ENSEMBLE ARTS PHILLY PRESENTS
BILLBOARD TOP 100 MUSIC ARTIST,
KENNY CHESNEY
ON HIS BOOK TOUR, HEART LIFE MUSIC:
AN EVENING IN CONVERSATION
NOVEMBER 3, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (October 28, 2025) – Ensemble Arts Philly presents Billboard Hot 100 country musician Kenny Chesney on his book tour, HEART LIFE MUSIC: An Evening in Conversation, at the Academy of Music on November 3, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. A songwriter, groundbreaker, visionary, and regular guy, Kenny Chesney will talk with award-winning music critic and co-author Holly Gleason about his journey to get here, Nashville being forgotten, the thrill of meeting and befriending heroes, and why normal people can do incredible things.
Heart Life Music shares the stories of a kid from a small town in East Tennessee with a dream fueled by the sports and music around him. When high school football came to an end, he knew there must be something more. In college, Chesney found himself on a barstool with a guitar and an unexpected connection between people, life, and songs. His heart caught fire. With Nashville’s vibrant creative scene, characters, legends, and places now long gone from the city he encountered in those early days, Chesney explores the quest to find himself as an artist and a man, as well as a sense of home anywhere there’s an ocean. These are the stories of the unlikely game changer who became the sound of coming of age in the 21st century, made friends with his heroes, rocked stadiums, and founded a No Shoes Nation.
One of contemporary American music's biggest names, Kenny Chesney has been selling out major stadiums across the nation for two decades, playing to over a million fans every summer since 2002. He’s sold over 35 million albums and won the prestigious ‘Entertainer of the Year’ award eight times, as well as holding Billboard’s record for the Most Country #1s with 36 chart-topping songs that define coming of age in the flyover in the 21st century. The first country artist to perform at the groundbreaking Sphere, Chesney took No Shoes Nation into a new dimension. Creating a space to work hard, play hard, love hard, and come together in the spirit of celebrating all those moments, his popularity grows year after year. Heart Life Music is his first book.
“Kenny Chesney's ability to connect with audiences through his music and storytelling is truly extraordinary, and we're thrilled to present this intimate evening where Philadelphia audiences can experience the stories behind the songs that have defined a generation,” said Frances Egler, Vice President of Theatrical Programming and Presentations. “His journey from a small-town dreamer to one of country music's most influential voices promises to be inspiring and deeply moving.”
Chesney will be joined by two-time LA Press Club Music Critic, friend, and co-author, Holly Gleason, for freewheeling conversations to enrich reading Heart Life Music. Gleason’s work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, the Library of Congress’ National Registry of Sound Recordings, among other outlets. She was the LA Press Club’s Entertainment Journalist of the Year and the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Association’s Independent Journalist of the Year. A former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame/Case Western Reserve Fellow, she’s the creator of Belmont Book Award-winning Woman Walk The Line, and co-authored Miranda Lambert’s New York Times bestseller Y’all Eat Yet? as well as Prine on Prine: Interviews & Encounters.
Other featured upcoming performances include Jimmy Carr: Laughs Funny (November 6, 2025, Miller Theater); The Moth Mainstage (November 7, 2025, Miller Theater); Asi Wind: More Than Magic (November 8, 2025, Perelman Theater inside the Kimmel Center); Tom Papa: Grateful Bread Tour (November 8, 2025, Marian Anderson Hall inside the Kimmel Center); An Evening with Samara Joy (November 11, 2025, Miller Theater); Guenther Steiner: Unfiltered LIVE (November 13, 2025, Miller Theater); Gary Gulman: Grandiloquent (November 14–15, 2025, Perelman Theater inside the Kimmel Center); and Natalie Merchant with Erik Della Penna: Autumn Acoustic Tour (November 17–18, 2025, Perelman Theater inside the Kimmel Center).
Tickets
Tickets can be purchased online at www.ensembleartsphilly.org, by calling 215-893-1999, or in person at the Academy of Music Box Office (240 S. Broad Street) daily from 10 a.m.–6 p.m. For more information, visit www.ensembleartsphilly.org.
Every patron will take home a presigned copy of Kenny Chesney's new book, Heart Life Music.
NOTE: This event is not a concert.
Heart Life Music: An Evening in Conversation with Kenny Chesney
Academy of Music
Monday, November 3, 2025, 7:00 p.m.
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ABOUT ENSEMBLE ARTS PHILLY
For more information about ENSEMBLE ARTS PHILLY, visit www.ensembleartsphilly.org.
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For photography, please visit www.ensembleartsphilly.smugmug.com.
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