Dale Morris, Manager Behind Alabama and Kenny Chesney, Dies at 89
Dale Morris, the Nashville manager who guided Alabama to a record-setting string of country chart-toppers and helped build Kenny Chesney into one of the genre's most successful touring acts, died on Friday night, 21 August 2026. He was 89. His representatives said he died peacefully in his sleep and did not provide a specific cause of death (Billboard).
Morris began his music career not in a boardroom but as a songwriter. He penned Johnny Paycheck's 1967 single "Don't Monkey With Another Monkey's Monkey" before crossing to the business side and launching his own firm, Dale Morris & Associates. The move would shape decades of country radio.
In 1979, Morris was introduced to the band Alabama at The Bowery, a live-music venue in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He took them on as clients and managed the group for more than 40 years, according to the International Entertainment Buyers Association (IEBA). Under his management, Alabama scored 33 number ones on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart — the most by any duo or group in the chart's history (Billboard).
In the early 1990s, Morris began working with a young singer named Kenny Chesney. That relationship endured: Chesney became a Country Music Hall of Famer and, by Billboard Boxscore's accounting, one of the highest-grossing country touring artists of all time. He holds the record for the most number-one songs on Billboard's Country Airplay chart, with 33 (Billboard).
Morris's client list extended well beyond those two acts. He also managed Martina McBride, Barbara Mandrell, Jake Owen, Old Dominion, Big & Rich, Brandon Lay, Ryan Griffin and Walker County (Billboard; IEBA). The firm he built with Clint Higham — Morris Higham Management, an artist and estate management company — counted Morris as its chairman (Morris Higham Management). In 2018, the firm's in-house booking business was acquired by Paradigm, now known as THE·TEAM (Billboard).
Clint Higham, president of Morris Higham Management, called Morris his mentor and longtime business partner in a statement. Morris's grandson, Zack Morris, described him as the family patriarch (Billboard).
Morris received the T.J. Martell Foundation's Tony Martell Lifetime Entertainment Achievement Award in 2014. He was married to his wife, Earline, for 68 years. He was preceded in death by his son Tim, and is survived by his daughter-in-law Jennifer; grandchildren Zack, Colton (and wife Mary Blair), Nick (and wife Shelby) and Kendall; and great-grandchildren Mary Dee and Gus (Billboard).
A celebration of life is planned for autumn 2026, with details to be announced in the coming weeks. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for donations to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (Billboard).
