Kenny Chesney didnt think his life was a story. Then his memoir changed everything

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It’s rare for an artist almost four decades into a career to have firsts.Last year, Kenny Chesney had three: first solo and first country artist to headline the Sphere in Las Vegas, induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame and his first New York Times Best Seller, “Heart Life Music.”Called “a love letter to the journey,” the book took readers on a ride through the places, faces and events that shaped a populist American music career for the East Tennessean.

Chesney has built a massive fan base called “No Shoes Nation” on high-energy shows and songs that celebrate the notion of working hard, playing harder and always reaching for the positive in whatever’s happening.With a second Sphere residency kicking off this month, Chesney sat down with his memoir co-author Holly Gleason to talk about writing the book, his life and what’s ahead.We are here to have an author-on-author conversation about the process, what you learned about your life… Fantastic!The thing about this book: You didn’t want to do it when we started.No, I didn’t.Because I didn’t know if there was a story there.

We have been working really hard for a really long time, and I’ve been so busy creating; if I’m not creating, I’m putting out what I created.There’s always a good reason to not be still enough to write a book.Over time, you wore me down, to make me pause, and make reflect.

It is a very unique story.I think if you’re young and you have a dream, no matter if it’s music or whatever, you can take something from this.And I’m glad we did this.

You, Mauro [DiPreta, executive editor at William Morrow], everybody involved were, “You wanna write this book?” I thought, “Yeah, this sounds great.”Then there’s writing it, and then there’s putting it out.I truly enjoyed the process of both.When we were starting the process, you realized the way you chased your drea...