{"id":253151,"date":"2026-03-17T15:12:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T15:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=253151"},"modified":"2026-03-17T15:12:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T15:12:27","slug":"clint-higham-john-esposito-and-kris-lamb-launch-nashville-label-hey-now-records-kenny-chesney-is-first-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/clint-higham-john-esposito-and-kris-lamb-launch-nashville-label-hey-now-records-kenny-chesney-is-first-signing\/","title":{"rendered":"Clint Higham, John Esposito, and Kris Lamb launch Nashville label HEY NOW Records; Kenny Chesney is first signing"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new independent music label is entering the Nashville music market, founded by three music industry veterans with backgrounds in country music.<\/p>\n

Clint Higham, John Esposito, <\/b>and Kris Lamb<\/b> launched HEY NOW Records<\/b><\/a> on Tuesday (March 17), with Kenny Chesney <\/b>as its first signed artist. The label will operate as a boutique operation with a staff covering promotion, streaming, marketing, and A&R.<\/p>\n

Lamb, who serves as co-founder and president, will oversee day-to-day operations. His background includes executive roles at Big Machine Label Group<\/b> and The Walt Disney Company’s Lyric Street Records<\/b>, where he earned credits on more than 80 No. 1 hits and contributed to recordings that earned Grammy, Country Music Association, American Music, and Academy of Country Music Awards.<\/p>\n

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Lamb said: \u201cHaving the chance to create something from the ground up means the options are wide open.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a world where structure blocks creativity, HEY NOW is a place where whatever we can conceive, we can realize. This is more than a dream; this is a gateway to creating an entirely new form and reality of Artist Development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Higham, who runs Morris Higham Management and has been recognized by the Country Music Association as Manager of the Year, said: \u201cWe have always believed in finding the best people for what an artist needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/i><\/a><\/figure>\u201cIn a world where structure blocks creativity, HEY NOW is a place where whatever we can conceive, we can realize. This is more than a dream; this is a gateway to creating an entirely new form and reality of Artist Development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kris Lamb, HEY NOW Records<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThat philosophy has seen us super-serve our clients to create more meaningful opportunities and connections. In today\u2019s flooded marketplace, Espo, Kris Lamb and I looked at this moment and saw an opportunity to super-serve a handful of talented developing and established artists by using that same perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy being laser-focused on the music, artists and right next moves, we can accelerate the artist development process through targeted and specific execution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Esposito, who spent 15 years as chairman and CEO<\/a> of Warner Music Nashville <\/b>until April 2023<\/a>, said: \u201cHEY NOW Records was born out of conversations Clint, Kenny and I had about the increasing lack of focus that artists are getting as rosters increase while staffs shrink.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen Kris joined our conversations, I knew we would be lucky to have him at the helm of our operation. I\u2019m thrilled to be in the role of co-founder, advisor, mentor and cheerleader for Kris as he leads the HEY NOW Records operation!\u201d<\/p>\n

HEY NOW\u2019s flagship artist, East Tennessee singer-songwriter Kenny Chesney, holds the record for the most Billboard Country Airplay No. 1s with 33 chart-topping songs and is the only country artist ranked in Pollstar’s<\/i> Top 10 Touring Acts of the Millennium.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/i><\/a><\/figure>\u201cHEY NOW Records was born out of conversations Clint, Kenny and I had about the increasing lack of focus that artists are getting as rosters increase while staffs shrink.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Esposito, HEY NOW RECORDS<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Chesney was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2025 and earlier this year became the first solo artist and first country performer to headline a residency at the Sphere<\/a> in Las Vegas. His memoir, Heart Life Music<\/i>, debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times <\/i>Hardcover Nonfiction and Combined Ebook and Hardcover Nonfiction lists, where it spent seven straight weeks.<\/p>\n

The artist has over 7 million<\/b> monthly listeners<\/a> on Spotify.<\/p>\n

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On his signing with HEY NOW, Chesney said: \u201cWhen Clint, Espo and Kris came to me with the idea of creating our own team, I was curious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA label like this can be all-in, let’s-make-stuff-happen \u2013 and I have always been about making things happen. Creating and exploring what\u2019s possible inspires me, and this is a moment where we can realize ideas in a matter of hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Esposito added: \u201cIn a world of more, more, more, as well as corporate over-reach and rush, Kris will deliver hyper-focused, deep strategy for a select few.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cA label like this can be all-in, let’s-make-stuff-happen \u2013 and I have always been about making things happen. Creating and exploring what\u2019s possible inspires me, and this is a moment where we can realize ideas in a matter of hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenny Chesney<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWhether a genre re-defining artist like Kenny or the superstars of tomorrow, this is about breaking the mold and chasing great songs and artists. Having Kris as our president means a competitive and cutting-edge approach that delivers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The label’s name comes from a boat Chesney kept in the Caribbean, which was also referenced in his song Happy On The Hey Now<\/a>.<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

Higham is the longtime manager of Chesney. In January 2022, it was confirmed<\/a> that Hipgnosis Song Management\u00a0<\/strong>acquired 80%<\/strong> of\u00a0Chesney\u2019s recorded music royalties, covering his discography from his 1994 debut\u00a0In My Wildest Dreams<\/i>\u00a0through 2017\u2019s\u00a0Live in No Shoes Nation<\/i>.<\/p>\n

As MBW reported, the acquisition also covers any future Greatest Hits, live and\/or acoustic album releases Chesney may issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HEY NOW Records landed East Tennessee singer-songwriter Kenny Chesney as its first signing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":253209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[135139],"class_list":["post-253151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-hey-now-records"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253151"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253211,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253151\/revisions\/253211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}