Megan Moroney is so thankful for Kenny Chesney. Moroney opened for Chesney on his 2024 Sun Goes Down Tour. Two years later, Moroney reveals the two are still closer than ever.
“I’m so grateful for him,” Moroney says on Country Nights Live. “Me and my parents talk about it all the time, the advice that he’s given me, life advice, but also career advice, and everything in between. He’s already at the top of the mountain that I’m climbing. So I feel like he has so much knowledge to give. And he’s someone that I trust a lot. He’s been through it. He’s just amazing. He’s so kind to my family, my friends.”
Moroney wrote “You Had To Be There” for Chesney as a gift, after the tour ended. But she admits that it will be hard to ever top his birthday gift to her: a guitar once owned by Dolly Parton, signed by her as well.
“His birthday present that he got me, he’s so thoughtful,” Moroney boasts. “He’s making it really hard for me to buy him anything, ever. ‘Cause I’m like, ‘Sorry I don’t have Dolly Parton on speed dial to buy you a guitar, too.’
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Megan Moroney and Kenny Chesney’s Friendship
Megan Moroney is still in awe that she went from being a fan of Chesney to a friend, after spending part of 2024 on the road with him.
“Some days, I’ll just wake up and be like, ‘Oh. Kenny Chesney is one of my best friends. Cool,” Moroney tells People.
Fortunately, the admiration goes both ways. Chesney is equally amazed that Moroney took the time to write a song specifically for him.
“To care about the friendship that much, to sit down and give me a piece of their heart and a piece of their soul, that we, in turn, together, get to give the world. I think that’s a very special thing,” Chesney says. “And as far as I know, nobody has ever written a song for me, and if that’s true, I’m really glad that ‘You Had To Be There’ is the first one. I absolutely love it.”
“You Had to Be There” was nominated for a CMA Award, for Musical Event of the Year, an accolade Moroney says is largely because of Chesney.
“I think he had a lot to do with that, just because to his industry friends, he was like, ‘I believe in her. You need to listen to her songwriting,’” Moroney says. “He’s just boosted me up a lot, so I wanted to make sure that that experience was written in a song forever.”
Moroney’s “6 Months Later” just became her third No. 1 hit. She is back at radio with “Wish I Didn’t.” The song is from her forthcoming Cloud 9 record, out on February 20.
Photo Credit: CMA / Erika Goldring