After six years and five albums, Kenny Chesney is finally at the top of country music.

He has slowly, but steadily, been making a career out of country music and feels he is finally able to make himself stand out from the crowd of new country acts.

“The first three albums that I did, I really think I was just part of a bunch of guys out there making records,” said the engaged, 31-year-old Tennessee native. “I’ve been able to separate myself from that bunch and build a career as opposed to just having some songs out there that do well and that’s it.”

Chesney’s third album, “Me and You,” went gold and produced the hit “Me and You” and his first No. 1 single, “When I Close My Eyes.” His fourth album, “I Will Stand,” did even better — shooting past the gold mark again — with the hits “She’s Got It All” and “That’s Why I’m Here.”

His fifth album, “Everywhere We Go,” was released in March. The first single, “How Forever Feels,” is his fourth No. 1 hit.

“This is one of my favorite albums,” Chesney said. “Every album I’ve been singing a little better and have put a little more imagination into the music.”

“Everywhere We Go” features the song “Baptism,” a duet with country legend Randy Travis. Another song on the album, “You Had Me at Hello,” is taken right from the line in the movie “Jerry Maguire.” Chesney co-wrote the song and said it will start playing on the air in a couple of weeks.

This year, to promote his new album, Chesney joined the George Strait Country Music Festival and will travel with the tour to Ames on Saturday.

“I’m a big fan of everyone on the tour,” he said. “I do my show, take a shower and go back and watch the rest of the concert. It’s a lot of fun.”

Chesney will also be one of the stars signing autographs before his show for about 30 minutes on Saturday.

“I love the big crowds at these shows,” he said. “You can let your hair down because the whole crowd is there just to have a great time, so you can go out there and give it to them.”

However, it hasn’t always been this great for the singer and songwriter.

“The first record in 1993 didn’t really have any hits and it was a real rollercoaster ride,” he remembered.

Chesney hasn’t always wanted to be a singer. In fact, it wasn’t until he was given a guitar while attending East Tennessee State University that he gave a music career serious thought.

“I love music so I started playing, writing and playing at bars. It really is that simple,” he said.

Chesney moved to Nashville in 1991 and didn’t have much luck getting work from local publishing companies, but eventually took a job playing at a honky tonk club called the Turf.

“People treated me good. The only problem was, after eight months I began to realize that nobody was gonna come walkin’ in there and discover ol’ Kenny Chesney,” he said. “So I quit and took a job parking cars.”

After his debut album in 1993, Chesney caught the attention of RCA Records and received a recording contract.

However, his next two albums, though well-received, were slow to take off at the retail stores. Meanwhile, other singers were moving past Chesney on the road to success a lot faster and a lot quicker.

“I wanted to take off like a rocket so bad I could taste it, and at the time, I was the most frustrated artist in the world,” Chesney said. “But now, I’m very thankful for the path that my career has taken.”

Chesney’s success in the last two years earned him the 1997 Academy of Country Music’s “Top New Male Vocalist” award, even though he was not a ‘new’ artist.

“Award shows are political,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t a new artist, but I’ll take it any way I can get it.”

Chesney believes that his success has come from finding songs that “people can sink their teeth into.”

For his latest album, Chesney wanted to find songs people would have an easy time understanding.

“One very important side of the creative process is looking for those things that people are going to be able to live with and remember. Those are the kind of songs I look for.

“I feel my voice has grown a lot in the past couple of years and I really wanted to capture that,” he said. ” It’s gotten a lot … deeper and wider.”

One of Chesney’s favorite songs was the No. 1 hit “That’s Why I’m Here.” The song tells the story of a man who finally goes to Alcoholics Anonymous to get help with his drinking problem after it has torn him away from his family.

The next single Chesney is releasing is another of his favorites.

“‘You Had Me at Hello’ was written from a very personal experience … I think a lot of people have been in love and gotten hurt and decided they weren’t going to love again. Then one day, they meet somebody and decide that maybe they will.”

Chesney plans to tour on his own and with country music legend Alabama after finishing in June with the George Strait festival.