“That Started a Really, Really Amazing Friendship”: Kenny Chesney Recalls the Moment He First Met Bruce Springsteen

As the excitement continues to ramp up ahead of the release of his first ever book, HEART*LIFE*MUSIC, on November 4th, Kenny Chesney has stopped by SiriusXM's No Shoes Radio for an in-depth discussion about what fans can expect from the project.

While chatting to Ashley Till about the book, which Chesney has co-written with his longtime friend, Holly Gleason, the ‘I Go Back’ hitmaker reflects on some of the highlights from his storied career - which we're looking forward to reading all about.

Till begins by asking the Knoxville singer-songwriter about some of his most memorable idols-turning-to-friends moments, “You've had so many heroes show up in your life. I mean, George Jones, Springsteen, Van Halen, Steve Miller. I mean, the list is very long. Is there one moment that still feels surreal to you? You look back and you're like, "I still can't believe that happened," after all these years”.

Chesney pauses, before underlining, “Well...all of it! I mean, there's a couple. When I first started, about a year after I went on the road, somehow, I was picked to go on the George Jones and Tammy Wynette reunion tour, and all of a sudden, there was this kid from East Tennessee that heard George Jones and his grandmother's kitchen, and I was out on the road with them. One night, after a couple of weekends, George's wife Nancy came up to me and she goes, "Would you like to fly home with us?" and I'd never seen a private jet much less ridden in one, so all of a sudden, I'm on the plane with George and we're talking about my life. I'm telling him about my family and how much we loved him, and I didn't want to go overboard because I didn't want to seem like that guy, but I mean, he really took it in and loved it and that was the beginning of a really great friendship”.

Chesney goes on to recount a second notable meeting, when he crossed paths with Nebraska icon, Bruce Springsteen, another artist he's remained good pals with over the years.

The ‘Just To Say We Did’ singer-songwriter recalls when The Boss came to his show, “One night, I was in Holmdel, New Jersey. This was several years later, way after the "No Shoes" album came out and we were rolling really hard and we were playing the amphitheater in Holmdel, New Jersey and I get a call from my tour promoter, Louis Messina, and he says, "Bruce Springsteen's getting ready to knock on your bus door," and you're not really, I went, "Okay..." and the next thing you hear is, and I open the door and it's really Bruce Springsteen, and he comes up on the bus and we chat a little bit and I had a couple of my guys. He came by himself on his motorcycle, and I had a couple of my crew guys walking him out. He literally...he didn't watch from the side of the stage”.

Chesney concludes, “He walked right through the audience and sat up at the front of house sound, at the front of house mixing board and watched the whole show, and then he came back to the bus and we sat and talked I bet for two hours and it was one, I talk about that moment in the book, and that started a really, really amazing friendship with Bruce and he didn't have to do that, but I'm glad he did”.

Chesney often infuses a Springsteen-esque, electric-guitar-fuelled and rock-infused spirit into his sound, heard most prominently on anthems such as ‘Bucket List’, ‘Round and Round’, ‘The Boys of Fall’, ‘Here and Now’, ‘One More Sunset’ and ‘Noise’.

We'd love to hear Chesney and Springsteen joining forces at some point, with their shared penchant for galvanising sonics and uplifting messaging sure to produce a killer duet.

These kinds of anecdotes have whetted our appetite for the arrival of HEART*LIFE*MUSIC, with Chesney and Gleason taking No Shoes Nation on a vibrant, colourful journey through an eclectic array of places - from Russia to the Virgin Islands - and a multitude of the country legend's insightful, behind-the-scenes tales.

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