Kenny Chesney Taking a Year Off From Touring

Kenny Chesney's No Shoes Nation Tour has been filling some of the biggest venues in the country, but after it wraps up, the singer will be taking some time away from the road.

“I love touring more than anyone in the world,” Chesney says in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I love the band, the crew, the whole team — and it’s weird to not be looking at next year’s stage design, but I shouldn’t make albums to service the tour. So I’m going to put the music first, dial it back and do the strangest thing in the world: not hit the road next summer.”

Chesney has long been one of the most reliable seat fillers in the business, burning up the road nearly every year for the past two decades. He previously took a much-needed break in 2010, and he explains that right now, he's looking to put more of his focus on his next album after making somewhat of a breakthrough with his current 'Life on a Rock.'

“We have so much fun out there … with the fans, the other bands … It’s summer camp with guitars and a great sound system,” the 'When I See This Bar' singer says. “And when we hit that stage every night, and hear the crowd, that’s the best drug in the world. How you take a year off from that is hard; but music is the reason I do all of it, so right now, when I’m coming off an album that took me places I didn’t know I was gonna go, I think that’s what I should be exploring.”

Chesney adds that as he gets older and makes more albums, he wants his music to reflect more of who he really is, instead of simply issuing new product to satisfy marketplace expectations. "It's a lot harder to find those songs than you'd think," he observes, "and writing takes time -- to think, to live, to be."