Jason Aldean didn’t hesitate when asked about Kenny Chesney and his nomination for the Country Music Hall of Fame. The “Whiskey Drink” singer has been a fan for longer than anyone realized.

Flashback to early 1994 or 1995, when teenage Jason went to the International Cherry Blossom Festival in his hometown of Macon, Ga. Chesney was a performer, but he was hardly the performer.

“We used to have two radio stations and two country stations,” Aldean tells the Taste of Country Nights On Demand podcast.

“And one station had Joe Diffie playing on one stage, and there was probably 7,000 people over there watching Diffie. And then on the next stage on the next street was Chesney. And he probably had 200 people watching him.”

“The Tin Man” and “Somebody’s Calling” were among the songs Aldean heard on a day that was likely forgettable for Chesney.

“I went over there like, ‘I love this guy. I can’t believe nobody’s watching him,'” he says.

ToC Nights host Evan Paul has asked nearly a dozen artists for a Kenny Chesney memory since he was announced as a Class of 2025 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Aldean’s memory tops the list. It’s among the most personal.

“He’s one of those guys — especially for someone like me, who really builds their career on the live part of it — I think Kenny’s one of those guys we all look to and go, ‘I wanna do that,'” he shared.

The full interview — available in the above podcast player, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you podcast — finds Aldean reflecting on a tour with Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley, divulging secrets of his next album, talking about sharing a drink with his oldest daughter and admitting he does plenty of laundry around the house.