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MAC MCANALLY HITS #1

Chesney Duet "Down The Road" Tops Charts, Earns ACM Nomination.

(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) The music industry's latest overnight success is Mac McAnally, writer and featured guest vocalist on Kenny Chesney's single "Down The Road." But only "overnight" in the sense that he went to bed Friday having never scored a No. 1 hit as an artist, and woke up Monday morning with the top song in the land on both the Billboard/R&R and Country Aircheck/Mediabase/USA Today charts.

In reality, the accomplishment is just another feather (albeit a rather pretty one) in a cap already so thickly adorned it is beginning to resemble a chieftain's headdress. It is also a fulfillment of the song itself, which McAnally released on his 1990 solo album Simple Life to little airplay response. Redeemed as the hit Mac always knew it to be, the song was nominated last week for the Academy of Country Music's Vocal Event of the Year award. The CBS-televised show takes place April 5 in Las Vegas.

Whatever the outcome of that process, a long and illustrious list of top entertainers would likely testify that Mac McAnally has more than earned the respect and admiration of his peers. That's because the Belmont, Mississippi native is one of the most accomplished songwriters, musicians and vocalists of his time. He has written literally dozens of hit songs, including chart-toppers for Alabama ("Old Flame") and Sawyer Brown ("Thank God For You"). "Down The Road" is also his second cut with Chesney, who recorded McAnally's "Back Where I Come From" on his 1996 album Me And You.

The man who got his start as a Muscle Shoals session musician is also one of the most talented guitar players in the business, not to mention the high regard in which he is held as a vocalist. He's played behind or sang harmony for artists including Roy Orbison, Hank Williams, Jr., Amy Grant, Jimmy Buffett, Travis Tritt, Linda Ronstadt, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Dolly Parton and many more. Mac continues to tour as part of Buffett's Coral Reefer band. As a producer, he's worked with Sawyer Brown and Little Feat, and he was named 2008 Musician of the Year by the Country Music Association.

As an artist, McAnally has released 10 albums, and was the first artist signed to David Geffen's legendary Geffen Records. He owns and operates his own recording studio, in addition to his ongoing work as a writer, publisher, producer and musician.