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31 October 2005
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Kenny Closes Times Square Monday Nov. 7
On The Eve of The Road & The Radio, CMA/ACM Entertainer of the Year Stops Traffic

   New York City: He's sold out stadiums in Pittsburgh, Boston and Washington, DC; he's strafed college bars with no notice pop-u 'n' play tours; he's sold over a million concert tickets three summers in a row - and was the #1 ticket-seller for the first half of 2005, besting U2 by over 200,000 tickets. Kenny Chesney understands making his performances mean a little something more, so to launch his heavily anticipated The Road & The Radio, the reigning Country Music Association and Academy of Music Entertainer of the Year joins with "Good Morning America" to close down one of the most traveled arteries in the world -- Times Square -- for a very special special wake-up performance.

   "Somebody once told me it's all about chasing your dreams -- and you can only chase 'em if you'll actually take the time to dream," says the soft-spoken singer/songerwriter with a big smile, about what inspired the notion of playing the heart of Manhattan. "I made a joke to a writer once a long time ago who was saying I'd accomplished all this stuff -- which was barely nothing, a few #1s and maybe a platinum record -- and what was left to do. And I'd said, 'Play Neyland Stadium' [the high temple of University of Tennessee football] -- which was beyond the realm of imagination at the time.

   "But you know, that stayed with me? and several years later, a joke turned into 'Why not?,' and then 'Why not?' turned into 'How could we?' - and then next thing you know, there we were with 67,000 in my hometown. And that's sort of the deal here, too? Launching Be As You Are in the cold, cold winter, staring out at Times Square through the 'Good Morning America' studio windows, and thinking, 'Why not?'?"

   With "Who You'd Be Today" sitting at #4 after just 4 weeks, a recent Billboard Roadworks 2005 Award for Best Package -- over Ozzy Osbourne, Eminem and 50 Cent -- and multiple nominations at the 39th Annual Country Music Association and American Music Awards, Kenny Chesney's on a roll. So much so, that on Monday, Nov. 7th, the city of New York will shut down the artery of 44th and Broadway during rush hour, so Chesney can rock Manhattan to celebrate the release of The Road & The Radio.

   "It's pretty crazy," he admits with that slow smile, "but if you don't dream, it doesn't happen. Me, I'd rather dream - and take my chances."

   And in honor of the big event, there's also going to be a jumbo/giant/economy size XXXXXL billboard hung in Times Square, announcing the arrival of The Road & The Radio for fans coast-to-coast to take home. Standing 46 feet tall and almost 21 feet wide, the mondo-Kenny will rise at 1500 Broadway in time for the New York Marathon weekend.

   "When they told me they were doing that, I just laughed," says the 5' 6" superstar, who somehow managed through heart, grit and hard work to play his way onto the very tiny Gibbs High School football team. "I can't even imagine HOW big that is? though I did figure I'd finally be big enough to really play football?"

   With a Nov. 7th "Good Morning America" Concert Series slated for Times Square, a CMA and AMA Awards performance and his very first network special "Kenny Chesney: Somewhere In The Sun" on Nov. 22, there's going to be a lot of music from the man from Luttrell, Tennessee in people's living rooms, not to mention The Road & The Radio's Nov. 8th car/home/wherever one wants to take it debut.

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