Kenny Chesney Accepts Humanitarian Of The Year Honor During CRS
Kenny Chesney. Photo: Kayla Shoen/CRS
This year’s Country Radio Seminar officially launched on Wednesday (Feb. 19), with one of music’s best-selling, top touring artists: Kenny Chesney.
Chesney led Warner Music Nashville’s annual CRS luncheon, where he was honored this year with the CRS Humanitarian of the Year Award, which is awarded to a country artist who has displayed exceptional humanitarian efforts during their career. Past recipients of the honor have included Chesney’s fellow Warner Music Nashville labelmate Blake Shelton, as well as Brooks & Dunn, Reba, Lady Antebellum, Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire, and more.
Chesney has done plenty of his own humanitarian work, most recently by launching his Love for Love City Foundation to help those in St. John affected by the devastation left in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. Chesney and some of his core staff also helped to rescue and relocate more than 2,000 displaced animals in St. Thomas and St. John to no-kill shelters and new homes in the U.S. All of the proceeds from Chesney’s 2018 album, Songs for the Saints, also went to the Love for Love City Fund; the project has helped raise more than $1 million to date. After the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, Chesney teamed with the Boston Medical Center to create the Spread the Love Fund to benefit amputee survivors; the fund has raised more than $2 million to date. Chesney’s love of oceans, beaches and island life has become an integral part of his brand over the years, and his No Shoes Reefs initiative has helped rebuild coral reefs in Jacksonville, Florida and supported other ocean ecology efforts.
“I have to tell you, I have a lot of emotions standing up here,” Chesney told the crowd of more than 1,000 radio programmers and music industry members during the Warner Music Nashville luncheon. “I am embarrassed and uncomfortable, but God has given me the gift of communicating with people through music… and that’s given me a unique platform to help, especially with the Virgin Islands, with Songs for the Saints, which was written in the moment and came from the heart.
“You know, I’d heard ‘One Love’ by Bob Marley my whole life, but when you’re under that kind of stress, to see everyone coming together to rebuild and help? I got to see what that song was in action. What was really amazing were so many people who didn’t really have anything, and the way they gave.”
Warner Music Nashville also treated the label luncheon attendees to performances from other hitmakers on the roster, including Chris Janson, Ashley McBryde, Gabby Barrett, Michael Ray, and Shy Carter.
Photo ID (Back row, L-R): RJ Curtis (Executive Director, CRB); Scott Hendricks (EVP A&R, WMN); Cris Lacy (EVP A&R); John Esposito (Chairman &; CEO, WMN); Kristen Williams (SVP Radio, WMN); Kurt Johnson (Board President, CRB); Ben Kline (EVP / GM, WMN)
(Front row, L-R): Cody Johnson; Ashley McBryde; Chris Janson; Kenny Chesney; Michael Ray; Gabby Barrett; Shy Carter
Chesney also performed three songs, including the multi-week No. 1 single from Songs for the Saints, “Get Along,” as well as “Save It For A Rainy Day,” and “When The Sun Goes Down.” He also thanked Warner Music Nashville Chairman/CEO John Esposito for supporting him in the making of a charitable album as his first project at his new label home.
“It was in God’s hands. So I want to thank Esposito and everybody at Warner for accepting me and for understanding that this was something bigger than all of us,” Chesney told the crowd. “And I’m really proud that I made this record.
“And I will say that in 2018, when we did our stadium run, when I saw a lot of your faces out at the shows, it was the one thing that everybody wanted to talk about. And it reminded me that I have been doing this for a little while now, and it kind of feels like family in a lot of ways. And when family hurt, somebody in the family hurts, we all hurt. And I felt that from all of you guys. I want to say I really appreciate it. And it gave me so much energy to go out on the road. And we were blessed with a song about hope and love and loving everybody.”
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