Charlie Worsham and Brent Cobb Reflect On Writing Kenny Chesney’s ‘This Too Shall Pass’

In March, Kenny Chesney unveiled his highly anticipated new album, BORN, his first project in four years. The 15-track collection is a quintessential Kenny Chesney album filled with feel-good anthems about life, love, and everything in between. 

One track that feels especially true to Chesney is the song “This Too Shall Pass.” Co-written by Brent Cobb, Charlie Worsham, and Jaren Johnston, “This Too Shall Pass” takes a lighthearted approach to resilience and encourages listeners to find joy in tough times. It was written as a play on the saying “This Too Shall Pass” as the lyrics suggest, “I believe this too shall pass me a beer.”

Country Now recently sat down with two of the co-writers, Charlie Worsham and Brent Cobb, who shared insight into writing the song. 

Worsham explained that the stars had to align for them to all get in the room together and finally, one day in 2020, they wound up writing together. 

“It’s the hardest thing to get Jaren and Brent and I together because we all have crazy schedules,” he admitted. “Most songwriting sessions in Nashville start at 11 in the morning, but we met at like 8:30 in the morning because by 11 I think Brent had to be somewhere.”

Cobb recalled, “We got together at Jaren’s house that day, and I had had the melody and the chord structure just kind of rolling around for a while. But I whistled that melody and Jaron was like, ‘I got this title. It might be stupid, but it’s called ‘This Too Shall Pass Me a Beer.’’ And we kind of just took off. I mean it didn’t take very long at all. We probably wrote that in about 30 minutes.”

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Worsham remembered Jaren pitching the title with a “big grin on his face.” 

“You could tell something good was about to come,” he said. 

With Johnston’s title and Cobb’s melody, Worsham says he dove right in: “I just started doing what I do, which was starting to connect the dots and come up with lyrics. And that whole first verse, of course just kind of spilled out. And we were off and running.”

Cobb expressed their intention to deliver a message encouraging people to worry less.

“Everybody wants to freak out about so many things. Not that there ain’t things to freak out about, but it’s also not the first we last time that whatever there is to freak out about, is going to be around to freak out about,” he pointed out. “And so it does no good to worry about things.” 

Having Kenny Chesney cut a song you wrote is a songwriter’s dream. Worsham says he had the chance to introduce himself to Chesney and thank him for recording the song while playing in the house band at the Country Music Hall of Fame Medallion Ceremony in 2022.   

“I got to go up to and be like, ‘Hey man, I heard you cut ‘This Too Shall Pass.’ I just want to introduce myself. I’m a co-writer on it. Thank you so much.’ And he’s like, ‘Oh man, I need to go back and sing that one again,’” Worsham recalled. 

The reigning CMA Musician of the Year admitted it was a “surreal moment” for him. 

“Everybody that moves to Nashville with a dream, that’s what you hope for, is that moment where somebody you really love and admire cuts your song,” he shared. “It can change your life.”

Both Worsham and Cobb are so thankful to have the Chesney cut and both shared their hopes that it will someday be a single on the radio. 

“Come on, Kenny. Make it a single. Pay off those kids’ college educations for us,” Worsham joked, while Cobb added, “I wish that Kenny would put that one on the radio. Kenny, if you’re listening, come on man!”