Somewhere In The Sun: With a cover line that reads: KENNY CHESNEY How The Islands Keep Me Sane,” prestigious Caribbean Travel & Leisure, a monthly magazine devoted to the beauty, culture and authenticity of the Atlantic islands, goes in-depth with singer/songwriter Kenny Chesney on the brink of releasing his deeply personal Lucky Old Sun album, October 14th.

“The way people live is just different down there,” says the man who just wrapped his 2008 Poets & Pirates Tour. “The pace is slower, the vibe is easier. I know why people go down there on vacation and never go home… and the people at Caribbean Travel & Life get that. And they seem to know how to get people who are maybe only visiting - or just sitting in a chair in their office somewhere -- to that place in which you can feel the island.”

Lucky Old Sun in many does that, too. Deepening on Chesney's self-penned Be As You Are: Songs from an Old Blue Chair, the follow-up to his platinum-plus Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates takes both a more fun-loving approach than its predecessor and also offers a far more soul-searching portrait of the man who officially brings summer alive every year on the road.

“I think I've not only grown as an artist,” Chesney admits, “but I've come into my own as a person. A lot has happened to me over the last few years, and the islands is where I went to take stock. Even more than the islands, honestly, I'd say on my boat… just watching the sun moving across the sky, thinking about all that happened, how to move on...

“And as I told the magazine, I realized that for a lot of people, boats are vessels of healing. For me, to make this album be what I wanted it to be, I needed to give the fans a picture of who I am right now, not three years ago, That was a lot of what drove Lucky Old Sun, and it's something I'm really proud of.”

Caribbean Travel & Leisure November issue arrives in subscribers mailboxes at the end of this month, and lands on newsstands shortly thereafter. With never before seen photos - including Chesney with the Wailers' Band taken at the “Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven's” Jamaican shoot, which is sitting at #4 just four short weeks after add date - and a surprisingly candid interview about as he likes to joke “life, love and the lack thereof,” Chesney embarks upon a new willingness to look inside as well as back.

“Don't worry,” the leading CMA Awards nominee says with a laugh. “There is plenty of serious stuff on here, but I've not gone and lost my sense of humor. It's why we came with 'Everybody Goes To Heaven,' because life isn't just one thing - and I think it's important that even when you're trying to figure your stuff out, you still remember to have fun. You know, that's really the deal and the fun songs on here, the ones that feel good, are on there as a reminder to myself as much as anyone.”

With a street date of October 14 and an appearance at Farm Aid Sept. 20, even though the tour is over, Chesney isn't completely off the radar. And with Caribbean Travel & Leisure hitting the stands shortly, you can take Chesney's way of seeing the world home to look at while you listen.

Interview 2007