- 2 days ago
Chris Young joins Katie Neal at our Audacy studios inside the Hard Rock in the heart of Nashville!
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00:00Chris Young, how are you? I'm wonderful, how are you? I'm doing so good. It's great to see you.
00:04Very excited. This new album is going to be out. This is so much fun.
00:08Tomorrow is actually a really important anniversary for you, and it's 19 years since your debut album came out.
00:13Yes, almost at 20 years having a record deal.
00:20Are you going to do anything next year to celebrate that?
00:23Probably not. I'll probably be busy working.
00:25Yeah, exactly.
00:27It's also really odd to think about it in terms of that because I signed my deal when I was 20,
00:34and everybody's like, oh, and then you just took off and everything worked.
00:37And I'm like, no, I spent the first four, four and a half years just struggling to try and get any attention whatsoever.
00:45I had a song die at 37, a song die at 52, another song die at 37, and then I finally got my first number one
00:51in, ironically, 37 weeks with Getting You Home.
00:54But I was on a lot of airplanes going to a lot of radio stations and just being like, please play my stuff.
01:03So every time I'm on stage and I tell a crowd, like, I'm grateful that I get to do this, it's all their fault.
01:11Yeah, it is.
01:13And I'm really honestly grateful for that opportunity and now this opportunity that I have on the brand new label with Black River.
01:23Which is so exciting.
01:25Yeah.
01:26When you were saying that, I was just thinking that, like, it's so wild to hear you talk about, like, how for, like, four, four and a half years things weren't working.
01:34Because I feel like artists today, like, you see people get signed and there's not really, like, those long development windows anymore.
01:41No.
01:41Like, if you're going a year or two without something that doesn't work, it's crazy.
01:43Hey, trust me, I'm grateful for that.
01:45It's crazy.
01:46You know, but it's just, like, a sign of, like, how much, like, when you say you're grateful, I'm sure you're grateful to have been a part of the music industry also at that moment, too.
01:52Because, like, they don't give you that long anymore, which is crazy.
01:54Like, they didn't give anyone that long when I first signed my record deal.
02:00I was lucky enough that Joe Galani, who was the head of the label at the time, I was through, like, three regimes with Sony.
02:06But Joe Galani, for whatever reason, looked at me and was like, this guy, like, I want him here.
02:13I want him to stay.
02:13But something like a McGraw, McGraw.
02:15It took him years before he got him.
02:16Yeah.
02:17Which is crazy.
02:17But it's, you're right, that doesn't happen anymore at all.
02:23It's so fast, the turnover, and some people get, like, a great deal, and then they're like, I'm on my way, and then for whatever reason, it just doesn't click.
02:34Mm-hmm.
02:35So that's not lost on me.
02:38I'm very excited to be making music, and, you know, I get to keep making party songs and love songs and everything in between.
02:47What do you think, you know, thinking about 19 years since this debut album, what do you think that Chris in 2006 would be most proud of, Chris, in 2026?
02:57Well, in 2006, I'm pretty sure I overdrafted on Taco Bell twice.
03:02Just to have money in the bank.
03:05That would be a big part of it.
03:08But more specifically, just that I know there's songs that people have used in their weddings.
03:13Like, Till the Last One Dies, being the new single, I already know people that have used that song.
03:21Really?
03:22At their wedding.
03:23And that's such a cool thing to me because that's a life moment, and someone is going to remember that for the rest of their lives together.
03:32They absolutely are.
03:33So that's always what you want when you record a song, is for it to be that impactful on somebody.
03:38Did you imagine that when you first heard the song, where you're like, oh, this is for sure.
03:42Like, this was a wedding song.
03:44This is a big moment in the live show.
03:46So there's 14 songs on I Didn't Come Here to Leave, the record.
03:50And 11 of them I co-wrote.
03:53I co-produced everything with my buddy Andy Sheridan.
03:57We used the same band for every song.
04:00But that song specifically, the ones that jumped out to me that I did not write, are almost, I don't want to say more important than the ones that I did co-write.
04:12But it's just something different when you hear a song and you're like, God, I wish I thought of that first.
04:20I remember you saying that about saying to Jordan Walker, like, I can't believe you guys didn't call me to write this song.
04:24I just, I think it's absolutely an incredible song.
04:28And I'm just so excited that it's starting to move up the chart and doing its thing and that I got a chance to do that with somebody else's song.
04:40Because that's the only thing they dream about, too, you know.
04:42It gets lost sometimes that whether it's your 30th song you release or your first song you release.
04:50You want people to be, like, playing this in their car.
04:56Exactly.
04:57Talk about I Didn't Come Here to Leave, the album, 14 Songs on here.
05:00Talk to me about making this album and, like, why this collection of 14 songs.
05:06First of all, I get that it is ironic that the album is called I Didn't Come Here to Leave.
05:12But it's, you know, I mean, that's a party song.
05:17It's a fun song.
05:20I don't know.
05:21I think this record, everybody always says it's, oh, this is the favorite record I've made because they're trying to push it and they won't be able to listen to the songs.
05:31But for me, with this record specifically, I really do think we made something that, as a whole project, is really, really special.
05:43There are meaningful songs on here.
05:45There's meaningful songs to me.
05:47There's meaningful songs about my family members that are on here.
05:50It's very open, very straightforward, very honest as a project.
05:54And, you know, a lot of people say, you know, art's never finished.
06:00It's abandoned.
06:01I feel like this project was completed.
06:03Wow.
06:04That's, I mean, that's saying something.
06:06Like, a lot of artists, you turn in an album and you're like, how does this feel?
06:10Yeah.
06:10I mean, it feels amazing.
06:12It feels amazing that it's done, but also that people are going to get to hear these songs.
06:16Because, honestly, I wasn't going to do anything at the beginning of this year.
06:20Yeah, I remember you saying that.
06:22Yeah, I know, the last time we talked.
06:24But I just dove headfirst into this project.
06:28And I'm really proud of what we created.
06:32I love that.
06:32Why did you decide to name it, I Didn't Come Here to Leave, like, after that song?
06:37One, I just sort of think it's funny.
06:38It's like, you know, I didn't come here to leave.
06:41I came here to get work done.
06:42But, two, after all this time making a new record, I do think, one, after all this time making a new record, I do think this album is something that is very important, very special to me.
06:57So, I was like, what else am I going to name it?
07:02Right.
07:03I didn't come here to leave.
07:04There's two songs that, like, stopped me in my tracks, and there was a couple party songs.
07:07The ones that, like, really caught me, an emotional song.
07:11Wow.
07:11Where did the inspiration for that come from?
07:13Well, actually, even though the guys in the room, we all wrote the song together, Austin Machado, his wife, who is also a friend of mine, I'm actually the godfather to their daughter, this was her idea.
07:34She was like, you need to write this because her dad had passed before they got married.
07:39And we wrote the song, and I was just like, this is absolutely, like, devastating in one way, but really heartfelt as well.
07:52And I definitely had to have that on the record.
07:55Yeah, I just thought it was such, I love songs from a unique perspective.
07:58I feel like it's something that we can really, we do so well in country music.
08:01And, yeah, hearing, like, when you're first listening to it, you're like, wait, what's happening?
08:05And you realize that this is this guy, like, singing at a gravestone to his wife.
08:08Yeah, I was going to say, now that I've sort of given away the hook of the song, for anybody that listens to this, it's basically a guy sitting at his father-in-law, or would have been father-in-law's grave, saying, I hope it's okay that I'm taking care of your baby girl.
08:25It's so good.
08:26It's incredible.
08:27And then the other one was, what did you take?
08:30That really gave me, like, live like you were dying vibes.
08:34Doug Johnson wrote this song, I, he played me five songs.
08:39He works on the label as well, but he's an incredible, incredible songwriter.
08:45Wrote Three Wooden Crosses, like, I mean, he's written, yeah.
08:49Yep, that makes sense.
08:49And so he plays me five songs.
08:51And the first four, I'm like, those are good.
08:53And he played me that last, and I'm like, why didn't you play this first?
08:57I was like, I love this song.
08:59Please let me have this.
09:00And luckily he did, so.
09:02It is an incredible song.
09:03And then some of my other early favorites were A Cold One, Coming On, Pour Some Whiskey On It, and Boots On The Ground.
09:08Like, so fun.
09:09Just, like, party anthems, like you said.
09:11I was just sitting in the car watching the video for Boots On The Ground.
09:16Yeah.
09:17Did you write this with Hardy?
09:18No.
09:19But you were in the studio, like, playing this song with him, or what was that about?
09:23So, that's a different song.
09:25Oh, it was a different song.
09:26That was on a different album.
09:27Yeah, me and Hardy have written.
09:28Wait, I totally missed that.
09:29Like, for whatever reason in my brain, I saw that, and I was like, oh, this is Boots On The Ground.
09:32No, me and Hardy have written a couple of times.
09:35He's amazing, obviously.
09:38And just an incredible human as well.
09:40Right, so go back.
09:41You were watching the Boots On The Ground video.
09:42Yeah, the Boots On The Ground video, there is a line dance to it.
09:46I love this.
09:47Line dancing is, like, all the rage again, all of a sudden.
09:49I love it.
09:50I love every bit of it.
09:51Do you go line dancing?
09:53I used to teach.
09:54You did?
09:55Wait, did I know this?
09:56I did know this.
09:56I think you knew this.
09:57Yes, because where did you use to teach?
09:58I think I've told you this before.
09:59Yeah, because this came up with, like, the break dancing thing.
10:02Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:03Okay.
10:04Wait, so did you come up with a line dance, or who came up with this?
10:06No.
10:07No, I actually had someone create a line dance specifically for this song, and there might
10:13be another one for another song on the record.
10:14Ooh, okay.
10:15I'm happy to see line dancing having a moment.
10:17Like, when I was growing up, that was, like, what we did on Friday nights in high school,
10:20is we went to a bar with line dancing.
10:21Yeah.
10:22It's the best.
10:23Like, now I feel intimidated to do it.
10:26Don't.
10:26Like, that's the whole thing.
10:27I know.
10:27Like, you're supposed to enjoy it.
10:29I know.
10:29It's supposed to be fun.
10:30Some of those people are, like, real into it and real good.
10:34That is also true.
10:35Yeah.
10:36I want to talk about, like, with new music, when you're turning in an album and you've
10:40got some songs, like, maybe you're on the fence about, you're not sure about.
10:44When you're turning in an album, like, who is your litmus test?
10:47Like, if you're on the fence for a song, who do you play it for to see what they think?
10:54Hmm.
10:55I don't know anybody that they're like, you usually know.
10:57I, you know what?
10:59It's almost dependent on what type of song it is.
11:02Oh, interesting.
11:02Tell me about it.
11:03For example, there's a song on the record called Tin Roof.
11:06That's one of the other ones I did not write.
11:09One of my writers for my publishing company, actually, Ty Graham, who's a friend of mine,
11:14wrote that song and co-wrote several of the songs on the record.
11:20He, the only way I know how to describe his mentality as an artist, as a songwriter, as
11:26a producer, is he is like if John Mayer crashed into country music and they became, like, a
11:33thing.
11:35So, he's got, like, an incredible voice.
11:38He's got great song sensibility.
11:40But for someone that wrote Tin Roof, which is, like, this very meaningful song, the one
11:46thing that I thought he would hate was Boots on the Ground, because it's so irreverent
11:51and just fun and, like, it's just a fun song, right?
11:55It's not going to change the world.
11:57It's not Live Like You Were Dying.
11:58Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:58No, it's not.
11:59It's a different version.
12:00But you've got to have both, right?
12:01Yeah, yeah.
12:01You have to have both things on a record.
12:03And that's his favorite song.
12:06That's so funny.
12:07I was playing him a bunch of stuff and I wasn't going to play him that.
12:10And he goes, what's this song?
12:11And I'm like, here you go.
12:12Listen to this.
12:13And he's like, dude, I love that.
12:15Yeah, it's so much fun.
12:16So, when you've got somebody that's very, like, critiquing of fun party songs and they
12:23love the song, you're like, okay, I did something right.
12:25It's always a really good sign.
12:26And then the album also is dropping on the eighth anniversary of your Opry induction, which
12:32I thought was, like, a really cool.
12:34I know in my mind, I remember seeing the video of when you got invited, but I can't remember
12:38who invited you to join the album.
12:39It was Vince Gill and I picked him up over my head.
12:41I knew there was something.
12:42I remember you being like, so we're doing this.
12:43Yeah, there's a photo of me with Vince Gill in the air and I'm like, he's a Hall of Famer.
12:48I probably shouldn't be doing this.
12:49Like, as I was doing it, I was like, I should probably put him back down.
12:54But Vince Gill, oh my God, one of the sweetest people on the planet.
12:56Like, what a cool person to do that.
12:57He's amazing.
12:58He really is.
12:59Like, every time I see him do a writer's round or something, I'm just, like, in awe of him.
13:02Yeah, he's one of those people that I look up to for a lot of reasons, not just his songwriting
13:12and all the things that he's done for charity, his vocals, his production, his playing as
13:18a guitar player, but just who he is as a person.
13:22Yeah, such a good guy.
13:23There was something that you posted on Instagram, and it's been weeks back now, but I made a
13:27note to ask you about it.
13:28You posted about how you won an online contest as a teenager and you got to open for Brooks
13:33and Dunn.
13:34Talk about that.
13:34That's wild.
13:35And this was, like, in the heyday of Brooks and Dunn.
13:38Yeah, this was one of the, it may have been the last one, but it was Brooks and Dunn headlined,
13:47but the opener was Chris Ledoux, and it was before he passed.
13:52And I played, like, as they opened the doors to this festival.
13:55Yeah, yeah, yeah, but still, like, I won an online contest to go open for Brooks and Dunn
14:01and had no idea what I was doing.
14:03I was on, like, a big festival stage with a thrust and didn't understand, like, oh,
14:08yeah, sonically, when you move past your wedges that are sitting at your feet, if you don't
14:14have in-ear monitors, you can't hear anything.
14:18So, it was like, we drove a van up from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, all the way to Wisconsin, played in
14:27Twin Lakes, and stayed all night, watched the show, went out in the crowd, and it was amazing.
14:36What was the online contest?
14:37Like, what did you have to do?
14:39Literally, it was like a battle of the bands for who was going to open, and I think we played maybe 15
14:44or 20 minutes as people came into the festival, but it was a very, very long time ago.
14:51That's so funny, but what a cool story.
14:53You also, you celebrated your 40th this summer.
14:55We were just talking earlier about getting old, but not feeling old.
14:58How was celebrating your 40th?
15:01I love that you're, like, getting old.
15:03Getting old, but we're not, I don't think we're old.
15:04You know what I mean?
15:05Like, I feel like our age, when our parents were our age, that felt old.
15:09I mean, if you count my road years, maybe.
15:12Like, I feel like road years count more than normal years, but.
15:15That's very true.
15:15I, uh, I've also learned a lot from it, so.
15:19I would say that's one of the most fun birthdays I've, I've had.
15:25I took, like, a whole bunch of my friends and my mom and my dad, and we just hung out together.
15:31So fun.
15:32And.
15:32Where did you hang out?
15:33Like, you rented a place, or what did you do?
15:35We did.
15:35Okay.
15:36Yeah.
15:36And it was awesome.
15:38That's great.
15:38Yeah.
15:39Nothing better than, like, a good 40th birthday feeling.
15:41Yeah.
15:41Yeah, yeah, yeah.
15:42That's really special.
15:42What are you excited about when this airs?
15:44We will be dangerously close to the holidays.
15:46What are you excited about the holidays this year?
15:47Well, I'm doing a Christmas tour for the first time.
15:50Oh, my gosh.
15:50Yes.
15:50Yeah.
15:51I have never done one before, and everyone has asked me multiple times if I was ever going
15:57to do one.
15:58So I decided to double down on my year of not doing anything and do some more stuff.
16:04So I launched the album, and then I have a Christmas tour.
16:08Yeah.
16:08No big deal.
16:10But you know what?
16:10It is, I think you're going to have the best time.
16:12Like, I, you know, like, Brett Eldridge every year does this.
16:14There's a couple of people who do it, and I'm like, if I.
16:16Well, Vince does, Vince does one, too.
16:17Vince does it.
16:18You're rhyming, yeah.
16:19I'm going to do sort of a Christmas sandwich for everyone.
16:22That's the only way I know how to describe it, because there's going to be a whole bunch
16:26of Christmas songs at the beginning, a whole bunch at the end, and then right in the
16:29middle, I'm going to do some of the normal songs that they hear me play.
16:32And we're just making an evening out of it.
16:35It's going to be in, not small venues, but smaller than what I would normally play.
16:42It's just going to be me, my guitar player, and my keyboard player.
16:45I love that.
16:46I think that's going to be great.
16:47And you're going to laugh at me, speaking of saying, like, talking about getting old.
16:49I love a Christmas show or, like, an evening with, because you know what that means?
16:53It means you're sitting the entire time.
16:54There's no standing up.
16:55There's no pit.
16:56That is my favorite kind of concert, when I can sit down all the time.
16:59I want to go to a recital.
17:00Where do you want to go?
17:01I want to go somewhere where I can sit.
17:02Yes, I want to sit the entire, but you know what I mean?
17:04Like, you can sit and you can enjoy it.
17:05There's no one standing up in front of you.
17:08It's just going to be very vibey, very Christmas.
17:12Like, to me, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, like, October, November, December,
17:20like, I decorate everything at the house for all of those occasions.
17:25I'm always, like, leaning into the spirit of whatever season it is, month to month.
17:31And Christmas is my fave.
17:34Are you, what kind of gift giver are you?
17:36Are you shopping early?
17:37Do you shop late?
17:38What's your?
17:39I do a little bit of both.
17:40Okay.
17:41Sometimes I will shop early, and I'll hide things.
17:44Okay.
17:45So no one knows that they're there.
17:49My mom is an accountant, so I've got to be really sneaky with her.
17:52Oh, okay.
17:53She's actually been in the music industry longer than me.
17:55Yeah, I know she has.
17:56Yeah.
17:57And if she's your accountant, then she knows what you're about.
17:59Well, I used somebody else first, and they were three months behind on my billbacks, and
18:04I was like, what's the polite way to say this?
18:07Nepotism be darned so that I don't say a bad word.
18:12I was like, you have to take me on as a client.
18:16Oh, my gosh.
18:16This is hilarious.
18:17She's had Cain Brown and Jamie Johnson, like, a lot of people.
18:21But she's just really good at what she does.
18:26But unfortunately, that allows her access to see what I'm doing.
18:31Your mom is in control of your bank account, so I'm like, let's take out a little bit at
18:35a time so I can sneakily do this thing.
18:38But she's hard to shop for, too.
18:41I was actually, I was reading something today that was talking about how AI, people will
18:45use that a lot this Christmas, just to, like, spark gift ideas, which I thought was great.
18:49I love AI as, like, a thought starter.
18:51And I was like, oh, that'll be good for the people who are hard to shop for.
18:54I love AI as a tool, not a crutch.
18:59Am I using it as a crutch if I use it?
19:00No.
19:01Okay.
19:01No, you're using it as a tool.
19:03What would using it as a crutch be?
19:04If you, like, use it to help you write songs.
19:07Okay, yeah, that makes sense.
19:08If you write the song and then you input it into something like Suno, which is an app
19:13that will create a demo, and then it's like, oh, I like this direction, and then you go
19:18cut the song with a band, I think that's when it's a tool.
19:22I think using it as a crutch is complicated.
19:25And it's interesting because I did a thing with Dr. Pepper, and the audio was off by,
19:31like, this much, and I spent all day in Fort Worth working with them, and then, like,
19:36all these different things, and everybody was like, ooh, AI, and I'm like, no.
19:42I was like, that was actually me.
19:46Oh, my God.
19:46I know.
19:47That's so funny now is when someone's-
19:48Now you can't tell sometimes, and it's very, very confusing.
19:52It is very confusing.
19:54Like, some of these have become so realistic.
19:56Like, I have seen these.
19:57There's this one now that people are, like, asking.
20:00I can't remember.
20:00I saw it, like, three different times, and I thought that they were real.
20:02Was it the actress?
20:03No, it wasn't the actress.
20:05It was, like, people posting with, like, Riley Green or Morgan Wallen, like, hard-launching
20:08a relationship, and I was like, this looks so real.
20:11I felt like a boomer.
20:13I was like, I fell for it.
20:13No, no, no, no, no.
20:14Hang on.
20:15So, like, it's gotten to the point where it's so good.
20:18They, I don't know if you know about this, but I saw this article the other day.
20:23There was someone trying to sign an AI actress.
20:26Yeah, this is, like, a whole thing right now in Hollywood.
20:28But her name's, like, Philly Orwell or something.
20:31Yeah, like, what are they, who's going to represent this AI actress?
20:33Right.
20:34It's wild.
20:36Crazy.
20:36So.
20:37I can't, you imagine if I'm sitting here interviewing an AI country artist.
20:39Never going to happen.
20:40Yeah.
20:41It'll be great.
20:42Chris Young, thank you so much for coming to see us.
20:43The album is great.
20:44It's so much fun.
20:45Like you said, like, there's really, like, vulnerable, great storytelling on here.
20:48There's also just, like, really fun party anthems.
20:50I think everybody's going to love it.
20:51Well, I hope everybody enjoys it.
20:53And, one, thank you for your time.
20:56Two, I didn't come here to leave.
20:59Shameless plug.
21:00And three, just thank you to everybody out there that's ever listened to my music.
21:05That's so sweet.
21:05Chris Young, thank you so much.
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