With two platinum albums, a repeatspot on this summer's George Strait Country Music Festival and the chart-topping hit "How Forever Feels," Kenny Chesney is on a roll. The personable 32-year old arrived in Nashville from his native Lutrull, Tennessee in 1991, and sang for "good 01' boys, drunks and prostitutes," before recording his first album.Chesney has since signed with a new label and is now blazing into major league stardom with his current album, Everywhere We Go. And everywhere he goes, the women seem to follow. Discover the reasons why in this intimate PLAYGIRL chat.

PLAYGIRL: You've had spectacular success in the last several years.Why do you think people are responding so strongly to you?

KENNY : I think they realize that my music is genuine, and not something that's marketed by a studio. I hope that's what they see, because it's real.

PLAYGIRL: If you had to sum up who Kenny' Chesney is on record, who would 1 that be?

KENNY : I hope he comes across as the guy that all the girls want to love and all the guys want to hang out with

PLAYGIRL You've had a big hit with "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy." What drew you to that song?

KENNY: It made me laugh. Not every song to change the world, and this lyric obviously isn't going to And people ask, 'Is there a hidden meaning behind "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy?"' And I say, 'No, it's for you to make it whatever you want it to be.

PLAYGIRL: Actually, it's not really a sexy song.

KENNY:  No, it's not, really.

PLAYGIRL: But the video is sexy.

KENNY: The video is sexy. Some people would say we kind of went overboard.

PLAYGIRL: Define sexy.

KENNY:[Big laugh] Don't ask me that! What is sexy? I don't know what sexy is.

PLAYGIRL:I read that you never feel sexy.

KENNY: Never!

PLAYGIRL: How can that be?

KENNY: I think I just feel fat. We were taking thEf!!.ic, group picture for this year's George I Strait tour the other day, and I had this T-shirt on, and I was constantly going, s 'God, I feel fat!' And LeAnn Womack said, 'You remind me of a girl. Shut up!' But I never feel sexy. I never do. I Ir don't know what sexy is. I think it's for somebody else.

PLAYGIRL: What about when you see a wornan?

KENNY: Well, if I think a woman's sexy, it's in the way she walks, the way she carries herself and the way she talks. There's just an aura about a person that's sexy.

PLAYGIRL: You were an athlete in high school, though. Did girls think you were a hunk then?

KENNY: No, I was a lot skinnier back then than I am now. I've bulked up [since then], because I've been working out.

PLAYGIRL: What's your workout regimen?

KENNY:Well, I work out every day. I work my chest, triceps and stomach one day, then the next day I work my biceps, shoulders and back. And I usually do about 45 minutes a day on the treadmill. I've built a small gym at the house.

PLAYGIRL: So would you say that you're pretty body conscious?

KENNY: Yeah, I am. I just want to be the best I can be. I'm not working out because I want to look good in the video. I'm working out because it makes me feel good, it makes me feel better about myself and it makes me feel more secure on stage.

PLAYGIRL: Who's the sexiest man ever in country music?

KENNY: I would say Elvis when he did the Aloha Special. My mom always said, 'God, he looked better then than he ever did.' But there was an aura about him. And when he did the '68 Comeback Special, he looked so cool in that black leather outfit I thought, 'Man, I'd like to look like that!'

PLAYGIRL: How about the sexiest woman in country music?

KENNY: I think Sheryl Crow is sexy. I like her when she plays bass. And obviously Faith Hill's a very sexy woman. She's a gorgeous girl, and she's just as pretty as a person. And there's something sexy about Patty Loveless, too.

PLAYGIRL:Country performers usually Play down their sexuality, which is sort of a shame.

KENNY: Yeah, until Shania. She is definitely one of the first women to flaunt her sexuality. Shania has proven that you can be a really good songwriter and artist, and still be sexual. I love what she does.

PLAYGIRL: When you sit down to write a love song, what are the elements you try to include?

KENNY: When I'm writing and looking for songs, I've got to know that somebody is gonna sink their teeth into it, so that it becomes a part of their life in some way. I've got to know that It'S got heart-especially on the ballads.

PLAYGIRL: Like "You Had Me from Hello."

KENNY: Yeah, that's a very special song for me, because it was the first number one record I had as a writer. And even though I got the idea from [the film] Jerry McGuire, it has got nothing to do with the movie. It's about somebody that fell in love, got their heart broken and decided that they were going to build all these walls around their heart and never love again. Then they meet somebody who tears down [the walls] by just saying 'Hello.'

PLAYGIRL: You're engaged to a girl named Mandy Weals. What first attracted you to her?

KENNY: Well, she's from the same area I'm from in east Tennessee. We went to college together, but I didn't see her for ten years. Then we went on our first date, and it was her eyes, skin and hair-the combination of everything-[that attracted me to her]. She's very smart, and she's a great kisser.

PLAYGIRL: What's the most romantic thing you've ever done?

KENNY: Well, I love the beach, the Caribbean and especially the Cayman Islands. Last year, Mandy and I went down there, and rented a catamaran one night. We had a captain and a cook. They took us out into the middle of the Caribbean Sea, and we had lobster and white wine, and watched the sun set in the Caribbean. It was awesome.

PLAYGIRL: How did you propose?

KENNY: That's probably the most unromantic thing I've ever done. I proposed in Columbus, Ohio, on my tour bus. I picked Mandy up at the airport, and I had six dozen roses and little candles in Dixie cups, and got her so drunk she had to say yes. No, I'm just kidding about that.

PLAYGIRL: That was a couple of years ago, right? Any wedding date set?

KENNY: No, we had a wedding date set, then postponed it. Actually, Mandy and I have been through a fairly rough year. She and I broke up, then got back together, and we're working a lot of things out. I love her to death, and we're still very much in love, and I do hope to marry her.

PLAYGIRL: How are you going to handle being on the road and being engaged at the same time?

KENNY: I love being with someone who doesn't care about the music business. It's tough, but it [can be done]. Mandy knows that, for now, she's not going to be number one on my priority list. That's really bad to say, but that doesn't mean she's not going to be [number one eventually].

PLAYGIRL: In concert, you shake your rear around and women seem to go crazy.

KENNY: Well, I try not to shake it too much, because I want my music to be more than me up there in a cowboy hat shakin' my ass But I like to wiggle around a bit.

PLAYGIRL: You have a song on your current album called "A Woman Knows" that says a woman can tell when her man is cheating. Do you think that's true?

KENNY: Oh, there's no doubt about it. Women sense things. They have a certain intuition, especially if someone is cheating on them. That's definitely a song I wrote from experience.

PLAYGIRL: Do you still cover "I'd Love to Lay You Down" in concert?

KENNY: We do it every now and then.

PLAYGIRL: That's a pretty sexy song. What's the sexiest thing you've ever done?

KENNY: Wow, I don't know! You might have to ask Mandy [long pause].

PLAYGIRL: Are you censoring yourself?

KENNY: Yes!

PLAYGIRL: What's the clean version?

KENNY: Uh, let's just saya beach and a blanket.

PLAYGIRL: I think we get it. So you're definitely a romantic.

KENNY: No doubt about it.