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Takin' A Walk - Music History with Buzz Knight
"Chris Young: From Tennessee Titan to Country Music Stardom: How Music, Mentorship and Resilience Shaped Multi-Platinum Success.
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- [00:00]
Podcast Announcer
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Janice Torres
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Lynn Hoffman
Music Saved Me welcome to Music Save Me. I'm your host, Lynn Hoffman. Music has the power to heal us, transform us, and carry us through our darkest moments. For some artists, it's not just what they do, it's also what saved them. And today I am so honored to sit down with the award winning multi platinum country music singer songwriter whose voice will melt you like butter on a hot sunny day. Chris Young is here with his 10th studio album I Didn't come here to leave. On Black River Entertainment, Chris is entering a bold new chapter in his career. But before the chart topping hits and the sold out shows, there was a young man from Tennessee who found his voice, his purpose, and his salvation in music. In our conversation today, Chris opens up about the moments when music became more than a career choice. It became a lifeline. This is music saved me. And this is Chris Young. Chris, welcome to the show. It is so great to have you here.
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Chris Young
Happy to be on with you. And I just love the idea of what this entire show is.
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Lynn Hoffman
Thank you. Thank you. And speaking of which, and I know you're, you're in very high demand and you have very limited time, so I want to jump right in and ask you to take us all back to that first moment when you realized music was more than just something you enjoyed, that it was something that you needed in your life.
- [03:36]
Chris Young
I don't know that my mom realized this, and I know you're asking me when I realized it, but I, I will say I probably learned the weirdest song as a kid. Like to, to be a kid in the back seat of the car singing. And my mom was like, oh, he likes country music, which is digging up bones. I was like three, I think. I. I don't know if that's the song that I should have started with, but it was Randy Travis and I do love Randy. So of course, I would say for me personally, I remember driving home after having my first song out on an actual label and I pulled over and somewhere on an old phone that's probably bricked or thrown away at this point, I had to pull over because my car had the thing that would actually scroll across for the first time. I finally had that and I was pulling back into Murdersboro from Nashville and I saw my name scroll across and pulled over and was just like, this is a moment. Like, this is so cool. I was so excited. It, you know, it was one play on a radio station, but it was the fact that it, it happened. And I got to just randomly hear my song. Not because I asked somebody to play it, not because it, you know, I played it. It just happened. And it was like in the moment, it was so exciting. And I was like, I haven't made it, but this is a start.
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Lynn Hoffman
It's so exciting. I mean, were you waving to the cars going by like, that's me. This is me.
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Chris Young
Did I roll my windows down and turn it up? Yes, I did.
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Lynn Hoffman
Yes, of course. You have to. When you were growing up in Tennessee before You became a big country music star. What was your relationship with music? Was there random instruments around the house? Was it something you saw on television? Radio?
- [05:36]
Chris Young
Oh, I mean, obviously not the random instruments around the house, unless you count where I really got my old school country music knowledge from, which would be my grandfather. He had a music room. He played piano. Played guitar, still does. He's 93. He's still here with us. So he was the guy that, like, set me down and played me 45s and 78s of, like, Marty Robbins and Lefty Frizzell and people like that. As much as I draw from a knowledge base of country music, he was definitely, like, highly influential into that and instilling just the love of country music into me. But I would also say, you know, everybody always goes church. But, like, he was actually a church Christ elder at that church. I thought it was normal there weren't any instruments because we. They didn't do instruments in. In backwoods church Christ churches. And somebody would just stand up and be like, hey, we're singing this one. And they'd be like. And then everybody would, like, break into harmony singing the song. And I thought that was completely normal.
- [06:52]
Lynn Hoffman
No organ, no nothing.
- [06:53]
Chris Young
Completely normal. And then I went to another church with a friend of mine, and I was like, why are there instruments? What's happening? What's going on? But I. I think a lot of that stuff, you know, you can stack all of those up alongside each other, and then just me falling in love with people that I heard on the radio going, oh, man, I really wish I could do that one day.
- [07:18]
Lynn Hoffman
And here you are, all these hit songs. And Is this your ninth studio album that you're about to release? 10th or 10th. That's right. But who's counting? Was there, right?
- [07:30]
Chris Young
Who's counting? This one with Black river. This is number one.
- [07:34]
Lynn Hoffman
I'm sorry. I was just confusing your 9 billion downloads or streams globally with, you know, it's just a little something like that. Was there a specific time in your life, Chris, that you can think of when you. When you look back and say that music literally saved you a moment in crisis, struggle, maybe a darkness where songwriting and performing sort of pulled you through it.
- [07:58]
Chris Young
Breakups. Breakups, man. I. I remember sitting in my car, listen to It's Getting Better all the Time by Brooks and Dunn, and just being, like, defeated because I just broken up with somebody, and she was like, not want to have anything to do with me is like. I'd see her around, and she would just, like, sort of look at Me and be like. Which I. I don't know if she regrets that now or not, but I. I think she probably would, but.
- [08:26]
Lynn Hoffman
How do you like me now?
- [08:29]
Chris Young
I just think the breakup songs are something that's truly intrinsic in country music. You know, Keith Whitley had a whole album called sad songs and waltzes, and I. I think that those. Even though it seems like it would be depressing to listen to a breakup song, if you're going through a breakup, I think that is one of the things that helps you heal from one of those. And you just need to be like, I just need to feel this moment for a second. And when somebody picks one of your songs for that, I think it's really, really cool, because it's like, hey, I shared a part of myself, and then you related with that. And that's what makes music so important, is that whether it's going on, having a good time, talking about a breakup, talking about falling in love, talking about being in love with someone and how much they mean to you. I think all those things are really heavy, heavy feelings in life. And there's only certain moments where it's like, I just want to hear that song that's gonna make this deeply rooted in me as the person. And it's. If it's something bad, it's going to get you past that moment eventually.
- [09:50]
Lynn Hoffman
What song of yours would you prescribe to, someone going through a moment like that?
- [09:56]
Chris Young
You know, not to bring up something sad in relation to this, but I think I would be remiss if I didn't say, man, I want to be. That song was not one that I wrote, but it was one that. That found me for whatever reason. And, you know, obviously, we just lost Brett Chains, one of the most amazing songwriters that's, in my opinion, ever lived. You know, I think country music lost a legend there with him, and that that song has helped not just me, but I know a lot of other people will come up and be like, hey, like, guys. Which guys don't like to talk about their feelings normally. They'll come up and be like, yeah, that one. That one got me.
- [10:45]
Lynn Hoffman
That one resonated very. A very small amount of words mean so much, I'm sure, with guys, because, you know, you don't get too goopy when you're talking about personal stuff, but. But you write about a lot of it. Do you ever use your music or writing. The process of writing a song and performing andor performing sort of as therapeutic for yourself in certain instances?
- [11:13]
Chris Young
I think if you wanted a. A specific Instance. And I don't want to take all of these to mean it all has to be sad. I think sometimes you just want to go listen to a party song as well. I. I don't want to. I don't want to be the guy that's like, yeah, you know, sometimes you get your heart broke, and you're like, I just want to hear a love song to Tequila. Like, I. That happens. But I. I think for me, drowning is another song that. That I had a hand in writing with my buddies, Corey Crowder and Josh Hoag. And I. That song means volumes to me of just losing a friend way too soon when he was in his 20s, you know, and I, you know, now being much older and having had all the. The career that I've had even thus far, it. It sort of gives you a weight and a gravity. And I think that song, even when I wrote it, had gravity, but it still continues to just define a piece of life that I lived through and that a lot of other people lived through with the loss of a friend or a relative or son. And I. I think everybody can relate to that at some point in their life.
- [12:38]
Lynn Hoffman
What does the phrase music save me mean to you personally up front? Before we started the show, you were telling me that you really like the theme of this show. Can you elaborate a little bit?
- [12:47]
Chris Young
Yeah, I think sort of an encapsulation of what I just said of. You know, I think there's a lot of people that like their favorite song, whether it's happy, sad, something else, story, whatever it is, they can listen to that, and they can. They can heal. Like, if you're just sort of having a broken moment as a human, which I think we all do, whether we want to admit it or not, especially guys, but sometimes girls, too, it's. You know, sometimes you're having a broken moment, and you just don't want to look at it in the face, and you just sort of busy yourself with other things. I think music can kind of fill that void. If you don't have somebody that you want to talk to about it or you don't want to talk about whatever you're dealing with, I think that that is an incredibly powerful, powerful thing, and it's art. So it's just interesting to me, and it's probably why I've spent my entire life, and that's been the direction I pointed myself in, is music creating it.
- [13:53]
Lynn Hoffman
Do you know, it's almost as if you found a way to just give back by making art the way you're Talking. When you come up against fans, when you're out performing and touring, what is it like when someone comes up to you and tells you that you saved them with your music?
- [14:15]
Chris Young
I mean, it's worth a thousand times what they think it is. Anybody saying that they love your music or they love a specific song. My thing that I used to say when I first got started and it still holds true, is if anybody tells me I made their favorite song, if there's one person that hears something that I wrote and they're like, that's my favorite song, you have to think that means that song to them is worth more in their mind than anything else that they've ever heard. And so if there's one person out there that does that, that's incredible. I. I think everybody has their favorite song. I've had people, you know, at the most recent show that I did, I didn't even see it because there was so much going on that they did a lantern release at this festival that I played at in Texas. And so you see all these lanterns, and I'm just watching them go on like, that was so beautiful. And then I see a clip later on in the day where they were filming the crowd while I was singing my current single, till the last one dies. And a guy gets down on one knee and asked her and got engaged. And that song is not even top 20 yet. So it was just so cool to see that reaction. And somebody thought enough of a moment at my concert to do that. And I've seen it happen before, but with the new song, I was just like, man, that's awesome.
- [15:53]
Lynn Hoffman
And how does it make you feel?
- [15:55]
Chris Young
It makes you feel good. It makes you feel like you picked.
- [15:57]
Lynn Hoffman
The right song, you picked the right profession, and the right song. Well, you just said top 20, so you don't. You have, like, this thing where every song sort of has to. You're an overachiever, let's face it. I mean, it's not like you're trying. It just you make these incredible songs with these incredible lyrics. Like, for example, to the last one guys, did. Did he get down on one knee with the fake rose or.
- [16:22]
Chris Young
I don't know, because again, I'm seeing, like, a clip of an edit of a video after the fact that.
- [16:28]
Lynn Hoffman
Yeah, no, but just based on your lyrics, you know, that it's such an incredible creative. I don't know, visual you can see.
- [16:37]
Chris Young
I'll tell you this. I didn't write that song.
- [16:39]
Amazon Five Star Theater Narrator
Really?
- [16:40]
Chris Young
That's one of the very few that's on this record that I didn't write, but I fell in love with it. So I'm just glad other people are falling in love with the song and they. They dig through this album because there's a lot of meaningful stuff.
- [16:52]
Lynn Hoffman
There is. I am so fortunate, I feel, that I get to hear your album before everyone else. And my husband came in and he's like, what is going on? I had it cranked so loud. And he's a producer, so he's got good speakers. The house is shaking. I'm listening to, like, Pour Some Whiskey on It. Which. I don't know if we can say anything about that yet, but I just did because it's a really great song. We're Talking about your 10th studio album, I Didn't Come Here to Leave, which is another phenomenal song. The title sounds pretty significant. It. What does this album represent to you at this stage in your career?
- [17:29]
Chris Young
It's funny because I. I obviously did the album title on purpose, but it doesn't mean anything other than I've got more to say. And I think that's the cool part. I think there's stuff that I say on this record that I haven't said in the past. There's things that I haven't touched on. I haven't talked about. You know, what my dad went through the cancer battle, which is one of the songs Just Keep Living like that specifically is his story being able to talk about that. Like, I had to call him and be like, hey, old man. I don't want to put this out there if I'm not allowed to. I want to make sure you're okay with it. So it was a really meaningful song for me to write. Also pour some whiskey on it. Sometimes that's what people have to do to get over things, to let music ill. I said that earlier in a different format, but I. I think there's a lot that people will dig through on this record and.
- [18:28]
Lynn Hoffman
And find, yeah, I didn't come here to leave. When I listened to the song, it sounded like you didn't want to leave the bar till 4am because you weren't done. But then I realized, like you just said, it's a metaphor for so much more in your career, in life. And.
- [18:41]
Chris Young
And that sounds like I wrote it at 9pm and we wrote it at 9am oh, really? Yeah.
- [18:48]
Lynn Hoffman
That is not easy to do when you're out performing late at night. So I don't want to let you go, but I do have to. I want to quickly touch on your philanthropy because you do a lot of it. You have the Chris Young Cafe at mtsu. You do scholarships for recording art students. Why is it so important for you to give back with especially music education?
- [19:12]
Chris Young
Music education, obviously, is something that's near and dear to my heart just because of what I do for a living. But even beyond that, like military things that I've done, you know, being able to donate to cancer charities that I've been able to donate to, you know, know, there's so much opportunity to do that, and I think you should give back if you had the ability to. And I'm. I'm lucky to be in that position. So the people that put me here are facilitating that, and I feel like it's something you should do as an artist and whatever level that you can. I'm just grateful that I'm able to do that.
- [19:59]
Lynn Hoffman
It feels really good, doesn't it? In a way, it's sort of selfish, but I talk about this a lot with pretty much anyone who will listen to me talk. But when you do have a platform, whatever it is, if it's a platform of any kind, you should always make time to give back because it's so important.
- [20:17]
Chris Young
Yeah, for sure.
- [20:19]
Lynn Hoffman
Chris Young, I could talk to you for another hour because I have a bazillion other questions. Congratulations on the new music and thank you for coming on and sharing a bit of your story with all of us. And I wish you nothing but incredible success to continue for you in your future. And hopefully you'll come back again and see us.
- [20:38]
Chris Young
Absolutely. Thank you so much.
- [20:39]
Lynn Hoffman
Thanks, Chris.
- [20:44]
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- [20:52]
Chris Young
Nice.
- [20:52]
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- [21:15]
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- [21:24]
Chris Young
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- [21:26]
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- [21:56]
Janice Torres
Janice Torres here, and I'm Austin Hankwitz. We host the podcast Mind the Small Business Success Stories, produced by Ruby Studio in partnership with Intuit QuickBooks.
- [22:05]
Lynn Hoffman
We're back for season four to talk.
- [22:07]
Washable Sofas Advertiser
To some incredible small business owners.
- [22:09]
Janice Torres
The big thing about working at tech is that it's ever evolving, ever changing.
- [22:12]
Chris Young
Everyone's a rookie. That's how fast the industry is changing.
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Janice Torres
So what I'm really excited about is to be part of that change. So listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [22:24]
Podcast Announcer
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.