Top music industry executives Clint Higham, John Esposito and Kris Lamb have formed Hey Now Records, with country superstar Kenny Chesney as the boutique label’s flagship artist.
“When Clint, Espo and Kris came to me with the idea of creating our own team, I was curious,” Chesney said in a statement. “A label like this can be all-in, lets-make-stuff-happen — and I have always been about making things happen. Creating and exploring what’s possible inspires me, and this is a moment where we can realize ideas in a matter of hours.”
Chesney has been with Warner Records Nashville since 2018, following a long stint at Sony Music Nashville. Last year, in addition to being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, Chesney became the first solo headliner and first country act at Sphere in Las Vegas, as well as a New York Times best-selling author, thanks to his book Heart Life Music, with author/journalist Holly Gleason.
The Nashville-based Hey Now Records takes its name from the boat memorialized in Chesney’s song “Happy on the Hey Now.” The label will have a focused staff handling promotion, streaming, marketing and A&R, with plans to add more artists to its roster. Details on distribution, further staffing and new music from Chesney are forthcoming.
Co-founder Higham is best known as president and partner at Morris Higham Management, whose clients include Chesney, as well as Old Dominion, Greylan James, Dailey & Vincent and KINSLEY.
Hey Now Records co-founder Esposito served as chairman/CEO of Warner Music Nashville (renamed Warner Records Nashville in 2025) for 13 years, before stepping down at the end of 2022. In addition to Chesney, at the label he worked with such artists as Blake Shelton, Dan + Shay, Brett Eldredge and Ashley McBryde. He has also served as chairman of the Country Music Association, governor of the NARAS Nashville Chapter and on the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau boards.
Lamb joins Higham and Esposito as Hey Now Records co-founder and president. Lamb was most recently executive vp/GM of Big Machine Records, where he spent more than a decade. Prior to Big Machine, he was at the Walt Disney Company’s Lyric Street Records.
“Hey 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,” Esposito said in a statement. “When Kris joined our conversations, I knew we would be lucky to have him at the helm of our operation. I’m thrilled to be in the role of co-founder, advisor, mentor and cheerleader for Kris as he leads the Hey Now Records operation.”
Higham added, “We have always believed in finding the best people for what an artist needs. That philosophy has seen us super-serve our clients to create more meaningful opportunities and connections. In today’s 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. By being laser-focused on the music, artists and right next moves, we can accelerate the artist development process through targeted and specific execution.”
Lamb, who will oversee day-to-day operations and lead the overall direction for the label, added, “Having the chance to create something from the ground up means the options are wide open. In 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.”
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