"Let Me Call Him Right Now”: How Seth England Pitched ‘Ain’t Back Yet’ to Kenny Chesney
Link copied
Back in the late 2000s, Kenny Chesney’s infamous ‘Ain’t Back Yet’ found its way to him in an unconventional manner.
Speaking on the 'Billboard On The Record’ podcast, Seth England tells the story, sharing the song’s journey and the risk he took to get it into Chesney’s hands.
Country music artists are usually singer songwriters by nature. The genre lends itself to a musician that can write their truth and lay their soul bare for their fans. At its very core, the music is about honesty, integrity and authenticity, and nothing shines brighter than your own story.
But occasionally, a songwriter can deliver a country song for another artist. It could be a song that they would identify with, a song that would resonate with their fans or just a damn good smash hit. Whatever it is, whatever the reason the song finds its way to the artist, there’s a system.
Seth England is now the CEO and co-founder of Big Loud, a record label that houses huge names like HARDY, Ernest and Morgan Wallen. But he wasn’t always at the top of the ladder. Rewind 17 years, Seth England had the difficult job of getting songs to the right musicians to see if they would record it. There’s one artist, however, that England will be forever grateful for cutting a song that he’d sent. The beach cowboy himself, Kenny Chesney.
Picture the scene. You’re coming to the end of a three month probation period with the Craig Wiseman but you’re not sure if you’ve done enough to secure the fulltime role. You’ve got a great song that Wiseman has written with Chris Tompkins and it’s perfect for Kenny Chesney. But Wiseman is the only person that sends songs to Chesney.
Then one day, an email drops in your inbox. The recipients are meant to be blind copied in but instead, all of their email addresses are visible. What do you do?
“I got no pride,” shares England, “I just start lifting emails…I was like, God just gave me this.” So England shoots his shot and fires an email over to Chesney with the track, ‘Ain’t Back Yet’, logs off work for the weekend and heads out with his friends.
The next day, as he sleeps off the night before, England receives a phone call from an unknown number. He answers. It’s muffled, but it’s none other than Kenny Chesney himself. He wants to cut the song.
As big a success as that phone call is, England is still in a predicament as he was never supposed to send that email.
“So I was like… ‘may I ask you a quick favour,” says England, “and who am I to ask you a favour, but would you tell him [Wiseman] and would you tell him where you got the song from?’”
“And he was like, ‘let me call him right now.’” And that was that. Wiseman joked with England a little, called him in to his office on Monday morning, told him he’d been fooled by an impersonator, but ultimately, England landed the job and Chesney went on to record the song in 2009 as part of his ‘Greatest Hits II’ album. England shares, “I actually ran into Kenny Chesney the other day and I had to thank him”.
‘Ain’t Back Yet’ wasn’t Chesney’s biggest song. It didn’t make his career or cement his stardom further. But it could be said that it did make England’s career. Since then, both him and Wiseman went on to work together for years and, with the addition of Joey Moi, created what is now the record breaking music conglomerate, Big Loud. They represent huge artists, publish number one hits and continue to lead the way with streaming figures. Now that’s a success story.
There’s two things we can take from this story. One; send the damn email. Two; you’re never too big to do someone a favour.
Kenny Chesney releases his new song, ‘Carry On’, tomorrow (8th May). This is his first new solo music since his ‘Born’ album back in March 2024 and he says it’s “all about hitting the reset button in your life”. He will also embark on a residency at the Las Vegas Sphere starting in June this year. We can’t help but wonder if he’ll play ‘Ain’t Back Yet’.
For more on Kenny Chesney, see below:
