KENNY CHESNEY

It was satisfying to take a risk and see it pay off.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm a helluva kisser.

Before, I was more concerned with getting on the radio, like many young artists.

Me and my band and crew have always lived by the code: 'Work hard, play harder.'

I would like to be married and have kids. I would like to do that... Yes, I could see me settling down at some point.

I had a notepad and I wrote down 30 things to make myself better just off the top of my head, and the next day I started to do that.

I think that in the last four or five years I've constantly struggled with the balance in my life.

I need to recharge creatively, and get off the clock of having to be somewhere just because, and having to keep juggling all these things.

I'm so hands-on, from the color of my tour bus to what I eat for dinner at 5 or the way the lights are hung.

I remember making up songs in my head.

Music's supposed to come from the heart. I felt like that if it ever got mechanical, I was going to back away from it.

You'd think I'd have been happiest in my life playing music in front of 50,000 people at Gillette Stadium. But let me tell you, it's an odd feeling to feel alone in the spotlight.

I realized that I wanted to get better in every way. As a person, as a friend, as a songwriter, as a musician, as an artist, record producer, you name it.

I'm a huge Aerosmith fan.

I can say that I don't see myself with the foot on the gas pedal as hard as it's been down for 16 years.

There are only so many hours you can sit on the bus and watch TV or play basketball or whatever we do to pass the time before we go out onstage.

This is a bit of curveball, but people who are really good kissers never have anything given to them.

It sounds like a cliche, but it... you do sing about what you know about. And I grew up in a small town, and I grew up in a place where your whole world revolved around friends, family, school, and church, and sports.

Social topics may hit too close to home for people, but then again, if you pull a heartstring, then that's what country music is. It's not just songs about getting drunk and leaving your girl.

I want to spend more time with my family.

I was standing onstage last year, and I felt like I wanted to be somewhere else. No matter how many people were out there, it all just felt like a blank sheet of paper.

I grew up in east Tennessee, and everybody knew everybody's business.

Things that made me happy five, six years ago don't make me happy anymore.

I work hard but I play hard.

I love the fact that I can go out there on stage with a guitar and sing a song that means something to somebody.