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

Jeannie Seely's Opry Surprise…Unkle Kracker's Opry Debut!

   Nashville, TN: Country legend Jeannie Seely stood on the Opry stage last,
talking about a phone call she'd received late one night from "the hottest,
sexiest young guy out there right now." With a knowing smile, she continued,
with perfect comic timing that was dryer than a martini, "The good news was that
he was calling to tell me he loved me, the bad news was… I wasn't home to
take the call! But when we finally talked, I told him he needed to come to the
Opry -- and tell me in person."

   And as the woman who won the 1966 Grammy for "Don't Touch Me" was
talking, a baseball capped young man walked out of the wings with his head down. As
the crowd held its breath, Kenny Chesney -- of the 15-million records sold, #3
ticket-selling Margaritas'n'Senoritas tour and reigning Academy of Country
Music Top Male Vocalist -- slid an arm around Seely's waist, flashed that
gleaming smile and said into the mic, "Jeannie, I love you... and the Opry."

   Still unsure about the guy in the low slung linen pants and baseball
t-shirt, the applause was scattered, but the anticipation could be cut with a
knife. And then it hit, "Oh, my name's Kenny Chesney -- and I figured as long as
I'm here, you might let me play a song."

   With that, the crowd turned itself inside out. And as his band plugged
in, the pride of Luttrell, Tennessee turned to the wings and said, "I've got a
new album and new single out called When The Sun Goes Down -- and I'd like to
bring my friend Unkle Kracker out to sing it with me… if that's alright with
you."

   With the gentle undulations of the tropi-country "When The Sun Goes Down"
lapping out over the Opry audience, Detroit's pop/rap/r&b fuser Unkle Kracker
rolled into the circle of wood that came from the original Opry home: the
Ryman Auditorium. Beaming with a cockeyed grin at his pal, it was a whole new
kind of Opry surprise -- as worlds collided, musical definitions melted and the
reverence for one of America's greatest musical institutions exponentiated.

   "I was a whole different kind of nervous," Unkle Kracker said in that
gravelly mud and fishing tackle voice of his. "You just know it's like something
you've never done before -- and it's kind of a rush once you get out there,
you know."

   Laughing, Chesney seconded his friend's emotion. "We go all kinds of
places… but when you walk out onto the Opry stage, there's just this rush of
energy that surges up at you. You can feel the spirits of all those great artists
who've stood there before you, the ones who paved the way, broke the rules,
really made this music what it is. It's a little scary, but it's also -- I don't
know -- it makes you feel like you're part of something much bigger."

   Chesney, a hard country-grounded songwriter who has grafted the power of
rock to what he does, was at the Grand Ole Opry's Studio A for his "A&E Live
By Request" broadcast Saturday night -- and decided to make the unannounced
visit. As he said happily on his bus later of the unscheduled appearance, "the
night wouldn't have been complete to be so close and to not get to bask in that"
-- thereby maintaining the rich tradition of musical surprises that the
Opry's known for.

   Having debuted at #1 on Billboard's all-genre Top 200 Albums and
maintaining residency at #1 on the Country Albums chart, Chesney's gearing up for what
will be a big day. With covers slated for March 21 USA Weekend and the
current Country Music Today, the man who opened 2004 with a 7 week run at #1 with
"There Goes My Life" is gearing up for the first leg of the Cruzan Rum sponsored
Guitars, Tiki Bars & A Whole Lotta Love Tour, which kicks off March 17 in
Houston.
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