Chris Young

“I go home, and there's dust on everything because I'm never there.”

“I played a funeral convention once. York Casket Company pays well, in case anyone's wondering!”

“Everybody's like, 'You're tall. You didn't play basketball?' They asked me when I was a freshman in high school, and basketball practice was the same time a lot of stuff happened with choir. And I picked choir, which, normally, people would scratch their heads at, but it worked out okay.”

“The only thing I want to be known as is a country singer. I want people to hear it and go, 'That's country!'”

“My biggest ritual is writing at home more than on the road. I do very little writing on the road. Actually, it's funny to bring this into it, but one thing I always do is have a cup of coffee. I drink the most coffee when I'm writing songs.”

“Some of my favorite records growing up were Christmas albums. The ones I liked best were the albums that you could listen to from start to finish. You could put them on while you're decorating the tree or driving around looking at Christmas lights.”

“We always pray before we go on stage. It's just something that I've always done. For me, it's a big thing, and the guys in the band seem to appreciate doing it, so we do it at every show.”

“If you aren't already a songwriter, try it. When you can say what you want to say, in your own words, it's incredibly easy to show an audience who you are.”

“When I was making my second record, I was in studio, and I was like, 'No more ballads! Absolutely not!' And somebody walked in with 'The Man I Wanna Be' and I heard it and was like, 'Ah, crap!'”

“I don't want to be the person who has the gigantic headlines: 'Look Who So-and-So Is Dating Now.' That, to me, isn't really who I am.”

“In my opinion, that's one of the hardest things to do in songwriting: crafting a song that speaks to you but, at its core, is a simple concept.”

“My favorite part is, once a song is out there to the public, having someone come up and tell their own story about why one of your songs resonated with them. It's an incredible feeling.”

“One of the first records I bought for myself was a Keith Whitley record. I still love the 'L.A. to Miami' album. There were so many things on there - 'Miami, My Amy,' 'Ten Feet Away,' 'Nobody in His Right Mind Would've Left Her.' I can put that album on repeat and listen.”

“I write a lot of my music, but not all of it. I have always subscribed to the 'best song wins' theory when making an album.”

“I'm a huge fantasy football fan.”

“I really love something that's strong vocally and a little more difficult to sing because it's fun.”

“I love playing music. There's no way I could do anything else.”

“We didn't have a whole lot of cash growing up. My mom was a single parent for a while before my stepdad came into the picture.”

“My family and I are very close, and they mean more than anything to me, but I'm also the kind of guy who likes to go out with my friends and have a good time on Friday nights.”

“I studied and sang lot of jazz when I was growing up. I think that plays a little bit into some of the things I do vocally, notes that I pick in chords.”