A very special guest joined Kenny Chesney onstage during an I Go Back tour stop on April 27 in Greensboro, SC. Fittingly, it was someone Chesney goes back with 55 years: his mom, Karen Chandler.
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Candler danced like the No Shoes Nation wasn't watching before embracing her son onstage during a performance of Chesney and tour mate Kelsea Ballerini's hit duet "Half of My Hometown."
"A moment with mom last night in Greenville, [SC]," Chesney wrote in an Instagram caption. "Mom came on stage last night to sing with me and Kelsea Ballerini. Such a special moment."
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Chandler appeared onstage with Chesney at least once before: during a July 2022 Here and Now tour stop in Denver.
Chesney has spoken glowingly in the past about Chandler, who raised Chesney and his sister in Knoxville, Tenn.
"I think one of the most important lessons that I've learned from my mom is just, no matter what life throws at you, is just to take a step back and a deep breath and just still take life as it comes," Chesney said (as quoted by Music Mayhem). "She's been through a lot in her life. She's handled it and she's come to it, I believe, with a lot of grace and a lot of style. And I've learned a lot from that. She has taught me a lot directly and indirectly. And she's a hard worker, but she loves life. And I thank God that I got my love of life from her."
An avid sports fan, Chesney also connected at the show with two elite college football coaches: Lincoln Riley of the University of Southern California and Dabo Swinney of South Carolina-based Clemson University. The same carousel of Instagram photos shows the coaches signing a guitar onstage and hanging with Chesney on his tour bus. Chesney dedicated his football ballad "Boys of Fall" to both coaches.
