Growing up in the proverbial shadows of Nashville's skyline and the honky-tonk glow of Broadway's neon where bands tip their Stetsons to legends like Hank and Johnny, Murfreesboro, Tenn., native Chris Young couldn't help but be influenced by the traditions of his origin. But calling this 26-year-old artist-writer a traditionalist wouldn't be exactly right. His rich, velvety baritone and smart songwriting marry the comfort of tried-and-true country accessibility with the forward-thinking modernism of an artist and songwriter who is not afraid to draw outside the lines.
It's been five years since Chris Young was named USA's Nashville Star, but the singer-songwriter is proving his star will only shine brighter as the years go by. His second album, The Man I Want To Be, produced three consecutive number one singles and made history when "Voices" became the first country song in 25 years to be re-released to chart-topping status. He earned a Grammy nomination for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and an ASCAP Top 5 Most Performed Song award for "Gettin' You Home (The Black Dress Song)." His third record, Neon, was released in July of this year; the first single, "Tomorrow," sold 30,000 downloads in the first week alone and became Chris Young's fourth number one single on August 6. ASCAP Nashville's Jessica Draper caught up with Chris in a rare moment of downtime during an otherwise whirlwind summer.
You've already been a part of some big tours [Alan Jackson, Rascal Flatts], and you're about to head out with Jason Aldean, who is selling out huge venues around the country. What do you think that type of public reaction says about how people embrace country music?
The coolest thing about everything that's going on right now with ticket, album and single sales is that people are still really, really excited about going to see country music live. Obviously Jason's very hot right now; he's just blowing up. That tour is probably the most popular in country music at this time, and being able to go out with him and, hopefully, make a bunch of fans this summer with a new album out—well, you can't really buy publicity like that.
You spent a lot of time on the road playing shows before you got your deal with RCA. What do you think those experiences taught you?
The biggest thing that taught me early on was really knowing and understanding how your crowds are going to be different every night. One crowd in one part of the country reacts one way to a song, and then maybe another night you get something completely different from a crowd when you play the same song. So it really created a process for me as a young artist, before I got my record deal, to get comfortable being on stage and with knowing how to build a set list and so on. So I experienced much of that learning curve out on the road before I had the spotlight of the record label shined on me.
Other than landing you a recording contract and exposing you to millions of fans, how do you think winning Nashville Star prepared you for and helped with your career as an artist and songwriter?
Nashville Star provided me with a built-in audience when I released my first album, which was so important, because we really didn't have a radio hit off of that first record. That was a growing process for me, and I would have never had an opportunity to get into that system without the show. You look at a lot of artists who only get one single, much less two albums, to try and break through. I think a big part of me having that chance [to prove myself] was because I had that built-in fan base and because my record label believed in me. So I think that's the biggest thing that show did for me was not only give me the record deal, but get me through to the second album where we ended up having our first hit. So the show not only gave me the record deal, it also allowed me to get through to the second album where we ended up having our first hit [2010's No. 1 hit "Gettin' You Home (The Black Dress Song)"].
If someone had told you several years ago that The Man I Want To Be would produce three consecutive No. 1's in addition to all of your other success, what would your reaction have been?
I probably would have laughed at them (laughs). Not that it wasn't something I dreamed of and wanted to happen one day, but [I was used to having] more No. 37's on the chart than No. 1's after I had my first No. 1 single. I had two songs die at No. 37 and one single died further down than that. We really just wanted our first hit off of that second record. That's really all we were going for as we took some time off and retooled. I brought in James Stroud as my producer and really took a lot of time focusing as a songwriter, trying to build a base of material for what was going to be that second album.
Look at the first two singles that we went with off of The Man I Want To Be: "Voices", which at the time was one of the songs that did not work at first but ended up coming back and being the third No. 1 off the record, and then my first No. 1, "Gettin' You Home." They were both songs that I was a co-writer on. That's realty a lot of what I did between my first and second albums was go back, woodshed, write and try to create some stuff that was really going to cut through on country radio.
You mentioned James Stroud, with whom you have a great creative partnership. What is it that makes it click?
The relationship that I have with James…it just works. I can't tell you exactly what it is, because I don't think I can put my finger on it. When we got ready to do the second album, we kind of wanted to start from scratch and talked with a lot of really great producers who have great track records. I was really excited about the process. We weren't really sure who we were going to go with producer wise, but when James came in for his meeting with me and the A&R staff, it was just right. He told us what he wanted to do with the album and went into the same things that [the label and I] said [we wanted to accomplish] verbatim: Making a big point of my voice coming across—the bottom end of my voice being something we really focused on in the studio—my songwriting, the instrumentation we would use and so on. He got up, walked out and I remember we all just looked at each other and went "Well, there's our producer." I just love what he does in the studio.
As a songwriter what do you think the key to successful collaboration is?
I have people I know I write well with, and if I get in a room with them and bring an idea, it just works. But as a writer, you're always trying to stretch a little bit and find new people you've never written with before. Though over time, you just find who you write better with and click with the most. I can't explain exactly what that is. Co-writing is something that happens a lot in Nashville, whereas it doesn't happen as much in other genres and places. The first time I did it, I remember going into a room with somebody else going, "OK, I've only ever written by myself before, so I wonder what this is going to be like." Over time, I found that I loved getting in a room and bouncing ideas off of other people who were great writers I clicked with because of the differences in the way we look at things. They could tell you something that changes the entire possibility of what a song could be, which is something you would never come up with on your own. Songwriting has been really important to me since the first day I was like, "I'm going to try to create a song from scratch." I loved it, and it gives me the same high as being on stage or being in the studio singing.
With this new album, I didn't even intend to write seven of the 10 tracks. From my perspective as an artist, I'd rather have the best songs. If I find 10 amazing songs and I don't have a single song that I'm a writer on that can beat those, I'll do a whole album of 10 songs I didn't write. As long as I think they're amazing songs and they speak to me, that's what matters.
You've said that when you first heard "Neon" you knew immediately you wanted to cut it and make it the title track. What is it about that song that made you feel that way?
Right after I finished saying all that about co-writing, "Neon" is one of the songs I had nothing to do with writing. I just found that song and fell in love with it. One of the reasons I really loved the song is because I'd never heard a song called "Neon," so I immediately wanted to listen to it. I thought from the get go, even before I'd heard the song, it would be cool to cut and make the title track of the record. But as far as the song itself, I just thought that the lyric was so smart, and I really just loved the melody of the song, too. It was just great all the way around.
What's the story behind "Tomorrow"? (Written with Frank Meyers and Anthony Smith)
Well first of all, Frank, Anthony and I have known each other for years and had always said, "Yeah, let's get together and write," Finally, after a lot of just talking about getting together to write, we actually made it happen. We got in to the room that day and Frank had the beginning of the chorus. Anthony and I were throwing out ideas that we both had written down on our phones. We were about to start something when Frank said, "Before y'all start on that, let me play you this thing I came up with at the gym." He played us the first half of the chorus concept of "Tomorrow." We stopped and looked at each other and were like, "Our ideas are stupid, let's write that."
I keep a copy of any new song I write on my phone and email it to myself, and that's how I keep track of who I wrote what with and the day I wrote it on. I always wake up the next day, after it's out of my head, and listen thinking, "Is this better than I thought it was? Is it worse?" I immediately called Frank and Anthony that next morning and told them both it was going to be the first single off the new record. I just remember having that feeling of, "God, this is one of those songs I'm already so proud I wrote, and it's not on anything. I just love the song." So I knew that was going to be the first single. There's a lot of things that could end up changing to keep that from happening, though. The record label could have a different idea, or your manager wants another song. A lot of stuff comes into play when you go to pick a radio single. So the fact that the day after we wrote it I called it being the first single and it ended up that way—and a hit—is so cool.
At last year's ASCAP Country Music Awards, you performed "Wanted" as part of a special tribute to Alan Jackson. What was that experience like for you?
All I could think about that night was, "Don't screw up!" That's obvious advice no matter who you are when you're performing someone else's song for them and it's at a big honoring of that person. Plus, I'd been out on the road with Alan a couple times, and he had always said a lot of really nice stuff to me. I remember thinking, "Well hell, now what do I do if I go out there and just totally butcher one of his songs that's always been one of my favorites?" When I got through it and didn't mess up any of the words, I was like, "OK, thank God." Alan actually got up and said, "Man, I wish I would have held off on that one and let you cut it." I just thought that was one of the coolest things that anybody could say. He's someone I've looked up to as an artist/songwriter. You talk about the prototypical country singer-songwriter, and he's going to be one of the first people you mention. So, just getting to perform at that event, knowing I didn't screw it up and that he appreciated, it was a pretty big moment.
What is the most challenging aspect of your career? The most rewarding?
I'm really looking forward to everything over the next couple of months with this new album. It's so rewarding knowing I've had the fastest downloaded single of my career with "Tomorrow," and that it's the leap into a new album of a bunch of stuff that I've co-written. It's such a big moment for me knowing that album No. 3 is out. I love all these performances [promoting] it and talking to everybody about it, but at the same time, it's insanely challenging because it's basically a non-stop time of very little sleep and constant shows. And then you add in the Jason Aldean tour, launching a record... It's that two sides of the same coin thing. It's stressful, but at the same time I'm sitting there going, "I'm getting to put out a third record on RCA records. That's the place I've always wanted to be, and this is what I've always wanted to be doing." So, it's pretty amazing.
What is your hope for the next three years?
You know, my simple goal is to still be making albums for RCA and having stuff played on the radio. I'm just now moving into a spot where I'm the middle act on tours with Jason, and I've also been the middle act on tours with Alan and Blake Shelton. So hopefully three years from now I'm getting to headline my own shows and looking at some more records. It's pretty amazing getting to put out your third one. So I'm just looking onwards and upwards.
