Kenny Chesney Says 2015 CMA Awards Nominations Are Proof He’s ‘Just Getting Started’

Kenny Chesney led the way in the 2015 CMA Awards nominations, announced Sept. 9, and he says the nods are proof that he's not done yet; he's just getting started.

Take a look at this list. The singer is nominated for Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year for The Big Revival, Single and Song of the Year for “American Kids” and Vocal Event for “Wild Child” with Grace Potter. In addition to acquiring plenty of nominations, Chesney also excelled in touring and just wrapped up his massive 2015 The Big Revival Tour. During his trek, he broke records in in Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Boston, Minneapolis, Kansas City, East Rutherford, N.J. and Philadelphia -- and brought out 55,000 fans to the Rose Bowl as their first country show.

While some artists may think those accomplishments were the absolute pinnacle of their career, Chesney believes it proves he's gathering momentum.

“I’m just starting to get the sound of diesel engines out of my ears, and now there’s a whole other kinda roaring in my head,” Chesney says in a press release. “It seems like we just wrapped two incredible nights in Boston, and now this kinda news? It makes me feel like these songs, this music and the No Shoes Nation are just getting started.”

The singer took a year off to focus on his new record and it paid off with two additional nods -- co-producing on the Album of the Year and Single of the Year nominations.

“I want to believe music matters… and finding songs that really hook into people’s lives and lift them up, but move what the music’s doing forward takes time. It’s easy to just do what works, but I wanted to dig in and take what was on The Big Revival to new places,” he recalls.

The Big Revival holds three consecutive No. 1s -- “American Kids,” “Til It’s Gone” and “Wild Child” and by fans' responses and the song shooting to the top, it's clear Chesney struck a nerve (in a good way) with listeners.

“I believe people respond to songs that capture their lives,” Chesney says, “and when I got back out on the road after a year off, I really wanted to put everything we had on the stage. I brought that same intensity I gave to the record to our shows… and in some ways, it was the leanest production we’ve ever had, but I think it was absolutely the most of us we’ve ever put across the footlights. Those fans rocked us so hard from the first shows in Nashville across America and Canada and all the way through to East Rutherford, Detroit and Boston."

“When music can create that kind of passion,” he continues, “that’s when you know you’re doing it right. When you can get that back, you can feel how much people are feeling those songs, that’s when I feel like I’m doing what me and my road family set out to do.”

Now, while taking a much-deserved break, Chesney's dreaming even bigger. Don't expect him to stop; instead, expect him to surpass fans' expectations again and again.

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