Music: Country giant Kenny Chesney scores with his 'Boys of Fall'

Country superstar Kenny Chesney scored a career-defining hit last year with "The Boys of Fall," a sentimental ode to high school football. Not only was it a No. 1 country single but it had a video clip starring Peyton Manning and Joe Namath as well as an HBO documentary featuring even more football greats.

However, now that country's biggest concert draw has hit the road again, pro football players can't see him perform at NFL stadiums because of their contract deadlock with league owners.

"If you're in the NFL [players union], you can't go to your stadium, you can't work out at your stadium, you can't talk to your coaches," says Chesney, who has 10 NFL venues (including Green Bay's Lambeau Field) on his 2011 itinerary. When he played the Tampa Bay Bucs' home turf last week, "we had all baseball players there. We had a lot of Phillies, Red Sox and Yankees who were down there for spring training.

"But at West Palm [Beach], we had a ton of NFL players. I saw [guard Steve] Hutchinson from the Vikings. If we were to play the Dome up there, he couldn't come to the show."

No such issues, though, for Hutch or other NFLers when Chesney returns Friday to Xcel Center.

In concert he's still an eternal frat-boy partying in overdrive. Will Chesney, who turns 43 on Saturday, ever grow up onstage?

"Yeah, I don't think we do 'Keg in the Closet' anymore," he said with a chuckle. "I have this very free spirit about me. But life has a way of growing you up even if you don't want to. I think that's starting to happen."

"I'm glad I'm at a point in my life where I understand what those songs mean," he said. "But I still love edgy, and I still record songs for the sole purpose of making my show great."

The pivotal tune is "The Boys of Fall," a tribute to prep football. Being a skinny 5-foot-6 wide receiver in Corryton, Tenn., had a profound impact on him.

"I learned that work ethic. I learned you've got to have a lot of people working together to achieve something special. Now I've got 100 people that roll down the interstate with me every night. If any part of that team breaks down, there's a price to pay for that. It's the same in football. I've got lots of friends now in the NFL and colleges and coaches, and there's a lot of parallels with what I do and what they do."

Except he doesn't have to worry about a lockout.