The Kenny Chesney you see up on stage is not the one that you’d get in his regular, everyday life. The country music superstar and gifted island-style-hit-maker is known for many different things. Whether it be for his countless No. 1 hits (like “Summertime” and “When The Sun Goes Down”), or being the leader of “No Shoes Nation,” the Knoxville native wears many different hats. And though he’s a household name now, it wasn’t always that way. It took a lot of work for Kenny Chesney to get to the stardom he has today, and he talked a lot about that – and how he handles all that comes with it – in his recent interview with CBS Sunday Morning. For the longest time, Chesney said there was a lot of push and pull with injecting his own self into his music. The country music star describes the frustration he felt in his early days by saying that people knew his songs, but somewhere weren’t familiar with him. It was almost as if the songs were getting the recognition, and Kenny Chesney was getting pushed to the wayside… even though he was the one singing them: “You know what’s crazy? I had an 18-song Greatest Hits album, and nobody knew who I was. They knew the songs, but I wasn’t comfortable in my skin yet. I didn’t know who I was supposed to be as an artist yet. I would go do shows and they would go, ‘Oh yeah, that’s the guy that sings that song.’ And then, ‘That’s the guy that sings that song.’ When I started being my true, authentic self, that’s when everything changed.” Soon enough, Kenny Chesney figured out who he needed to be as an artist to truly connect with his fanbase, and as they say, the rest is history. That being said, there’s a little bit (or a lotta bit) of separation between the Kenny Chesney fans see up on stage and the Kenny Chesney that lives out his life off-stage. CBS described his actual personality as “more complicated, more thoughtful and even a little shy,” which is hard to imagine coming from the guy who has made a living off of beach and relaxation focused music. The “Summertime” singer explained to CBS Sunday Morning that his stage persona somewhat happens as a flip of a switch. Chesney knows that the person he is performing serves an incredibly important purpose, connects with fans, and has helped him build his entire career. He also knows that it’s very valuable to leave that version of him up on stage when he bows and returns to his normal life: “It takes a certain amount of ego to be up there on stage and to do what I do, right? But I try really hard to leave that person up there. I can’t live that person every day. And I don’t want that person in my life every day, but I’m really glad to meet him when I go back up there.” Pretty cool idea, right? It’s almost as if Kenny Chesney is playing a role. He’s an actor up on stage as much as he is a country music superstar. And while that separation is critical in his life, there are some “normal Kenny Chesney” parts that overlap. He does, in fact, love to spend time on the beach and out on the water. But that’s off-stage Kenny Chesney enjoying that time… not the on-stage presence fans have grown accustomed to seeing. You can hear him talk more about that in the interview below: Kenny Chesney on CBS Sunday Morning The post Kenny Chesney Says He Leaves His Ego On Stage When He’s Done Performing: “I Don’t Want That Person In My Life Every Day” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.