“They're Great Songwriters”: Kenny Chesney Praises Megan Moroney and Kelsea Ballerini in New Interview

It's official! Kenny Chesney's first ever book, HEART*LIFE*MUSIC, which the Knoxville native co-wrote with his good friend, Holly Gleason, is out in North America. The UK and European release date is in a few weeks on Thursday, November 20th.

To celebrate the arrival of HEART*LIFE*MUSIC, while promoting the project on his book tour, Chesney has sat down with Entertainment Tonight's Cassie DiLaura to reflect on his storied career, the remaining dreams he is yet to fulfil and his key role as a mentor for younger artists such as Megan Moroney and Kelsea Ballerini.

Chesney has brought both Moroney and Ballerini out on tour in the past, with the ‘No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems’ hitmaker introducing them to new listeners during his blockbuster stadium shows, as well as teaming up with them on studio duets. In an industry that is still frustratingly male-dominated, you can't help but feel we could do with more country stars with Chesney's level of influence and fandom using their platform to boost up-and-coming female artists, too.

During his illuminating conversation with DiLaura, Chesney underlines the respect and admiration he has for Moroney and Ballerini, “Both those girls are really great at doing what they do, and they're great songwriters. They care about their audience, and they're growing their own wonderful, beautiful audiences right now”, concluding warmly, “You can tell that they're really hungry and want it”.

Elsewhere, the ‘Just To Say We Did’ singer-songwriter celebrates the innate talent of another former tour-mate, Taylor Swift, “She has something you couldn't teach, and it was just the eye of the tiger and she loved it so much. When she was on the road with us a couple of times, you could just tell...She was sitting on the side of the stage, and you could just tell she was trying to soak it all up. You could just tell that she loved the audience, and loved the experience of it”.

As for Chesney's plans for the future, he underlines that he's still in a strong creative flow, and hopes there's plenty of top-tier music to come, “I sincerely hope that I haven't written my best song yet. It's just all gonna be around creativity...Life makes you creative, and I really hope I never lose that. I mean, that's one of the biggest gifts that I've ever had, that could be given to me - the gift of creativity”.

He even teases that he's been hitting the studio this year, with the five-time CMA and ACM Entertainer of the year working on the follow-up to his widely lauded 2024 album, BORN, “I was in the studio yesterday, working really hard, so I'm still very creative. I still got a lot of dreams, and I've still got a lot of roads to go down”. We're hoping there might be a brand new project to coincide with the country legend's eagerly anticipated second stint at Las Vegas’ Sphere next summer.

HEART*LIFE*MUSIC consists of a vibrant, eclectic and life-affirming collection of snapshots into Chesney's journey so far. As well as offering members of No Shoes Nation a fascinating insight into the behind-the-scenes moments of some of his most revered songs, HEART*LIFE*MUSIC acts as a manual of sorts, arming readers with a blueprint for emulating the sunny joie-de-vivre Chesney exudes.

Watch Kenny Chesney's full interview below:

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