Kenny Chesney Says His Life Changed When He Stopped Trying To Be The New Version Of George Strait

I mean, I can’t really fault Kenny Chesney too much for wanting to be like George Strait.

I think most young country artists, male or female, would be more than happy with a career that’s even a fraction as successful and legendary as The King’s. But, then again, no one else will ever be George Strait, so trying to create a career like his is… impossible.

And during a 2023 interview with Country Countdown USA’s Lon Helton at CRS (Country Radio Seminar) this year, Kenny talked about how when he first got started in the business, he was trying to be too much like George and losing his unique identity in the process:

“I was a lot like a lot of artists, honestly. I was trying to be the newer version of George Strait. I think Garth would tell you the same thing, he loved George. That was the bar. I wore a belt buckle. I was trying to be that.”

He continued, saying he started to notice that he wasn’t the only one trying to emulate The King, and obviously that’s a great standard to be reaching for, but ultimately, he got lost in a sea of others trying to make it just like he was:

“This isn’t a slam toward anybody, but I realized there were acts out there that felt the same way I did. We were all trying to reach for Strait. I didn’t have as good of a song as Tracy Lawrence had, with ‘Time Marches On.’ I just felt I wasn’t truly being authentic as an artist during that time.

There was a phase, after Garth hit, where everybody wore the same shirt.”

It all clicked for him when he finally started being himself and not George Strait, adding that he “started really writing songs” after that:

“But the moment I stopped trying to be George Strait, that was the moment my life changed. I started really writing songs. And my life in the Virgin Islands, I spent a lot of time writing out there.”

He also talked about one of his biggest hits “Don’t Blink,” and how he actually hated that they pushed it as a single at the time:

“When we released that song… I hated it. I felt like it just touched every button you could possibly touch to get somebody to like a song and I hated it. We were at ABC Radio Networks in Dallas, and we were on the plane there, and I was in Joe’s ear the who two-hour ride about how much I hated this single choice:

‘It’s never gonna work, this is going to be the end of everything. I’ve worked really hard to be here and you’re gonna cut my legs off with ‘Don’t Blink.” I did my interviews and we are coming down the escalators and the lady at the front desk tells me, ‘I just love ‘Don’t Blink’!’

I looked at Galante and said, ‘You told her to say that.'”

The song was included on his 2007 Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates album, and ended up being a four-week #1 hit on the Billboard country airplay chart.

I mean, 17 years later and it’s just as timeless as ever…

“Don’t Blink”

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