Kenny Chesney is stepping away from stadiums and recording studios this year to take fans on a different kind of journey. The country superstar will release his new book Heart Life Music on November 4, 2025, through William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Pre-order the book right here.
Written with longtime friend and collaborator Holly Gleason, the book captures Chesney’s rise from an East Tennessee dreamer to one of the biggest names in country music. Instead of the roaring guitars and pounding drums of his live shows, this project finds him alone with a microphone at Nashville’s Blackbird Studios, revisiting the people and places that shaped his career.
The stories stretch from his earliest days playing bars for tips and traveling to Russia with the East Tennessee State Bluegrass Band, to scraping by on Nashville’s Lower Broadway during a time when the Ryman Auditorium was nearly torn down. Chesney recalls being signed to a publishing deal at the historic Acuff Rose, home to legends like Hank Williams Sr. and Dean Dillon, and shares how curiosity, perseverance and a sense of humor helped him push through tough times.
“It’s funny,” Chesney reflects. “When you’re living it, it’s being in the moment. When we were writing it, it was looking back and really striving to get it right. But now, reading it, all of these stories become real again. I can see everybody, from the Turf and the Wheel, to Phil Walden with all that charisma and Barry Beckett telling me to ‘put a smile on it.’”
Recording the audiobook became its own kind of journey for Chesney. “It takes a lot longer than I thought to record an audio book, or maybe it’s just I would get lost in seeing all the people and places along the way. In a way, it’s what I did with my summer vacation: visit all these adventures I’ve had, because when I started to hear the stories, I felt like I was living them all over again.”
The book follows his adventures making music in unexpected places like Jamaica, the Kremlin, New England and Cabo San Lucas, and his travels across the waters of the Caribbean, Atlantic and Pacific. Along the way, Chesney reflects on the friendships, wisdom and unforgettable experiences that shaped him, as well as the Nashville he first encountered — one closer to the days of Willie Nelson and George Jones.
“Thinking about the moments, reading the stories, it all got very real for me – the blessings of so much wisdom people gave me and unthinkable things I got to do,” he says. “Hearing it come out of my mouth, it’s a lot to take in; I almost wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t been there.”
Heart Life Music is a celebration of one man’s journey, but it also offers a window into the spirit of country music itself — a story of songs, friendships, grit, and the joy of chasing a dream.
About the Book
Heart Life Music
by Kenny Chesney with Holly Gleason
On Sale: November 4, 2025 | William Morrow, HarperCollins Publishers
Hardcover ISBN: 9780063423107 | $32.50
E-book ISBN: 9780063423114 | $14.99
Digital Audio ISBN: 9780063423121 | $27.99
Pre-order ‘Heart Life Music' right here
