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Speaker 1: Music Saved Me. Welcome to Music Save Me. I'm your host,

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Speaker 1: Lynn Hoffman. Music has the power to heal us, transform us,

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Speaker 1: and carry us through our darkest moments. For some artists,

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Speaker 1: it's not just what they do, it's also what saved them.

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Speaker 1: And today I am so honored to sit down with

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Speaker 1: the award winning multi platinum country music singer songwriter whose

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Speaker 1: voice will melt you like Butta on a hot sunny day.

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Speaker 1: Chris Young is here with his tenth studio album, I

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Speaker 1: Didn't come here to leave on Black River Entertainment. Chris

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Speaker 1: is entering a bold new chapter in his career. But

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Speaker 1: before the chart topping hits and the sold out shows,

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Speaker 1: there was a young man from Tennessee who found his voice,

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Speaker 1: his purpose, and his salvation in music. And our conversation today,

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Speaker 1: Chris opens up about the moments when music became more

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Speaker 1: than a career choice, it became a lifeline. This is

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Speaker 1: Music Saved Me, and this is Chris Young. Chris, Welcome

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Speaker 1: to the show. It is so great to have you here.

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Speaker 2: Happy to be on with you. And I just loved

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Speaker 2: the idea of what this entire show is.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you. And speaking of which, and I

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Speaker 1: know you're in very high demand and you have very

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Speaker 1: limited time, so I want to jump right in and

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Speaker 1: ask you to take us all back to that first

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Speaker 1: moment when you realized music was more than just something

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Speaker 1: you enjoyed, that it was something that you needed in

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Speaker 1: your life.

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Speaker 2: I don't know that my mom realized this, and I

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Speaker 2: know you're asking me when I realized it, but I

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Speaker 2: will say I probably learned the weirdest song as a kid,

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Speaker 2: like to be a kid in the backseat of the

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Speaker 2: car singing, and my mom was like, oh, he likes

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Speaker 2: country music, which is digging up bones. I was like, free,

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Speaker 2: I think I don't know if that's the song that

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Speaker 2: I should have started with. What it was Randy Travis,

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Speaker 2: and I do love Randy, so of course I would

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Speaker 2: say for me personally, I remember driving home after having

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Speaker 2: my first song out on an actual label, and I

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Speaker 2: pulled over in somewhere on an old phone that's probably

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Speaker 2: bricked or thrown away. At this point, I had to

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Speaker 2: pull over because my car had the thing that would

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Speaker 2: actually scroll across for the first time, I finally had that,

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Speaker 2: and I was pulling back into Murphis, where I'm from Nashville,

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Speaker 2: and I saw my name, scroll across and pulled over,

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Speaker 2: and it was just like, this is a moment, Like

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Speaker 2: this is so cool. I was so excited. You know,

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Speaker 2: it was one play on a radio station, but it

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Speaker 2: was the fact that it happened and I got to

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Speaker 2: just randomly hear my song, not because I asked somebody

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Speaker 2: to play it, not because it you know, I played it.

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Speaker 2: It just happened, and it was like in the moment,

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Speaker 2: it was so exciting, and I was like, I haven't

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Speaker 2: made it, but this is a start.

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Speaker 1: It's so exciting. I mean, were you waving to the

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Speaker 1: cars going by, like that's me, this is me.

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Speaker 2: Did I roll my windows down and turn it up?

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Speaker 1: Yes?

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Speaker 2: I did?

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Speaker 1: Yes, of course you have to. When you were growing

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Speaker 1: up in Tennessee, before you became a big country music star,

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Speaker 1: what was your relationship with music? Was there random instruments

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Speaker 1: around the house. Was it something you saw on television?

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Speaker 2: Radio? Oh? I mean obviously not the random instruments around

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Speaker 2: the house, unless you count where I really got my

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Speaker 2: old school country music knowledge from, which would be my grandfather.

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Speaker 2: He had a music room, he played piano, played guitar.

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Speaker 2: Still does he's ninety three, You're still here with us?

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Speaker 2: So he was the guy that like set me down

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Speaker 2: and played me forty five's, seventy eight's of like Marty

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Speaker 2: Robbins and Lefty Frizelle and people like that. As much

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Speaker 2: as I draw from a knowledge base of country music, uh,

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Speaker 2: he was definitely like highly influential into that and instilling

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Speaker 2: just the love of country music into me. But I

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Speaker 2: would also say, you know, everybody always goes to church,

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Speaker 2: but like he was actually a church christ elder at

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Speaker 2: that church, I thought it was normal that there weren't

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Speaker 2: any instruments because they didn't do instruments in backwards church

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Speaker 2: christ churches. And somebody would just stand up and be like, hey,

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Speaker 2: we're singing this one, and they'd be like and then

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Speaker 2: everybody would like break into harmony singing the song. And

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Speaker 2: I thought that was completely.

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Speaker 1: Normal, no normal.

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Speaker 2: And then I went to another church with a friend

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Speaker 2: of mine, and I was like, why are there instruments?

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Speaker 2: What's happening? What's going on? But I think a lot

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Speaker 2: of that stuff, you know, you can stack all of

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Speaker 2: those up alongside each other. And then just me falling

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Speaker 2: in love with people that I heard on the radio,

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Speaker 2: going oh man, I really wish I could do that

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Speaker 2: one day.

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Speaker 1: And here you are all these hit songs, and is

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Speaker 1: this your ninth studio album that you're about to release

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Speaker 1: or tenth? That's right, But who's counting?

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Speaker 2: Was that all? Right? Who's counting? Counting one? With the

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Speaker 2: Black River? This is number one?

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I was just confusing your nine billion downloads

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Speaker 1: or streams globally with you know, it's just a little

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Speaker 1: something like that. Was there a specific time in your life,

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Speaker 1: Chris that you can think of when you when you

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Speaker 1: look back and say that music literally saved you a

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Speaker 1: moment in crisis, struggle, maybe a darkness where songwriting and

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Speaker 1: performing sort of pulled you through it.

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Speaker 2: Breakups, breakups, man. I remember sitting in my car listen

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Speaker 2: to It's Getting Better all the Time by Brooks and

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Speaker 2: Dunn and just being like defeated because I'd just broken

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Speaker 2: up with somebody and she was like not want to

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Speaker 2: have anything to do with me.

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Speaker 1: Is Like.

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Speaker 2: I'd see her around and she would just like sort

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Speaker 2: of look at me and be like which I don't

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Speaker 2: know if she regrets that now or not, but I

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Speaker 2: think she probably would. But I just think that breakup

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Speaker 2: songs are something that's truly intrinsic in country music. You know,

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Speaker 2: Keith Whitley had a whole album called Sad Songs and Waltzes,

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Speaker 2: and I think that those even though it seems like

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Speaker 2: it would be depressing to listen to a breakup song

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Speaker 2: if you're going through a breakup, I think that is

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Speaker 2: one of the things that helps you heal from one

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Speaker 2: of those and you just need to be like, I

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Speaker 2: just need to feel this moment for a second. And

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Speaker 2: when how many picks one of your songs for that,

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Speaker 2: I think it's really really cool because it's like, hey,

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Speaker 2: I shared a part of myself and then you related

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Speaker 2: with that. And that's what makes music so important, is

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Speaker 2: that whether it's going on having a good time, talking

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Speaker 2: about a breakup, talking about falling in love, talking about

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Speaker 2: being in love with someone and how much they mean

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Speaker 2: to you, I think all those things are really heavy,

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Speaker 2: heavy feelings in life, and there's only certain moments where

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Speaker 2: it's like I just want to hear that song that's

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Speaker 2: going to make this deeply rooted in me as the person,

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Speaker 2: and it's if it's something bad, it's going to get

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Speaker 2: you past that moment eventually.

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Speaker 1: What song of yours would you prescribe to someone going

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Speaker 1: through a moment like that.

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Speaker 2: You know, not to bring them something sad in relation

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Speaker 2: to this, but I think I would be remiss if

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Speaker 2: I didn't say, man, I want to be Uh, that

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Speaker 2: song I was not one that I wrote, but it

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Speaker 2: was one that that found me for whatever reason. And

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Speaker 2: you know, obviously we just lost Bred James, one of

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Speaker 2: the most amazing songwriters that's, in my opinion, ever lived.

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Speaker 2: You know, I think country music lost to a legend

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Speaker 2: there with him. And uh that that song has helped

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Speaker 2: not just me, but I know a lot of other

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Speaker 2: people will come up and be like, hey, like guys,

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Speaker 2: which guys don't like to talk about their feelings normally,

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Speaker 2: they'll come up and be like, yeah, that one, that

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Speaker 2: one got me.

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Speaker 1: That one resonated very A very small amount of words

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Speaker 1: mean so much, I'm sure with guys, because you know,

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Speaker 1: you don't get too goofy when you're talking about personal stuff,

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Speaker 1: but but you write about a lot of it. Do

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Speaker 1: you ever use your music or writing the prom sess

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Speaker 1: of writing a song and performing and or performing sort

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Speaker 1: of as therapeutic for yourself in certain instances?

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Speaker 2: I think if you wanted a specific instance, and I

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Speaker 2: don't want to take all of these to mean it

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Speaker 2: all has to be sad. I think sometimes you just

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Speaker 2: want to go listen to a party song as well.

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Speaker 2: I don't want to. I don't want to be the

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Speaker 2: guy that's like, yeah, sometimes you get your heartbroke and

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Speaker 2: you're like, I just want to hear a love song

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Speaker 2: to tequila like that happens. But I think for me,

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Speaker 2: Drowning is another song that I had a hand in

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Speaker 2: writing with my buddies Corey Crowder and Josh Hoague, And

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Speaker 2: that song means volumes to me of just losing a

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Speaker 2: friend way too soon when he was in his twenties,

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Speaker 2: you know, and I, you know, now being much older

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Speaker 2: and having had all the career that I've had even

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Speaker 2: thus far. It sort of gives you a weight and

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Speaker 2: a gravity. And I think that song, even when I

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Speaker 2: wrote it, had gravity, but it still continues to just

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Speaker 2: define a piece of life that I lived through and

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Speaker 2: that a lot of other people lived through with the

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Speaker 2: loss of a friend or a relative or son. And

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Speaker 2: I think everybody can relate to that at some point

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Speaker 2: in their life.

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Speaker 1: What does the phrase music save me mean to you? Personally?

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Speaker 1: Upfront before we started the show, you were telling me

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Speaker 1: that you really like the theme of this show. Can

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Speaker 1: you elaborate a little.

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Speaker 2: Bit, Yeah, I think sort of an encapsulation of what

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Speaker 2: I just said of you know, I think there's a

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Speaker 2: lot of people that like their favorite song, whether it's happy, sad,

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Speaker 2: something else, story, whatever it is. They can listen to

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Speaker 2: that and they can hear like if you're just sort

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Speaker 2: of having a broken moment as a human, which I

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Speaker 2: think we all do, whether we want to admit it

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Speaker 2: or not, especially guys, but sometimes girls too. It's you know,

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Speaker 2: sometimes you're having a broken moment, you just don't want

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Speaker 2: to look at it in the face, and you just

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Speaker 2: sort of busy yourself with other things. I think music

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Speaker 2: can kind of fill that void if you don't have

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Speaker 2: somebody that you want to talk to about it, or

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Speaker 2: you don't want to talk about whatever you're dealing with.

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Speaker 2: I think that that is an incredibly powerful, powerful thing,

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Speaker 2: and it's art. So it's just interesting to me, and

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Speaker 2: it's probably why I spent my entire life. And that's

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Speaker 2: then the direction I pointed myself in is music creating it?

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Speaker 1: Do you know, it's almost as if you found a

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Speaker 1: way to just give back by making art. The way

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Speaker 1: you're talking when you come up against fans when you're

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Speaker 1: out performing and touring. What is it like when someone

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Speaker 1: comes up to you and tells you that you saved

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Speaker 1: them with your music.

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Speaker 2: I mean, it's worth a thousand times what they think

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Speaker 2: it is. Anybody saying that they love your music or

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Speaker 2: they love a specific song. My thing that I used

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Speaker 2: to say when I first got started, and it still

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Speaker 2: holds true, is if anybody tells me I made their

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Speaker 2: favorite song. If there's one person that hears something that

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Speaker 2: I wrote and they're like, that's my favorite song, you

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Speaker 2: have to think that means that song to them is

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Speaker 2: worth more in their mind than anything else that they've

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Speaker 2: ever heard. And so if there's one person I think

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Speaker 2: that does that, that's incredible. I think everybody has their

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Speaker 2: favorite song. I've had people, you know, at the most

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Speaker 2: recent show that I did, I didn't even see it

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Speaker 2: because there was so much going on. And they did

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Speaker 2: a Laryer release at this festival that I played in Texas,

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Speaker 2: and so you see all these lanterns and I'm just

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Speaker 2: watching them go on, like that was so beautiful. And

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Speaker 2: then I see a clip layer on in the day

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Speaker 2: where they were filming the crowd while I was singing

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Speaker 2: my current single to the Last One Dies, and a

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Speaker 2: guy gets down on one knee and ascer and got engaged.

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Speaker 2: And that song is not even Top twenty yet, So

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Speaker 2: it was just so cool to see that reaction and

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Speaker 2: somebody thought enough of a moment at my concert to

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Speaker 2: do that. And I've seen it happen before, but with

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Speaker 2: the new song, I was just like, man, that's awesome.

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Speaker 1: How does it make you feel?

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Speaker 2: It makes you feel good, It makes you feel like

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Speaker 2: you pick the right song, you.

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Speaker 1: Pick the right profession and the right song. Well, you

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Speaker 1: just said top twenty, so you don't you have like

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Speaker 1: this thing where every song sort of has to You're

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Speaker 1: an overachiever, let's face it. I mean it's not like

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Speaker 1: you're trying it. Just you make these incredible songs with

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Speaker 1: these incredible lyrics, like, for example, to the Last one, Guys,

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Speaker 1: did he get down on one knee with the fake rose.

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Speaker 2: Or I don't know, because again I'm seeing like a

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Speaker 2: clip of an edit of a video after the fact.

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Speaker 1: Yeah no, but just based on your lyrics, you know

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Speaker 1: that it's such an incredible creative I don't know.

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Speaker 2: Visual you can see, I'll tell you it is. I

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Speaker 2: didn't write that song. Really, that's one of the very

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Speaker 2: few that's on this record that I didn't write, but

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Speaker 2: I felt in love with it. So I'm just glad

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Speaker 2: other people were falling in love with the song and

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Speaker 2: they dig through this album because there's a lot of

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Speaker 2: meaningful stuff there is.

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Speaker 1: I am so fortunate. I feel that I get to

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Speaker 1: hear your album before everyone else. And my husband came

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Speaker 1: in and he's like, what is going on? I had

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Speaker 1: it cranked so loud, and he's a producer, so he's

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Speaker 1: got good speakers. The house is shaking. I'm listening to like,

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Speaker 1: pour some whiskey on it, which I don't know if

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Speaker 1: we can say anything about that yet, but I just

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Speaker 1: did because it's a really great song. We're talking about

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Speaker 1: your tenth studio album, I Didn't Come Here to Leave,

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Speaker 1: which is another phenomenal song. The title sounds pretty significant.

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Speaker 1: What does this album represent to you at this stage

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Speaker 1: in your career.

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Speaker 2: It's funny because I obviously did the album title on purpose,

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Speaker 2: but it doesn't mean anything other than I've got more

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Speaker 2: to say, And I think that's the cool part. I

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Speaker 2: think there's stuff that I say on this record that

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Speaker 2: I haven't said in the past. There's things that I

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Speaker 2: haven't touched on. I haven't talked about, you know what.

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Speaker 2: My dad went through the cancer battle, which is one

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Speaker 2: of the songs Just Keep Living like that specifically is

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Speaker 2: his story being able to talk about that, Like I

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Speaker 2: had to call him and be like, hey, old man,

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Speaker 2: I don't want to put this out there if I'm

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Speaker 2: not allowed to. I want to make sure you're okay

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Speaker 2: with it. So it was a really meaningful song for

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Speaker 2: me to write. Also, of course some whiskey on it.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes that's what people have to do to get over things,

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Speaker 2: to let music ill. I said that earlier in a

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Speaker 2: different format, But I think there's a lot that people

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Speaker 2: will dig through on this record and find.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I didn't come here to leave. When I listened

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Speaker 1: to the song, it sounded like you didn't want to

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Speaker 1: leave the bar till four am because you weren't done.

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Speaker 1: But then I realized, like you just said, it's a

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Speaker 1: metaphor for so much more in your career in life.

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Speaker 2: And that's all. It sounds like I wrote it at

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Speaker 2: nine pm and we wrote it at nine am. Oh really, Yeah,

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Speaker 2: that is.

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Speaker 1: Not easy to do when you're performing late at night.

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Speaker 1: So I don't want to let you go, but I

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Speaker 1: do have to. I want to quickly touch on your

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Speaker 1: philanthropy because you do a lot of it. You have

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Speaker 1: the Chris Young Cafe at MTSU, you do scholarships for

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Speaker 1: recording art students. Why is it so important for you

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Speaker 1: to give back with especially in music education?

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Speaker 2: Music education obviously is something that's near and dear to

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Speaker 2: my heart, just because of what I do for a living,

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Speaker 2: but even beyond that, like military things that I've done,

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Speaker 2: you know, being able to donate to cancer charities that

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Speaker 2: I've been able to donate to, you know, there's so

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Speaker 2: much opportunity to do that, and I think you should

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Speaker 2: give back if you had the ability to. And I'm

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Speaker 2: lucky to be in a position so the people that

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Speaker 2: put me here are facilitating that, and I feel like

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Speaker 2: it's something you should do as an artist and whatever

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Speaker 2: level that you can, I'm just grateful. But I'm able

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Speaker 2: to do.

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Speaker 1: That's it feels really good, doesn't it. In a way,

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Speaker 1: it's sort of selfish, But I talk about this a

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Speaker 1: lot with pretty much Aye who will listen to me talk.

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Speaker 1: But when you do have a platform, whatever it is,

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Speaker 1: if it's a platform of any kind. You should always

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Speaker 1: make time to give back because it's so important.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, Chris Young.

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Speaker 1: I could talk to you for another hour because I

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Speaker 1: have a bazillion other questions. Congratulations on the new music,

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Speaker 1: and thank you for coming on and sharing a bit

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Speaker 1: of your story with all of us. And I wish

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Speaker 1: you nothing but incredible success to continue for you in

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Speaker 1: your future and hopefully you'll come back again and see

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Speaker 1: us absolutely.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much.

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Speaker 1: Thanks Chris