Kenny Chesney

Las Vegas: As his Sun City Carnival continues doing definitive business in a tough economic climate – including playing for in excess of 60,000 at Boston’s Gillette Stadium this weekend – and the high energy singer/songwriter just scored his 19th #1 with “Out Last Night” from his Greatest Hits II, the music and mindset of Kenny Chesney continues inspiring people in ways that extend beyond the obvious. Given Chesney’s low-key, low-impact life, it was only a matter of time before someone approached the laidback musician about clothes that reflected his deeply casual sense of style.

“We’ve had people approach us in the past,” admits the man who rocks hard and kicks back hard, “but it never seemed like something I’d wear… and when these folks called, I wasn’t sure. But the people from [what became] Blue Chair Bay got the things that are important to me: quality materials that don’t try, timeless vintage stuff that isn’t right now, but forever… and colors that look like they’ve been baked by the sun and sea water… and clothes you can live in. And they let me be involved with the design, so these clothes aren’t someone who doesn’t know me …”

Blue Chair Bay is not a signature line, but inspired by the man and his music, which reflects ocean living, time spent with friends and relaxing wherever you are. With woven shirts, khakis, shorts, t’s and jeans, the men’s and women’s lines have soft launched in very select retailers including Fast Buck Freddy’s in Key West, Ocean Eddies in Gulf Coast, Al and Levys in Nashville – and will have their official debut at the MAGIC Marketplace in Las Vegas, hands down the largest clothing event in America, Sept. 1 with a very intimate performance at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.

“The idea – to me – is what would you need if you were going to take off for a week in the islands or at the beach… or even just on the road,” explains the man who’s made vintage t’s, baggy khakis and ball caps a uniform for young people coming into your own across the nation. “These are the things you wear when you’re just being yourself, unplugging with nothing to prove. To me, when you’ve got nowhere to go, nowhere to be – and you want to be comfortable, but still look good.”

Well over two years in the works with the American design team, Blue Chair Bay captures the attitude and ease of the 4-consecutive Academy of Country Music and 4-time and reigning Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year onstage – and off. With an emphasis on all-natural fabrics and places that evoke real people and places in Chesney’s world, the comprehensive men’s and women’s lines will be displayed at the MAGIC Marketplace inside Las Vegas Convention Center in its own tour bus, a first for the international trade show that is easily the biggest in the world.

“Just like I don’t know fashion,” explains the largest North American ticket-seller this century, “I don’t expect these people to really know who I am, what I do or what I’d like to think my music represents… So, that’s why I’m going to play a very intimate show for a lot of them: bring them in organically to the songs, the stories and give them a sense of who I – and the people who live these songs right along with us – am. To me, when I look out at the crowd every night onstage, I know this is going to make shopping easier… not because it’s me, but because these are clothes I know I have to hunt to find, and now, it’s everything that feels good, wears easy and looks right in one place.”