Songwriter Chesney's perfect spot: 'On my boat'

Yet he manages to hang onto his Everyman attitude and persona, which is part of the reason he's packing stadiums typically reserved for rock-a-sauruses like the Rolling Stones.

While plans are already in the works for next year's tour, Chesney has his sights set on that upcoming songwriting sabbatical, crafting material with that guitar given by equally notorious island aficionado Buffett.

"Jimmy's a great songwriter, so I'll try to get whatever energy I can from it," Chesney says with a laugh.

Q: After anticipating these big shows, how do you gear back down when they're over?

A: When you play the stadiums, sometimes people think that's the way it's always been, and that's not true. Yeah, it's very exciting for us, and we do build it up. And I do anyway, because I know that moment, the two hours that I'm up there, I've got to be able to do my best. So everything I do during the week to get ready for that show is based on that moment. I don't go out, I don't talk a lot. I really try to prepare. ... It's very exciting, it all gets built up, and then it's over [laughs]. Like the other night [July 5] in Nashville, 50,000 people were out there. And I woke up the next morning, and it was over.

One of the challenges is keeping it all in perspective. We, as a band, have played in just about every place you could play throughout the years, trying to get to this point.

We're doing a couple of festivals this year where we don't have any production at all. That kind of keeps us grounded and kind of helps us get back to reality just a little bit.

Q: What's the best setting for songwriting?

A: I can tell you it's not on the road. ... It's just a hard environment for me to do that. The perfect setting for me is on my boat down in the islands. I get inspired down there. A boat, to me, brings out a whole lot of emotion, and I wrote a song about it that's going to be on the next record.

After the tour is over, that's where I get my creative juices back. And it's kind of ironic, because it's also a time that I want to get as far away from music as I can, because I'm pretty burnt by the end of August or September. Then I realize it's not the music that I'm burned out on, it's just everything else that surrounds it.

It's kind of a way for me to get back to the basics with just me, a guitar, a pen and a notebook pad. ... That allows me to go back out and do it again. I take that time also to reflect and realize how lucky I am. Usually by November, I start to get itching again, especially during Christmas. And that's kind of the way our cycle has been for years, and I hope it never changes. I hope I always feel excited to go play music.

Q: The current tour features several opening acts, some of which periodically join you on stage, as well as unbilled guests. How's that working?

A: It is organic, because no two shows are exactly the same. Keith Urban comes up and sings with us sometimes. The other night in Nashville, Jennifer Nettles got up and sang. Anybody who comes to the show, I'm going to get them up there and make them work. Steve Miller came to our San Francisco show and played about 20 or 30 minutes with us.

Every night's a little different as far as special guests. ... That's a shared moment that we won't experience ever again, because the same exact people aren't ever going to be there at the same time again. And that's what makes live music so special.

Q: You began your career as a songwriter, but the material on your latest record ("Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates") was penned by other writers.

A:Ironically, a lot of the songs, like "Don't Blink" and "Never Wanted Nothing More," are really personal and about my life, even though I didn't write one word of [them]. It wasn't that I didn't write songs for this record, but it's just they didn't hit home as well as the ones that I didn't write.

That was a first for me. I've always had at least a couple of songs I've written. The next album is going to be different. I've written almost half of the record.

Q: Do you think your celebrity sometimes overshadows your work?

A: I love being successful in music. But I don't love being famous and whatever celebrity status that comes with it. I think it takes away from creativity. ... That's one of the challenges for me right now. I scratch and claw for everything that I can get as far as writing a song.

There are parts of [being successful] that I love. Being able to play Turner Field? Yeah.

Q: We discovered you have a strong local connection — your first record, "In My Wildest Dreams," was released in 1993 on the now-defunct Atlanta-based Capricorn Records. [The disc, reportedly promoted poorly, sold about 100,000 copies.]

A: [Capricorn founder] Phil Walden was the first guy in the music business to ever believe in me. It was a frustrating period as far as commercial success, but I learned a lot with Phil. It was a chance for me to get out there, make a record and start touring. It was during a time when I was just getting started, and I thank God that I didn't experience the kind of success then that I'm experiencing now, because it would be over by now. Because I wouldn't have the base that I have now, the learning curve of the business as far as making records.

Phil was the first one to try and guide me and teach me. He meant a lot to the music business, and I was really honored to work with him. ... He seemed to be really pro-artist, he was an intense person, and he believed in the music and loved music. ... And that passion came through in a lot of ways. ... Everybody who worked around him knew it, and it kind of bled over into my life.

CONCERT PREVIEW

Poets & Pirates Tour

Show starts at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Turner Field, 755 Hank Aaron Drive, Atlanta. $45.50-$106 at www.ticketmaster.com. 404-249-6400.

Schedule: Next Big Star, 3:30-3:45; Gary Allan, 4:05-4:45; LeAnn Rimes, 5:05-6:05; Sammy Hagar, 6:25-7:25; Brooks & Dunn, 7:45-8:55; Kenny Chesney: 9:20-11:15.