“We Couldn’t Help It”: Kenny Chesney Shares How He and Megan Moroney First Became Friends

Kenny Chesney is opening up about the start of his friendship with Megan Moroney. While chatting to Kelleigh Bannen for Apple Music, Chesney explains how they immediately had a connection before hitting the road together on the 2024 Sun Goes Down Tour.

He begins, “I didn’t know Megan at all until, obviously 2024, but I told Clint, my manager, I said, ‘I don’t want to meet her on the first day in Tampa when we open the tour. I want to have somewhat of a rapport before we get there.’ So I got Megan’s number and invited her to breakfast, and she sat down across the table, and I knew after about 10 minutes that she and I were probably going to be friends. She was great. And not knowing at all that we were going to become this close”.

Elsewhere during their insightful conversation, Chesney underlines how, once he saw Moroney perform live on that tour, he had no doubt that she had what it takes to be a star.

The Knoxville native recalls, “When I see her on stage and when I see what she’s doing now, but I knew back then, I knew the first year on the Sun Goes Down Tour that she had the opportunity to be something special, because she has this insane work ethic that I recognized, and there’s a certain way she looks over her shoulder at her audience that can’t be taught. And I noticed that. I recognize that”.

Chesney goes on, “And the way she treats her fans. It was kind of like me. I think the one thing that we have in common, there’s this...You can’t put your finger on this certain fire that’s burning inside you to want to do this. And you have to want this life”.

Chesney warmly concludes, “It’s not always easy, nothing comes to you easy. And Megan has this unteachable, I don’t know, this thing in her eye. She has this look in her eye where she can laser focus on the audience, and give them love and give them great songs and she’s great on stage. And she has an unbelievable sense of humor and personality. We couldn’t help it. We just became great friends”.

The ‘I Go Back’ hitmaker admits in his HEART*LIFE*MUSIC book, which came out last November, that he was initially worried that Moroney might struggle on-stage in those colossal stadiums, due to that first support slot being notoriously challenging.

But after witnessing her first few performances, Chesney reveals that he breathed a sigh of relief, as it was evident the ‘Tennessee Orange’ singer-songwriter could handle the pressure. Now, through those 2024 summer shows, Sphere link-ups and their collaborations, Moroney has blossomed into a No Shoes Nation favourite.

Moroney appears on Chesney's new album, Silver Sands Marina, on the melancholic ‘It Just Got Weird’. It marks their second duet, after the full-circle ‘You Had To Be There’, which was nominated for Musical Event of the Year at the 2025 CMA Awards.

Chesney and Moroney's friendship has become a heartwarming staple of the modern country music landscape, and serves as an example of the good-natured, multi-generational camaraderie that is refreshingly permeating today's Nashville scene.