Kenny Chesney’s journey from crying on stage in 2009 to Hall of Fame

Kenny Chesney “hit a wall” in 2009 after he cried on stage during a show in Indianapolis.

During an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Chesney reflected on that moment, saying he felt “so exhausted and numb” after several years of dominating the country music charts.

“You talk about kind of hitting a wall,” CBS correspondent Lee Cowan asked Chesney. “A big one,” the country star replied.

“In that moment, I was so exhausted and numb to all of it that it wasn’t making me happy. I wasn’t creating the same way. I wasn’t connecting to the audience, and it just hit me,” Chesney said.

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In July, Chesney spoke to Holler Magazine about how he’s able to pull himself out of a dark funk.

“In that moment, I was so exhausted and numb to all of it that it wasn’t making me happy. I wasn’t creating the same way. I wasn’t connecting to the audience and it just hit me.”

— Kenny Chesney

“The truth is: that’s everything life is, right? We all have trials, tough stuff, lose friends. We all have wins, great moments, crazy adventures. I think the reality is to feel all of it, to appreciate everything and to meet every experience where it is,” he said at the time.

The “Summertime” singer credits his grateful outlook on life to his upbringing in Tennessee.

“Growing up the way I did in East Tennessee, I’m incredibly grateful for it: the sports, the friends, the family, the community. It was awesome, and I know there are all kinds of people in communities just like mine all over the country.”

“Where they are is exactly where they want to be, and someone in New York and L.A. might not get it, or think it’s the greatest way to live. But I know – the people of No Shoes Nation know – it doesn’t have to be fancy, expensive or fast to feed your soul, to be fun or make you feel fulfilled,” Chesney said.

“No Shoes Nation,” Chesney’s fan base, was created after the singer released his hit “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems” in 2002. This song helped skyrocket his career and made him a household name for country music fans.

Chesney opened up about what changed his career in a 2023 interview at Country Radio Seminar. The musician admitted he was trying to be the next George Strait when he was first starting out.

“I was a lot like a lot of artists, honestly,” he recalled, via Billboard. “I was trying to be the newer version of George Strait. I think Garth [Brooks] would tell you the same thing: He loved George. That was the bar. I wore a belt buckle. I was trying to be that.”

“Everybody knew the songs, but they didn’t know me,” Chesney explained. “I had 16 songs in a Greatest Hits package, and then I would go play a fair or whatever and people would go, ‘Oh, that’s the guy that sings that song. Oh, he sings that, too.’ So they hadn’t really connected yet. But the moment I stopped trying to be George Strait, that was the moment my life changed. I started really writing songs. And my life in the Virgin Islands, I spent a lot of time writing out there.”

Earlier this month, Chesney was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame — cementing his status as a country music legend. Despite all the accolades, the “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems” singer is still humble.

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“I promise you, I did not see this coming,” he said at the public announcement, People magazine reported.

The singer-songwriter opened up about a childhood memory that changed his future. “I went with my mom and my stepfather to a field about 10 miles from my house to see this group, Alabama, that was going to play,” he said. “I couldn’t believe they were going to play just right down the road from my house … Something happened to me that night. There was a fire lit. Something happened in my soul that set me on this path.”

“If you’d have told that kid that night … that this [the Hall of Fame] was going to happen, I would’ve told you that you were crazy.”

Chesney said he never dreamed he would reach the Country Hall of Fame.

“That’s just something you don’t dare to imagine,” Chesney said in a press release shared with Fox News Digital. “I would never have even thought about being here, because it’s almost too much. Just walking past so many of these bronzes, realizing how many are friends or whose music I’ve listened to my whole life, this is an honor that extends beyond anything my heart would dare think.”

The “Big Star” singer explained the “beauty” of country music is “that even though it tells some pretty strong truth, country music runs on dreams.”

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“For me, this is beyond a dream. I keep thinking I’m gonna wake up on my couch back at [East Tennessee State University]. But standing here, this is more than real, it’s surreal. I couldn’t be more thankful or humble.”

Chesney released his first album, “In My Wildest Dreams,” in 1994 before signing with BNA Records.

The “American Kids” singer went on to release 20 studio albums in total, earned four CMA entertainer of the year awards and hit the top of the charts with 23 singles. Chesney eventually signed with Warner Music Nashville in 2018 and released his most recent album, “Born,” on March 22, 2024.

Now, Chesney is gearing up to release his book, “Heart Life Music.” Speaking to CBS ahead of the release, Chesney said, “This book forced me to pause.”

Chesney explained that his mom first waved warning signs that her son was near the brink of burnout.

“It hit me a little bit, but I was so already so addicted to seeking an adventure and all of it, and all these new things happening in my life that I dismissed it,” he said.

“Heart Life Music” releases on Nov. 4 and “is a love letter to the journey: all the places I’ve gone and how we got here. This book takes you on the ride,” according to a description of the book.

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