Kenny Chesney, who’s known for spreading positive energy through a singular kind of country hybrid, has taken the music to a whole lot of places. But the soft-spoken songwriter/superstar from East Tennessee had never considered taking his music, his high impact performances and voracious No Shoes Nation into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
“That’s just something you don’t dare to imagine,” said Chesney, waiting to step into the Rotunda of the Country Music Hall as this year’s Modern Era Artist of their Class of 2025. “I would never have even thought about being here, because it’s almost too much. Just walking past so many of these bronzes, realizing how many are friends or whose music I’ve listened to my whole life, this is an honor that extends beyond anything my heart would dare think.”
The first country artist to play Sphere Vegas, the man the Los Angeles Times deemed “the people’s superstar” was clearly gobsmacked when Country Music Hall of Fame member Vince Gill read a bio that retraced Chesney’s journey from a kid playing in East Tennessee State’s Bluegrass Band through a Greatest Hits and two distinctive waves of changes the way country music was made. Stressing that Chesney was still creatively striving and growing, Gill beamed introducing the artist he’d known since his first Capricorn Records album in 1993.
“The beauty of this music is that,” Chesney says, “even though it tells some pretty strong truth, country music runs on dreams.
“For me, this is beyond a dream. I keep thinking I’m gonna wake up on my couch back at ETSU. But standing here, this is more than real, it’s surreal. I couldn’t be more thankful or humble.”
Laughing with fellow inductees Tony Brown and June Carter Cash’s children John Carter Cash and Carlene Carter during the class picture, Chesney was clearly thrilled by the honor. With longtime advocate, legendary executive and Country Music Hall of Fame member Joe Galante, who’d signed him, on hand to share the moment, it was a moment of taking in the breadth of his three decade career.
“You might not think about something like this,” Chesney said. “But I have to tell you: when you hear the news, there is no feeling like it – except that moment when you realize they’re not kidding. When [CMA CEO] Sarah Trahern, Joe and Clint (Higham), my manager, came to tell me, once I realized they weren’t having some fun with me, they told me I couldn’t tell a soul.
“I didn’t tell my mom, my dad or even Dale Morris, my other manager. So today, finally, makes it feel real, and man, I am grateful to be in this company.”
