Few people know Kenny Chesney as well as Old Dominion. The band, fronted by lead singer Matthew Ramsey, has joined Chesney on several of his massive tours, giving them a first-person view of who Chesney is behind the scenes.

It’s why Ramsey says Chesney is so worthy to enter the Country Music Hall of Fame next month.

“He definitely is deserving of that, for sure,” Ramsey tells Billboard. “The guy has successfully reinvented himself and successfully chosen songs and written songs that have touched the fabric of people’s lives in this country and this world.”

Chesney was releasing music 20 years before Old Dominion. Now both successful country music acts, Ramsey says his band still has plenty to learn from the global superstar.

“I think you see how seriously he still takes it, his career and what message he wants to put out there,” Ramsey reflects. “It’s inspiring, and it definitely sets a certain standard to how you care for your career. He’s also one of those artists that it’s not just the music. You have people like Jimmy Buffett, these artists that create a complete environment. When you show up to that show, you’re transported to a different place. You don’t sell out football stadiums unless you do that, and he’s done that to a degree that not many artists have done.”

What Kenny Chesney Says About Entering the Country Music Hall of Fame

Chesney will be inducted alongside the late June Carter Cash and Tony Brown. By Chesney’s own admission, his biggest dreams didn’t allow for him to be part of the hallowed institution.

“That’s just something you don’t dare to imagine,” Chesney says. “I would never have even thought about being here, because it’s almost too much. Just walking past so many of these bronzes, realizing how many are friends or whose music I’ve listened to my whole life, this is an honor that extends beyond anything my heart would dare think.”

Chesney is especially thrilled to be going in with Cash, a full-circle moment Chesney could have never predicted.

“I think it’s so ironic, because when I was in college, I played the Carter Fold a couple of times with that bluegrass band,” Chesney recalls. “Now, had you told that kid that was playing a slightly out-of-tune guitar, and probably not very good timing, that he was going to be in the Country Music Hall of Fame, and that he’d be inducted with June Carter, I would have told you that was an unbelievable dream. I would have told you that I’m getting ready to wake up somehow on my couch in college, and all of this was just a dream.”

Very little about Chesney’s humble upbringing in rural East Tennessee ever suggested he would one day become a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

“I’m from East Tennessee, and it is so amazing to know that you’re going into the Hall of Fame with three fellow East Tennesseans,” Chesney says. “People that grew up where I grew up. My grandparents lived on the same street that Chet Atkins grew up in. I rode my bicycle past that property all the time. To know that I’m going in with Dolly Parton is a huge deal for me.”

Chesney’s induction ceremony into the Country Music Hall of Fame will take place in October. The event is closed to the public.