tell them, even
when I didn't have the words to explain that. And we didn't worry about what
the conventional wisdom in Nashville was, 'cause I always knew that for me,
the people who mattered were the ones in the clubs, coming to the shows, chasing
our bus on those rare occasions when it happened back in the day. If you
remember that, if you just keep listening and giving it back to them, well, it
proves that even a kid from a small town in Tennessee can exceed his wildest
dreams."

   For Chesney, who spent the back half of 2003 finishing Sun -- ultimately
writing four of the songs to fill voids he was unable to find in his vast song
seeking process, it also validates a mandate for those who seek to have a
kinder, happier place in the world, though obviously not one void of real life
challenges. "There Goes My Life," which spent 7 weeks at the top of Billboard's
Country Singles chart, traces a seeming life-ending twist to the realization
that it was the greatest gift the narrator could have ever received.

   "Just 'cause my audience likes to have fun, I think people miss the fact
that they know life throws you curves -- and that there are times you've gotta
buckle down or face up to the hard stuff," says Chesney, always a major
advocate for the people who love his music. "My fans know life can be difficult,
which is why they want to make their good times count! When they play, they play
even harder than they work -- and these kids, these 20-somethings are the
people busting butt and making this country what it is! I know, 'cause I get out
there and talk to them every chance I get. This morning, they're talking to me
pretty loudly without ever saying a word… and I am blown away!"

   Chesney, currently on the covers of Country Weekly and Country Music Today ,
wakes up for "Good Morning America" Feb 18 and "Conan O'Brien" Feb 19.
Having blazed the Southeast Conference with his "Keg In The Closet Tour" of
college bars, he's poised for the Guitars, Tiki Bars + A Whole Lotta Love Tour,
which debuts March 17 in Houston. And his percolating Unkle Kracker kick-backer
"When The Sun Goes Down" quantum leaps to 17* on Billboard's Country Singles
chart in its second week. For Kenny Chesney, when the sun goes down and the sales
go up, it's hotter'n the equator and fixing to keep the heat on.

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