Kenny Chesney is opening up about his new book. The country music icon recently announced the release of Heart Life Music, a book detailing Chesney’s own extraordinary life.
“It’s a very exciting time,” Chesney tells CBS News. “For the first time, I get to share with my audience and the world a lot of very unique stories of my life in the music business. I’m thrilled about that.”
Now 56 years old, the Knoxville native moved to Nashville in 1990, after he graduated from college. Heart Life Music is filled with the stories of the more than three decades since then, from Chesney’s humble start in country music, releasing four albums before he had any hits, to his current superstar status.
“It’s been my whole adult life,” Chesney reflects. “I’m a very creative person. I grew up loving this music. And the impact that the town has had on me, the impact that all of the people that I looked up to in this business … it’s not every day that you get to meet a lot of your heroes. And I got to not only meet them, I got to collaborate with them. I got to share life stories with them. I got to go on the road with some of them.
“A lot of those intimate details are in this book,” he continues. “It’s not a memoir. The best way I can describe it are very intimate postcards, if you will, of my life in this business, on the road, in the islands. Everything that has been a big, huge part of my life, we were able to dive into in this book and I’m thrilled that I’m able to share some of it.”
Chesney may not call it a memoir, but it is full of stories about his own unique journey, including many stories he has never told before, until now.
“I’ve got a very unique perspective, as far as being in the business anyway,” Chesney admits. “I’ve never been really good about talking about myself, which is ironic that I’m writing a book. I’ve always felt like I wanted to find commonality with people through music. It’s why I write songs. It’s why I make records, and it’s why I get on stage and work that hard, because I want people to see their life in these songs.
“But now, I felt that it was the time to write a book, because I have a very unique perspective of my life and this crazy music business,” he adds. “When I first moved to town, it was a very creative place, and I was able to meet a lot of wonderful characters, as songwriters, as artists, as producers. And they really shaped my life in this business, and for the first time, I get to talk about it.”
Heart Life Music will be released on November 4. It is currently available for preorder here. Chesney will kick off his Live at Sphere Las Vegas residency on May 22. Find all of Chesney’s music and his Las Vegas dates, at KennyChesney.com.