Kenny Chesney is praising his longtime manager, Clint Higham, after Higham just won the CMA Touring Award for Manager of the Year.
“Clint understood my dream and knew how to use his dream to make the unthinkable happen,” Chesney says. “When you take two young guys who are on fire with creativity, the business and chasing what people say can’t be done, pretty incredible things can – and did – happen.”
Higham has been with Chesney since the very early days of his career, but he also helped launch the careers of several other artists, including Barbara Mandrell, Old Dominion, Dailey & Vincent and more.
“I’ve been blessed in my life to meet so many astonishing people — artists and Presidents — I shake my head thinking about it, and Clint is among the top. I love him more than I can find the words,” Mandrell boasts. “Clint’s love of the business and the music is unlike anyone else’s.
“I met him when he was in the sixth grade, and yet he already knew he wanted to be on the business side of this business,” she continues. “He knows country’s history, but he’s also someone who’s always kept an eye on the future. To see the way Clint brings those things together, you know why artists trust him with their dreams.”
Grateful for the honor, the veteran music industry executive says he never did it for the recognition.
“You can’t do this job for awards,” says Higham. “To me, it’s about the bridges you build between artists and their fans, or the communities that they work with – whether it’s radio, promoters, agents or songwriters and publishers. It’s seeing the pieces coming together, those moments where something incredible happens and the journey to get there.”
“When I was a kid, I was obsessed with how the business works,” he concludes. “I would research managers like George Richey when Tammy Wynette played near us and find a way in just to ask a lot of questions. I was on fire with it, how deals were done, what makes sense for a superstar. That I was able to make a life this way, well, that’s the greatest honor of my career.”
Chesney’s staff, band and crew received a total of 17 nominations, a staggering number that also proves Chesney’s work ethic.
“When they called me to tell me the news, I felt like a bit of a slacker,” Chesney says. “I love my guys and the girls out on the road, in the office and points in between. They fire me up, inspire me to push what we do – and this year was easily the best year we’ve ever had on the road. Whether it’s Terry Ford driving the Knoxville bus, Nick Buda beating those drums, Tom Petty’s incredible Robert Scovill mixing front of house or rock and roll legend Robin Majors as Unsung Hero, everybody out there gives to the peak, then throws it all at the music when we take the stage.
“I’ve got lifers like my longtime manager Clint Higham, who’s been here for all of it, my tour manager and best friend growing up David Farmer and [the] who-says-we-can’t production manager Ed Wannebo all making my crazy ideas happen.”
Majors also won, for Unsung Hero of the Year. Chesney’s crew will be working just as hard in 2025. The East Tennessee native will release his Heart Life Music book on November 4. He will also embark on his Live at Sphere Las Vegas residency on May 22. Find all of Chesney’s music and his Las Vegas dates, at KennyChesney.com.