Kenny Chesney Was Rejected By His College Crush Following His First Attempt At Songwriting

During a recent interview on CBS Sunday Morning, Kenny Chesney recalled the first song he ever wrote while he was a student at East Tennessee State University and had a crush on a classmate. “She sat right beside me. It was six months trying to get her to go out with me,” Chesney recounted. “I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna write her a song.'” Chesney was starting to play shows in local bars, and was working towards writing his own material at the time. “This was the first song I ever wrote, and ironically enough, it was in a class called Persuasion,” he shared. He recorded the song on cassette and gave it to her, only to have to wait until the next class to hear what she thought. “I came in, like, ‘Okay, this is it,'” Chesney says. “She was sitting as far back in the corner of the room as she could sit.” While the relationship didn’t work out, Chesney used the experience as a formative lesson in connecting with an audience. (Taste of Country)