“I Am So Proud of You”: The Heartwarming Tribute George Jones Gave Kenny Chesney After His Milestone Year

The country music world can at times feel fractured, particularly when you have artists like Gavin Adcock and Charley Crockett engaging in vicious online disputes, along with seeing widespread division in Music City that often feels politically-charged.

But throughout history, these feuds, quarrels and disagreements have never managed to eclipse the wonderful camaraderie and togetherness that country music has traditionally been synonymous with. Some of the genre's great duet partners - Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and June Carter, George Jones and Kenny Chesney, to name a few - epitomise this.

There's an endearing moment in a 2007 Billboard magazine that really captures the warm-hearted spirit that should - and we believe still does - underpin the country landscape.

The edition, which was published on September 15th, served as a lengthy homage to Kenny Chesney, who had just won his third ACM Entertainer of the Year award, and was about to win his third CMA Entertainer of the Year gong in a few months’ time (he'd ultimately win four of both in his career). He'd also just completed another sold-out stadium tour, as well as earning various No. 1 hits, including the now-iconic ’Beer in Mexico’, ‘Don't Blink’ and ‘Never Wanted Nothing More’.

Peppered throughout the magazine, which features in-depth interviews with Chesney and numerous members of his team, there are heartfelt tributes from his fellow artists, including former tour-mates Brooks & Dunn, Keith Urban, Sugarland and more.

One of our favourites, though, is the homage from Chesney's good buddy at the time, the late great George Jones. He wrote of his immense admiration for Chesney, “Kenny, I've known you since you first came to Nashville and I was always happy to share my stage with you. You were a good man then and that hasn't changed”.

The ‘Possum’ concluded, “Success isn't always easy but you've handled it as a loyal, generous, caring friend. I am so proud of you and all you have accomplished, son”.

The duo would end up collaborating a few years after this on the honky-tonkin’, classic country gem, ‘Small Y'all’, but long before this Chesney and Jones had hit the road together as part of the latter's popular 1995 reunion tour with Tammy Wynette.

At the time, Chesney had only released a couple of albums, and was still pursuing a neo-traditional country sound, which aligned with that of Jones and Wynette, and had not yet ventured into the island-inspired space that he is now known for.

The ‘No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems’ hitmaker has cited Jones as a key influence on him on a number of occasions, both when he was initially dreaming of to breaking into the music industry, and when he had started to enjoy some success.

During a 2025 interview with SirusXM's No Shoes Radio, the Knoxville native recalled the amusing time that Jones’ wife, Nancy, invited him to fly on their private jet.

The ’Just To Say We Did’ singer-songwriter reflected, “When I first started, about a year after I went on the road, somehow, I was picked to go on the George Jones and Tammy Wynette reunion tour, and all of a sudden, there was this kid from East Tennessee that heard George Jones and his grandmother's kitchen, and I was out on the road with them. One night, after a couple of weekends, George's wife Nancy came up to me and she goes, "Would you like to fly home with us?"”.

Chesney candidly continues, “I'd never seen a private jet much less ridden in one! So all of a sudden, I'm on the plane with George and we're talking about my life. I'm telling him about my family and how much we loved him, and I didn't want to go overboard because I didn't want to seem like that guy, but I mean, he really took it in and loved it”, concluding, “And that was the beginning of a really great friendship”.

It was a lovely full-circle encounter for Chesney, with Jones one of the artists that first inspired him to pursue music. While Chesney and Jones got to share the stage many times - and there's no question that ‘Small Y'all’ is a playful, infectious earworm - we're sure that, if they'd have had more time together before Jones’ death in 2013, this dynamic duo would've produced plenty more magic in the studio.

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