Backstage Country

Kenny Chesney: Baseball, Girls, And The Fourth Of July

Kenny Chesney is spending the summer of 2024 on the road for his “Sun Goes Down Stadium Tour.” This week, he has some time off for the Fourth of July,…

Kenny Chesney posing in a back cowboy hat and polo shirt.
Micheal Loccasiono/Getty Images

Kenny Chesney is spending the summer of 2024 on the road for his "Sun Goes Down Stadium Tour." This week, he has some time off for the Fourth of July, but he will get back on the tour bus after the fireworks dim to head to Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium to play a show on Saturday (7/6).

Through the years, I've interviewed Chesney many times, and we've discussed various holidays and traditions surrounding them.

A few years back, Kenny told me about the Fourth of July and what he recalls as a kid growing up in East Tennessee. He told me, "You know what? I was usually playin' little-league baseball on the Fourth of July. You know, I was big into sports, and the summertime in East Tennessee consisted of playin' baseball, and that's what I did on the Fourth of July."

He added, "They had a big fireworks display after all the games, and I was usually, you know, tryin' to win the affection of some little girl over at the concession stand. And, you know (laughs), things don't change very much!"

Chesney took to Instagram to honor one of his close friends from the Islands. He posted several images of himself along with his friend, whom he called "The Ghost."

He captioned the somber post to his almost 2 million followers, "So a very hard goodbye to a close island friend, Curtney Chinnery AKA 'The Ghost From Jost.' He was a part of island life for so many years. Someone I thought would just always be there."

Kenny continued, "He was so curious and full of imagination and one of the most creative human beings I've ever met. That's how we connected. Creativity. He was a poet among poets, and I'm gonna miss him for so many reasons."

He closed the sweet post saying, "So goodbye, my brother, and thank you for your friendship and all the laughs. 'GHOST OUT.'"

Upcoming "Sun Goes Down Tour" Dates In July:

July 6 Kansas City, Mo. || GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium
July 11 Boise, Idaho || Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater^
July 13 Seattle, Wash. || Lumen Field
July 16 Salt Lake City, Utah || America First Field*
July 18 Wheatland, Calif. || Toyota Amphitheatre^
July 20 Los Angeles, Calif. || SoFi Stadium
July 24 Phoenix, Ariz. || Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre^
July 27 Denver, Colo. || Empower Field at Mile High Stadium

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.