THE STEVE MILLER BAND AND KENNY CHESNEY COME TOGETHER FOR “CMT CROSSROADS” PREMIERING JULY 9
06/17/10
NASHVILLE – June 17, 2010 – Eight-time country music Entertainer of the Year Kenny Chesney returns to CMT CROSSROADS to share the stage with one of his musical influences, rock icon Steve Miller, in the latest episode of the hit CMT series. CMT CROSSROADS: THE STEVE MILLER BAND and KENNY CHESNEY premieres Friday, July 9 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT, on CMT.
Longtime friends, Miller and Chesney have shared the stage at San Francisco stadiums during Chesney’s summer tours, performing classic Miller hits. Now, the two join forces to perform each other’s songs and swap stories for what promises to be another landmark episode of CMT CROSSROADS. Featured in the hour-long episode are Chesney’s hits “Living In Fast Forward” and “I Go Back,” along with the Steve Miller Band classics “The Joker” and “Abracadabra.” Chesney is making his second appearance on the series; his first was October 2003’s pairing with heartland rocker John Mellencamp.
With songs such as "Rockin' Me," “Jet Airliner,” "The Joker," “Fly Like An Eagle,” "Livin' in the USA," "Take the Money and Run" and "Abracadabra" legendary rock icon Steve Miller is one of the cornerstones of classic rock. Born in Milwaukee, Wis., Miller grew up in a home frequented by musicians such as Charles Mingus, Les Paul and T-Bone Walker and formed his first band at age 12 with friend Boz Scaggs. After stints in Madison, Wis. and Chicago, Ill. blues bands, he moved to San Francisco and The Steve Miller Band (known initially as the Steve Miller Blues Band) emerged from San Francisco’s summer of love with a sound that was distinctively different from its peers. With his 1973 No. 1 hit, “The Joker,” Miller moved into a different category and by the time he had released his multi-million-selling albums Fly Like an Eagle and Book of Dreams within a year of each other, Miller was playing to sold out crowds at football stadiums and universally recognized as one of the great names in the golden era of rock. Over 40 years later, the band has sold over 25 million records and is still a mainstay of the summer concert season. Miller’s album tracks have been used in movie soundtracks and commercials all over the world and his greatest hits album is one of the best-selling records of all time. Miller’s new album BINGO! was released earlier this week to rave reviews.
Kenny Chesney left his hometown of Luttrell, Tenn. on the day the Gulf War started, intent on a dream of writing and singing songs that reflected the way people where he came from lived. Along the way, he has notched 19 #1s, including “Young,” “Summertime,” “Out Last Night,” “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven,” “Beer in Mexico,” “Anything But Mine” and “Who You’d Be Today”, and has sold an excess of 35 million records. Bringing his high-energy shows to upwards of a dozen NFL stadiums as well as college bars along the way, Chesney is the only artist to sell more than a million tickets each of the past eight summers, and he has come to define summer for those coming of age across the country. Beyond his four consecutive ACM and four CMA Entertainer of the Year Awards, Chesney has also won the CMA’s prestigious Album of the Year for “When the Sun Goes Down”, the ACM’s Top Male Vocalist and Top New Male Vocalist awards, the American Music Awards’ all-genre Fan Favorite Award and multiple ASCAP awards for his songwriting. “Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3-D” was released to movie theaters nationwide this past May by Sony Motion Pictures and will soon be available on dvd.
CMT CROSSROADS is produced by Tom Forrest and Kathryn Russ. John Hamlin, Margaret Comeaux and Bill Flanagan serve as executive producers for CMT.
www.cmtmusicawardspress.com - Follow @CMTPress on Twitter
CMT, a unit of Viacom’s MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B), is the leading television and digital authority on country music and entertainment, reaching more than 90 million homes in the U.S. CMT and its website, CMT.com, offer an unparalleled mix of music, news, live concerts and series and is the top resource for country music on demand. The network’s digital platforms include the 24-hour music channel, CMT Pure Country, CMT Mobile and CMT VOD.
MTV Networks, a division of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world’s leading creators of entertainment content, with brands that engage and connect diverse audiences across television, online, mobile, games, virtual worlds and consumer products. The company’s portfolio spans more than 150 television channels and 400 digital media properties worldwide, and includes MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, Harmonix, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., TeenNick, AddictingGames, Neopets, COMEDY CENTRAL, SPIKE, TV Land, Atom, GameTrailers and Xfire.
# # #
PRESS CONTACTS:
Cindy McLean cindy.mclean@cmt.com (615) 335-8404
Jean Sievers for Steve Miller (323) 965-1990
Holly Gleason for Kenny Chesney (615) 269-3238
