


I can’t imagine we were that good, but really, that was me enjoying the heck out of what I did.”Įveryone starts somewhere, and Young was starting to hone his craft. “I would have these big Xs in chunky black marker on my hands. “I was entirely too young to be playing in bars,” Young says. In his early teens, Young convinced his mom to drive him into Nashville so he could sit in with bands and work with local songwriters by 16, he’d formed a band with some older guys from Middle Tennessee State University, and they started playing George Strait and Garth Brooks covers in whatever clubs would have them. Blessed with parents who encouraged his art, Young soon found his way into musical theater, jazz training, and six years of classical voice, which honed his emerging baritone into something truly special. That’s something of an understatement for the Murfreesboro, TN native. It’s the end of the world!’ And then I realized I could sing Randy Travis songs. “For about a year there, I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m ruined. “I was singing all of Vince Gill’s stuff, and then my voice changed,” Young laughs. He sang so much around the house that he jokes his parents “blocked him out.” But as puberty approached, the young tenor found himself facing adversity for the first time. to Miami, followed by the likes of Randy Travis, Tracy Lawrence and Brooks & Dunn. “So I was like, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ I just kind of always knew.” His first record purchase was Keith Whitley’s L.A. “I’ve always loved country music, and I really liked singing it as a kid,” Young remembers.


Still, when all is said and done, it only takes two words to sum up the career of Chris Young: Definitely country. Now, with the release of his fourth album, A.M., the man known for his classic baritone and melt-your-heart ballads knows how to have a good time, too. Already a Grammy-nominated recording artist, he’s also a dynamic live performer consistently in demand, an international ambassador for his genre, a talented songwriter with six Number Ones to his name – by the way, he wrote four of them – and a handsome charmer to boot. Chris Young has accomplished more by 29 than some artists do in a lifetime.
