Kenny Chesney fans get deluxe treatment

"Sometimes I go back and listen to the shows, to just remember," said Chesney, "and you get thinking about those nights that are just so perfect. You know, that's a lot of what Lucky Old Sun is about in a whole other way... So I wondered if there was an alternative way to share these memories from Gillette Stadium (in Foxboro, Mass.) and our taking over Margaritaville down in Key West.

"Thankfully, the record label totally gets that my hardcore fans are so much a part of this, and that it's something they may want... beyond our studio release. So, they're allowing me to do a first week deluxe CD that will have Boston (a song Chesney wrote with his tour production assistant Mark Tamburino) and Got A Little Crazy from our Boston show and Soul of a Sailor and Guitars And Tiki Bars from the Hogs Breath' as something a little extra."

Beyond the four tracks, fans will be able to access downloads of the opening from this year's "Corona Extra Poets & Pirates Tour" as well as the current hit singleEverybody Wants To Go To Heaven video featuring the Wailers, which was filmed in Jamaica earlier this summer. In addition, two lucky winners and a guest will be flown to the opening of Chesney's 2009 tour in a contest called "Kick It Off With Kenny." Full details will be available soon. The music-only edition, which does not include the extra content or contest, will be released Oct. 21.

"Lucky Old Sun is a really personal record," said Chesney. "It comes from some pretty deep places, and it looks at my life, how I've evolved and the way the ocean can take you places beyond location. There are a bunch of fun songs on the record, for sure, but nothing quite as immediate as these live tracks, so in some ways, it's the very best of what we do in the studio and what we do in people's hometowns.

"In reflecting that, it seems only right that a couple fans who helped us close out this year with our new music will be in the front row at the first show of our next year. When you're trying to find new ways to engage the people who love your music, I think the more direct the better...and what could be better for us than having two winners who're that into the music we make front and center when next year kicks off?"