Nashville engineer Billy Sherrill, who played an important role in the careers of Kenny Rogers, Kenny Chesney, the Chicks and more, has died. Music Row reports that Sherrill died on Tuesday (Sept. 10) at the age of 77. Sherrill was raised in Kentucky, where he had his first musical experiences in a series of local bands. He made his way to Nashville after college, where he began working at what became the Sound Shop. He met producer Larry Butler there, who brought him into his first major recording session, engineering Jean Shepard’s “Slippin’ Away” in 1973. That led to a partnership in which …