Kenny Chesney has one of the most unique sounds in country music. When you hear a Kenny Chesney song, you KNOW it’s a Kenny Chesney, like his latest single “Bar At The End Of The World.” That defining sound didn’t happen over night. It’s years of Kenny cultivating it–starting he before he made music. Where he grew up had a big influence on his style and taste, “Where I lived there was all this random stuff, and I think that’s why my musical taste is so eclectic. Why it’s so different and all over the place. I grew up in a place where country music was prominent. But, there was also rock.” Thanks to the time Kenny grew up, he was also exposed to music he might not have had a chance to see or hear. Conway Twitty, and George Strait were right in his musical wheelhouse, but thanks to a little thing called MTV (back when they actually played music videos), Kenny got his first taste of Tom Petty. All those sights and sounds can be traced to his music today, that you can find on his album, Cosmic Hallelujah.

  Kenny Chesney shares how the music of his youth, shaped his sound today. (:51)
“Where I lived there was all this random stuff, and I think that’s why my musical taste is so eclectic. Why it’s so different and all over the place. I grew up in a place where country music was prominent. But, there was also rock that we know now as classic rock. (laugh) But, there was a true rock station and I think looking back . . . You gotta remember, this was right when MTV hit, and there was all this new world opened up to us and so I saw Tom Petty and the big hat in the video and I’m like ‘What . . . Wow, what’s that? It’s so great.’ A kid from East Tennessee and we’re all going across the street going ‘Did you see the hat?’ I mean what the . . . Then again I love Conway Twitty and I loved . . . I mean when I was a freshman in high school when Unwound came out by George Strait and it was just so great.”