Kenny Chesney joins Kelleigh Bannen on Today’s Country Radio. In this interview they dive into collaborating with Kelsea Ballerini, what inspired him in the early days of his career and more.
“You know, “I Go Back” was a gift. And so it was “Beer in Mexico” and “Old Blue Chair”, those songs I wrote by myself, but you just don’t wake up everyday writing those songs, you know, and I can write one or two of those every now and then by myself. But for me to sit and say, I can sit and write 10, 12 of the best songs in town for my record is, just asinine to think that way, you know, because there’s so many great songwriters and great songs floating out there, you know? So I’ve always felt like the best song wins, whether I wrote it or someone else wrote it, or someone brand new sent it to me or gave it to me, if it was great, then it had a chance to make my record.”
“She just called me one day and she goes, “I’m calling you to poke the bear,” and I went, “What are you talking about?” She says, “I’m getting ready to send you a song. I want you to listen to it and think about singing on it.” And so I said, “yeah, of course, send me the song,” And I listened to it and it was hard to listen to because it was so beautiful and it was so much about not only her life, but it was about my life and the same roads we drove down and I knew I wanted to sing on it. And I’m really proud of it. And I told her when we were done with it, that I was glad she asked me, but I’m very proud that I’m on that song with her. If the song was terrible, I wouldn’t sing on it, because trust me, I get asked a lot to sing on a lot of records and I turn them down because the song just isn’t perfect for me to sing on. But when I heard “half of my hometown” I just I went, “Yep, I’m going to sing on this song.”
“I got a publishing deal, with Acuff-Rose and all of a sudden I was writing with songwriters every day and walking down the hallway every day with a lot of these writers that truly influenced my life. And it was a true gift. I mean, it really was looking back. But I was writing songs with Dean Dillon and Whitey Shafer and Skip Ewing. And that was my every day. I was really green in the business, but I had to grow up really quickly when you’re sitting in the room with those guys, you know? And so it was a huge learning experience for me, but that’s where it all started. You know, those guys are still great friends of mine today and it was such an unbelievable way to enter into the music business, sitting in the room with some of the most creative minds in the world.”
