The first thing women notice about Kenny Chesney is that he's so damn cute. "He's as huggable as a teddy bear," one of two nubile young blondes from Georgia gush as their adoring eyes intently follow him on-stage at Fan Fair, country music's annual Nashville extrava-ganza. "Lots of these fellas don't do any-thing for me," adds the second girl, "but I could just eat him up!"After meeting Kenny backstage following his performance, it's hard not to agree with the lusting ladies. Casually clad in a white T-shirt and baggy, striped over -alls, the mere sight of this friendly, engaging 28 year old with the devil-may-care attitude would melt even the hardest heart. This gifted singer/songwriter (who-not surprisingly-has a girlfriend) has undoubtedly done a ton of heart-melting since his first album, In My Wildest Dreams,debuted in 1994. His career officially struck gold, though, with three hit singles off of last year's All I Need To Know. His latest single, "Back In My Arms Again," is just the first in along line of hits from the newly released Me and You. Kenny's natural buoyancy, boyish good looks and impeccable musical talent make it a cinch to see why this born-and-raised Tennessean is becoming a fixture on the country-music scene.

PLAYGIRL: What's your number one requirement in a girlfriend?

KENNY: She's got to be a good kisser.

PLAYGIRL: What constitutes a good kisser?

KENNY: Someone who can be very aggressive and be very soft. Someone who can kiss youlike she really means it. But, you can really mean it kissing soft or hard.

PLAYGIRL: What about kissing places other than the mouth like the earlobes?

KENNY: Oh, yeah, I love that. Sure! There are many erogenous zones.I like it all over. (laughs) I also love the back of my head rubbed.

PLAYGIRL: Did you initiate your very first make-out session?

KENNY: No. But I initiated the next one.

PLAYGIRL: Have you learned a lot about the subject since then?

KENNY: I think so.

PLAYGIRL: What's your best asset in the love-making area?

KENNY: Foreplay.

PLAYGIRL: Are you a romantic guy?

KENNY: Yeah.

PLAYGIRL: What do you do to romance a girl?

KENNY: It depends on her attitude. Hey I've got a fantasy of a romantic date.

PLAYGIRL: Tell me more!

KENNY: I'd like to go to dinner to an Italian place-then go see a movie.

PLAYGIRL: A "girl movie," or a"boy movie"?

KENNY: A "girl-and-boy-together movie." Then we'd go back to my place, get a couple of bottles of wine and hop in the whirlpool. Then I'd like to have an 18-hole golf course in my backyard-all to myself-and after we got out of the whirlpool, we'd take all of our clothes off and play 18 holes of golf in the nude.

PLAYGIRL: So naked golf turns you on.

KENNY: That'd be great.

PLAYGIRL: Wouldn't you be naked in the whirlpool?

KENNY: Maybe, maybe not. It depends on how dinner went. (laughs)

PLAYGIRL: So you want the whole night to lead up to naked golf?

KENNY: Yeah.

PLAYGIRL: What's so great about playing golf naked?

KENNY: I don't know. I've never done it.

PLAYGIRL: What would happen if you did do and it didn't fulfill your fantasy?

KENNY: I wouldn't do it again. (laughs)

PLAYGIRL: Would you actually make it through18 holes without succumbing to your passions?

KENNY: That would be the whole object.

PLAYGIRL: I don't think you could.

KENNY: Sure, I could.

PLAYGIRL: Eighteen holes take a long time!

KENNY: Yeah, but do you know how many bottles of wine you could drink on the way?

PLAYGIRL: Would you at least use a cart?

KENNY: Definitely. Are you kidding?

PLAYGIRL: What's the symbolism of golf?

KENNY: Putting the ball in the cup or something?(Laughs) I don't know! That's a good one.

PLAYGIRL: Female fans really like you. How has your love life changed since your success?

KENNY: I've had the same girlfriend for the last three years.

PLAYGIRL: What does she think of all this?

KENNY: She's happy. The one reason I really like her a lot is that all this doesn't really affect her. She couldn't care less if I was a country singer or not. I met her way before all this started.

PLAYGIRL: You two must not see each other too often.

KENNY: Not a whole lot.

PLAYGIRL: How do you sustain the relationship?

KENNY: A lot of AT&T.

PLAYGIRL: You must be one of their best customers.

KENNY: Oh, I keep them in business.

PLAYGIRL: What about all the women lusting after you on the road?

KENNY: Here's the deal: I'm in a position where I could really mess up. I've worked my ass off for this career. I don't feel guilty about being here, and I'm not going to mess it all up by going to a concert or playing at a club show somewhere and letting temptation get to me, doing it with a girl, never seeing her again, and then one day-guess what? She's in the press saying, "I had Kenny Chesney's baby," or "Kenny Chesney raped me," or I "Kenny Chesney da, da, da, da, da..:' I don't need it, don't want it.

PLAYGIRL: So you just stay away from that I whole scene?

KENNY: Yeah.

PLAYGIRL: Have girls ever done anything outrageous to get close to you?

KENNY: I actually had a beautiful girl come up to me one night and whisper in my ear that [she wanted to screw the hell out of me. It was after a performance. I was in an 'A autograph line signing autographs. I just looked at her. There was the devil on one shoulder saying, Do it! Screw her brains out, and then an angel was on the other shoulder saying, Nooo, Kenny. Nooo.

PLAYGIRL: Is being on stage sometimes like making love to the audience?

KENNY: I never thought of it that way, but, yeah, being on stage is kind of like making love.One minute you're doing a fast song wide open, and the next minute you do a ballad and you're real tender again. It goes in shifts.

PLAYGIRL: I bet some of the guys in the audience wonder, What does he have that I don't?

KENNY: A record deal. {laughs) None of these girls were screaming at me before I got a record deal, and that's kind of the reason that I don't [mess around with them]out there. Where were they when I needed them! {laughs)

PLAYGIRL: What's your romance style?

KENNY: I used to be very, very shy. I still can't go up to a woman in a bar and talk to her.

PLAYGIRL: Doesn't the fan adulation give you confidence?

KENNY: {Indecisively) Yeah, but...

PLAYGIRL: So you're still the same person as before except...

KENNY: I've got songs on the radio and a record deal. Just because all that happened doesn't change my self-image. I'm the same guy I always was.

PLAYGIRL: Were you planning on becoming a country singer when you were in college?

KENNY: Yeah, but later on into it. I had two senior years of college. The first one was when I decided I wanted to try this music business. But I was so close to graduating that I would have been an idiot to quit. So I hung in there and kept writing songs. I was playing in a lot of honky tonks in upper east Tennessee and North Carolina, Virginia. I was one of the few guys playing country music up in that area. It was a lot of fun.

PLAYGIRL: Did you find that there's a difference in women depending on where they live?

KENNY: It seems like the women up North dress more conservatively. They cover up. I haven't really gotten to know anyone that well to be able to tell. It's just what I can tell from the stage. The girls in the Southeast are more aggressive to meet me after the show.

PLAYGIRL: What one crucial thing should a guy know about a girl before he asks her out?

KENNY: If she's got a husband. I couldn't care less if she's got a boyfriend.

PLAYGIRL: Boyfriends can be disposed of?

KENNY: Very easily. But with husbands, that's where you can get shot.

PLAYGIRL: Do songwriters have to have a keen I awareness about human emotions?

KENNY: I think so. You're trying to touch on everything because people go through so many emotions, especially in love. ~A songwriter observes it, expounds on I it and tries to really tap into the emotions of people. If your song can touch I somebody like that People fall in love, I they break up, and then they start dat- Iing again. When they do, they're scared ~and insecure. There are so many things I that people go through. A songwriter I has to have lived a little to get materia1 to draw on.

PLAYGIRL: Have you ever been really hurt in 4 a relationship?

KENNY: Oh, yeah, definitely. And I didn't like it.I've gotten dumped.

PLAYGIRL: How many times?

KENNY: A couple. I hope they're listening [to me and my songs] on the radio these days.(laughs )

PLAYGIRL: What's the most romantic moment you've ever had?

KENNY: I went to the Soviet Union when I was in a bluegrass band in college. I met this little redheaded Russian girl over there. I was over there for 12 days. We never did do anything-we kissed around a little bit-but she was the sweetest thing in the whole world. She couldn't speak a lot of English. Even though Moscow's not as up to date as the U.S., it's a very romantic place. The fact of being there, meeting a girl in Russia, being in Moscow for 12 days,drinking vodka, playing music

PLAYGIRL: What was so great about Moscow?

KENNY: It was different from being over here and going out on a date. Moscow is beautiful at night.

PLAYGIRL: Have fans ever told you that they. make love while listening to one of your songs?

KENNY: No, but it'd be cool if they did.

PLAYGIRL: Which one would you recommend?

KENNY: The love song "All I Need To Know." I can picture myself making love to it.

PLAYGIRL: What's under those overalls? Do you work out?

KENNY: A little bit, but it's difficult on the road.

PLAYGIRL: Let me see your biceps.

KENNY: {Hesitantly) Well, I'm not a masculine guy. No-I am a masculine guy, but I'm not...

PLAYGIRL: Arnold Schwarzenegger?

KENNY: Yeah.

PLAYGIRL: But it looks like you have a taut little body underneath there.

KENNY: Well, there's no fat.

PLAYGIRL: So you'd consider posing in PLAY-GIRL?

KENNY: I don't know I'd need a lot of money for that. I mean a lot!

PLAYGIRL: Do you have any bad habits we I should know about?

KENNY: Sometimes I forget to put the toilet seat down. I'm a bit impatient in general, but the music business has taught me , patience. I hate red lights. I hate when ; people bring me the wrong food at restaurants. I don't like TV preachers. So if the girl is really religious... I like to kiss a lot, so she'd have to like to kiss.

PLAYGIRL: Most women could live with that. What are you doing this afternoon?

KENNY: Playing in a golf tournament.

PLAYGIRL: Oh, wow! Naked?

KENNY: No, not this time. .

-Jenny Higgons