Book excerpt: “Heart Life Music” by Kenny Chesney with Holly Gleason | USAEMALL.com

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Over the past three decades, Kenny Chesney has been one of the most celebrated singers in music. In his first book, “Heart Life Music” (written with journalist Holly Gleason, to be published Tuesday by William Morrow), Chesney recounts his life’s journey, from East Tennessee, to No Shoes Nation and beyond. 

Read an excerpt below, in which he writes about a soulful collaboration with singer-songwriter Grace Potter – and don’t miss Lee Cowan’s interview with Kenny Chesney on “CBS Sunday Morning” October 26!

“Heart Life Music” by Kenny Chesney with Holly Gleason

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Grace

There was a show on tv called “Let’s Make A Deal.” People would be contestants, hoping host Monty Hall would pick them to compete for prizes. New cars, new kitchens with all the appliances, expensive watches. You had to pick.

One of two things: color tvs and washer/dryer sets, or what was behind Door No. 3, knowing it could be a wheelbarrow with some grass seed, or a new car.

I’ve always been attracted to what’s behind Door No. 3. That idea of the big unknown you can’t see always appealed to me. The seeker inside has chased the unknown all my life.

When you’re a dreamer, you can’t not take Door No. 3. That mentality fuels you. Seeking inspiration, wanting to find out has risk involved. Some Door No. 3s don’t work out. But Grace Potter? She’s the epitome of why Door No. 3 is always better than playing it safe.

“You & Tequila” showed up in my email in the middle of the night.

I remember listening, thinking, “Damn…,”

That idea of a person you can’t quit, because they’re so addictive is real. You can’t resist, only overdo it to the point of poisoning yourself hit me. I called Matraca Berg, asked if there was a demo with a man singing it; she had one. Hearing Tim Krekel sing it hit me even harder.

We cut it really simple. That pull between what you want and knowing you shouldn’t made “You & Tequila” burn into people.

We were about done with Hemingway’s Whiskey. I wanted something to make it shine. Buddy Cannon and I were talking about who might sound good; Clint Higham, my co-manager, even reached out to Irving Azoff about the Eagles, since this sounded like a classic Laurel Canyon song. 

Then the woman who sent me the demo asked, “Why don’t you get Grace Potter? She captures that haunted and haunting feeling.”

What makes Grace Potter, the ultimate Door No. 3, was the mystery. The hippie songwriter/rock girl.  

Once she was suggested, as much as it made no sense on paper, I knew she was the person we needed.

I listen to a lot of music at night in the Virgin Islands. No light pollution, you can drift in the sounds. I’d been given Grace’s live CD. “Apologies” poured out of the speakers.

Motionless on a chaise lounge, when I heard Grace’s voice – so soulful, but beautiful and real – I was floored. Nobody in my life had heard this voice except my friend. I felt blessed.

She wrote her own songs. She had a band, wasn’t overproduced. Really listening, it was how she played that B-3 organ, but especially how she sang those songs.

I looked up at the sky and exhaled. She sounded like coming home.

When we put her on “You & Tequila,” all she knew about me was “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” because the Eagle in Burlington, Vermont had played it to death.

Was it even possible? Grace had finished a European tour, traveled 24 hours with no sleep and was landing in America. We laugh now, but she listened to the demo on the rental car shuttle having cleared customs.

She was tired. She missed her family. And we needed her in Nashville within 48 hours to make the deadline for mastering – or we’d have to move the record. Her manager wasn’t optimistic. My friend insisted, “Give her the song.”

Thirty minutes later, we had a yes. Thirty hours later, Grace Potter landed in Nashville in a flowy leopard print dress, walked into Blackbird Recording Studios and changed both of our lives. Brash, smart and funny, she oozed music. She told wild stories, made some people blush and asked us what we were thinking.

Buddy suggested, “Get in the booth and put your headphones on. See how it feels to you.”

Probably warming up, she was humming. Then that “ooooohOOOOOHohhhh” she does on the record rolled out.

“Do some more of that.”

Two or three takes later, we were done. We’d talked longer than she was in the vocal booth. Even before it was mixed, we knew it was something. That’s the thing: you know.

It was my birthday. I asked her and her boyfriend if they’d like to have dinner. We went to Sunset Grille, sat outside on the patio and laughed. We came from musically different places; her country music was Willie, Townes Van Zandt and Lucinda Williams. But we were of the same heart, same small town, family-oriented life.

She was tired, so we didn’t hang long. When I got up to leave, she followed me, jumped in the passenger seat of my car, and announced, “I don’t know what the future holds, but we’re going to be friends for life.”

Grace Potter knew things. I’ve always believed there are things in our lives that were pre-determined; set into motion by some larger power. Grace was absolutely one.

      
From “Heart Life Music” by Kenny Chesney with Holly Gleason. Copyright © 2025 by Kenny Chesney. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

To hear Kenny Chesney and Grace Potter perform “You and Tequila,” click on the video player below:

Get the book here:

“Heart Life Music” by Kenny Chesney with Holly Gleason

Buy locally from Bookshop.org

For more info:

• “Heart Life Music” by Kenny Chesney with Holly Gleason (‎William Morrow), in Hardcover, Large Print Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available Nov. 4
• kennychesney.com