THE LEDGER INDEPENDENT | SATURDAY, 03.31.2012 ENTERTAINMENT | B3 ‘Tequila,’ Kenny Chesney the toast of ACM Awards CHRIS TALBOTT it’s love or substance abuse AP Writer or just anything.” The key to the song’s NASHVILLE, Tenn. | success is the interplay be- JONATHAN SHORT, ASSOCIATED PRESS Kenny Chesney has relent- tween Potter and Chesney. This is a Dec. 19, 2011 file photo of Diagon Alley, at the Warner lessly churned out hit after There’s a little regret, but Brother Studios, Watford England. hit, won accolade after also some wistfulness. accolade and sold more Potter says she’s gotten to concert tickets than most know Chesney quite well Magic! Harry Potter performers regardless of since their first tentative genre. Still, few things have encounter. They are now affected him like “You and close friends and collabo- studio tour opens Tequila,” his artful and un- rators who have recorded likely duet with Grace Pot- new music she can’t yet talk ter that he considers “a gift about in detail, but is ex- from God.” cited for fans to hear. near London Chesney is up for nine The more she learns Academy of Country about him the more im- JILL LAWLESS props and costumes from Music Awards on Sunday pressed she is by his perfor- Associated Press the films, on the original on the strength of a song mance on the song. studio site. that’s been a life-changing “He’s found a lot of nu- WATFORD, England | The first, and most experience for just about ance and subtlety in the Hogwarts Castle is ready to spectacular, set visitors everybody involved — from whole album ‘Hemingway’s welcome the Muggle mul- encounter is the Great songwriters Matraca Berg Whiskey,’” Potter said. “I titudes. Hall of Hogwarts school, and Deana Carter to Potter do think he’s a true artist Here, on a film studio complete with stone floor, and even Chesney. and a musician who under- sound stage near London, Gothic arches, gargoyles “That song’s been around stands what an artist needs. stands the real Hogwarts and huge fireplace. Later for a while,” Chesney said. That subtlety and nuance — or at least a monumental come the dormitory where “To me it just goes to show really lends itself to ‘You model of the fictional wiz- the young wizard slept, you that a great song has to and Tequila.’” arding school, the very one the office of headmaster some extent an infinite life “Hemingway’s Whiskey” used in the eight “Harry Albus Dumbledore, the and good songs never go out is one of Chesney’s most Potter” movies. giant Hagrid’s Hut and of style. And this one surely RICHARD DREW, ASSOCIATED PRESS celebrated efforts. It was an The minutely detailed Diagon Alley, the magi- hasn’t, thank God.” In this June 17, 2011 file photo, singer Kenny Chesney performs album a long time coming, castle now forms the cli- cal shopping street that’s Chesney is seeking a on the NBC “Today” television program in New York. Chesney is stripped down and retooled max of “The Making of home to Ollivander’s wand fifth win of the academy’s up for nine Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday. after Chesney decided to Harry Potter,” a behind- shop and Weasley’s Wizard top honor, entertainer take a step back and re- the-scenes studio tour Wheezes. of the year. Most of his ter at.” pile of music where it sat evaluate what he was doing. based at the Warner Bros.’ The tour is an almost nominations come from Chesney first heard the for a year. During this pe- “You and Tequila” is just facility where the films overwhelming feast of “You and Tequila” from his song nearly a decade ago riod, Chesney was thinking one of several hits and it were made between 2000 detail. Displays range career-redefining album when Carter recorded it. about singers he might pull was nominated for Grammy and 2010. from Mrs. Weasley’s self- “Hemingway’s Whiskey,” Berg and Carter wrote it in to make “You and Te- and Country Music Asso- It may only be a model, knitting sweater to boxes up for album of the year. after a memorial service quila” into a duet and one ciation Awards as well. but for Potter fans it’s al- of Cheery Owls cereal, “Tequila,” nominated for Berg’s friend Harlan day Potter’s song “Apolo- “I think the ‘Heming- ready a place of pilgrimage. potions bottles filled with for song, single and vocal Howard in 2002. She noted gies” materialized out of an way’s Whiskey’ album has a “I had to literally stand plastic newts and real event of the year, embodies the legendary songwriter iTunes shuffle. sense of freedom in it with there for 10 minutes and animal bones and 17,000 everything Chesney is try- bought her first shot of “He made a couple of his material and his per- just absorb it,” said Cee individually painted wand ing to become as he evolves tequila. calls and I got this bizarre formances,” his longtime Anatole, who works for a boxes. from a young firebrand “And for the rest of the email in my inbox — ‘Who producer, Buddy Cannon, fan website and had a pre- It’s nirvana for Potter rocking arenas and stadi- night his kids sent me shots wants to do what with said. “For the most part, view ahead of Saturday’s fans — and for film geeks, ums to the kind of artist of tequila and I thought, what?’” Potter said with a it’s not one of the high- grand opening. who can watch designers who can cause all those fans ‘Well, Harlan, I’m going to laugh. energy, rock-edged kind of Warner Bros. hopes talk about their work in to hush and listen quietly do it for you,’” Berg said. A child of the rock world, records, though there are the general public will be short films, ride a broom- as he reaches for something “And I was still sick two Potter didn’t really know a couple of cuts on there equally enthusiastic. The stick in the green-screen more. days later.” much about Chesney be- that would fit into that studio expects 5,000 peo- effects room and see how It shows Chesney in a far The song had already yond a few general basics: category. But overall I think ple a day to visit the attrac- makeup, prosthetics and different light than when been around for a while “You know, he was the that if you look at the album tion, which is selling itself animatronics brought he broke onto the scene when Chesney heard ‘She thinks my tractor’s as a whole, it’s just like he on its authenticity — it hundreds of magical crea- in the mid-1990s. While singer Tim Krekel’s ver- sexy’ guy.” But as soon as stepped up to a different features real sets, models, tures to life. the 44-year-old certainly sion. Something in the way she heard the demo for the plateau musically.” could have sung “You and Krekel’s handled the mate- song, she understood the And that was the goal Tequila” at any point in his rial inspired the singer and possibilities and was in. when Chesney created a Our Buildings are ready career, he’s not sure the he decided to record it. But “I just said, ‘Well, this is hubbub by pulling coun- younger versions of himself he thought it needed some- magic,’” the 28-year-old try’s most successful act off for your Spring Cleaning would have chosen it. And thing more, a “ghost” in the singer said. “I don’t care the road for a year, and re- Get organzied if they did, they might not background who added a what kind of music this is tooling his career to reflect have taken the same ap- layer of depth to the vibe. considered, it’s just music the artist he’s become. The and ready for proach. Around the same time, in my ear. The lyrics, I think avalanche of ACM nomina- Spring with one “I look at myself as more Chesney heard Potter sing everyone can relate to that tions — and perhaps anoth- of our buildings. of an interpreter,” Chesney for the first time. A mu- feeling that something is er coronation on Sunday Available in said. “That’s what makes tual friend of theirs stuck a not good for you, it’s not — is a reflection of how the people connect. And that’s Grace Potter and The Noc- right for you, but always country community feels many sizes. what I’m trying to get bet- turnals CD in Chesney’s coming back to it, whether about it. 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