The Bakersfield Voice
Mark Chesnutt: Just rollin' with the flow
Mark Chesnutt: Just rollin' with the flow
Topics: Mark Chesnutt, country music, Kern County Fair
Posted by sunnica Tue Sep 16, 2008 13:04:47 PDT
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Mark Chesnutt, 45, has been playing country music all his life. Because he is en route to Bakersfield to play at the Kern County Fair on September 24, I had an opportunity to speak with Mark from his home in Beaumont, Texas.
In the wake of Hurricane Ike's destruction, the interview was more interesting than I'd imagined, as Chesnutt's answers were often truncated by sharp reprimands directed at one of his three sons during the clean-up process.
“Don't slam that door! That's the only door we got that ain't broke!” he said, adding for my benefit that the hurricane had warped or otherwise ruined the other doors on his home in rural Beaumont. Utilities were down, and the house was running on a generator, so our interview was via cell phone.
Beginning the telephone interview, I noticed that his area code came up 615, and I wrongly assumed he was calling from Nashville.
“No, I've never lived there,” he clarified, an unusual decision for such a classically traditional country star to live outside the mecca of country music. “But if we keep having these hurricanes I might move!”
He was kidding, of course. Mark comes from a long line of Beaumont Texans, who've been riding out hurricanes for generations. There is a lot of history in Beaumont that will likely keep him right where he is.
It is also the history (and fans) in Bakersfield that keep Chesnutt coming back, where he's played several times, both at the Kern County Fair and at Buck Owens' Crystal Palace.
“Bakersfield is so historic (musically),” he said, “and country music is what I've done all my life.”
He then paused to scold an 11-year old, who was attempting to take something into the house. “You're just gonna make a bigger mess!” he warned.
I asked Mark if he'd ever met Buck Owens and what impression Buck had on him as a person and as a country music artist.
“He was a nice guy and a lot of fun to be around. He liked my stuff, the sort of 'old timey' country music I play and was really supportive.”
Chesnutt added that Buck even gave him one of his signature red, white, and blue guitars.
“There were a couple of times (during my career) when I was not feeling good—and Buck would give you a place to play and make you feel welcome.”
Mark says his new single, “Come On In, the Whiskeys Fine” off his new CD Just Rollin' With the Flow, is a fun song. “It's just a rowdy, country, honky tonk song, the kind of song I like to do because it tells a story.”
As for his traditional country music style, Mark says it's still popular today, even among younger fans. “There are still people that buy it, love it, and are just now discovering it.”
And if you can't find his new CD in stores, he said, you can ask the store to order it,
Mark Chesnutt will perform in the Budweiser Pavillion at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, September 24, at the Kern County Fairgrounds.
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