Dale Morris Dead: Manager for Kenny Chesney and Alabama Was 89

Dale Morris, one of the leading names in the ranks of Nashville music managers, who helped build up superstar careers for the group Alabama and then Kenny Chesney nearly from scratch, died Friday at 89. A representative said Morris died in his sleep.

“He lived a big, bold, beautiful, blessed life, and I’m holding onto that right now,” said his protege and eventually managerial partner of many years, Clint Higham, president of Morris Higham Management. “It’s the end of an era.”

Morris met the fledgling Alabama in 1989 while heading up Dale Morris & Associates and played a massive role in making the group the most successful band in the history of country music, with 33 No. 1 hits in the 1980s and ’90s, along with a huge touring career that led to their being named Entertainer of the Year three times by the Country Music Association and five times by the Academy of Country Music in the mid-’80s. Alabama’s meteoric rise saw the group being credited for being early in country music to adopt some of rock’s touring production values, finding rock-star-level success as well.

Lightning struck twice for Morris, as he oversaw the rise of Chesney from a country also-ran into the genre’s most reliable stadium-filler, who was named Entertainer of the Year four times in the 2000s by both the CMAs and ACMs, and who has enjoyed 32 No. 1 Billboard country smashes.

Other Morris Higham Management clients included Martina McBride, Old Dominion, Jake Owen, Gretchen Wilson, Barbara Mandrell, Dailey & Vincent, Carley Pearce, Brantley Gilbert and Big & Rich.

Said Higham, “He was larger than life, and never met a dream he couldn’t build. Dale Morris gave me my first internship, and I never wanted to go anywhere else. He saw things in people, in me, in Kenny, and inspired everyone to reach beyond what we thought possible. Maybe it’s how much he loved life, loved his family, loved us.”

Before taking on management, Morris began his career as a songwriter, reaching the top 5 in 1967 with a cut by Johnny Paycheck, “Don’t Monkey With Another Monkey’s Monkey.” He was inspired by that hit to move from South Carolina to Nashville and to set up an agency shingle, with Billy “Crash” Craddock as his first client.

He received the T.J. Martell Foundation’s Tony Martell Lifetime Entertainment Achievement Award in 2014 (at which he is pictured holding his trophy alongside Chesney, at top).

Higham rose to become Morris’ partner after starting as an intern. In 2018, the two of them sold their company to Paradigm Talent Agency.

In an interview with Pollstar that year, Morris said, “We’ve elected to stay small rather than to try to sign every act in the world. That way we were able to do what we were able to do and book and manage. Everybody seemed to be happy. We never signed contracts with any of the acts we represented. You come with us and if you want to leave us tomorrow, pay us what you owe us and out the door you go. That’s been our policy for at least 45 years.”

Morris was married to his wife, Earline, for 68 years. He was preceded in death by a son, Tim. Survivors include the couple’s daughter-in-law, Jennifer, grandchildren Zack, Colton (and wife Mary Blair), Nick (and wife Shelby) and Kendall, and great grandchildren Mary Dee and Gus.

“We’re so blessed to have had 90 years with him as the patriarch of our family,” said Zack Morris. “Thank you to our music industry family and to his vast community of friends in Nashville, Boca and beyond for loving him all these many years.”

A celebration of life is being planned for this fall, with details to be announced in the weeks ahead.