Brett Young On How Music Saved His Life

Long before Brett Young became a country music star with No. 1 singles and sold-out tours, he was a standout baseball player.

In high school, Young led his team to a state championship and received offers from the Tampa Bay Rays and the Minnesota Twins after graduation. He chose to play college baseball instead, suiting up for Ole Miss, Irvine Valley College, and Fresno State. While at Fresno, a serious elbow injury ended his pitching career, leaving him feeling “absolutely devastated.”  

In a recent interview with his record label, Young reflected on how music became his saving grace during that difficult time, helping him find purpose when he felt completely lost. He admitted he could never picture himself working a typical 9-to-5 job and counts his blessings every day that he found music.

“I think my favorite thing about getting to write and perform music for a living is the fact that music ties people together. A powerful lyric is a way for an artist to say, I’ve been through this, and you feel like you’re connecting with somebody. And that’s one thing. But the other thing for me is music kind of saved me coming out of what I thought was going to be a lifelong baseball career,” he shared. “I had a career ending elbow injury, I didn’t know what I was going to do. And it’s a scary feeling knowing that you have way too much ADD to ever sit behind a desk. And so, the fact that I get to do this for a living, I think the power of music for me was that it kind of saved my life.”

Young released his major label debut album in 2017, bursting onto the scene with hits like “Sleep Without You,” “Mercy” and “In Case You Didn’t Know.” 

Most recently, the California native released 2.0, a deeply personal project that offers fans a look into his life as a country singer, husband and a father.  

“I just started thinking through where I’m at in my life and what the last year and a half has been like, what’s been significantly different or seemed significant in general. And the thing that really stuck out is health and wellness and the perspective shift of focusing on being healthy and being around for my family. And so ‘2.0,’ not only being the new version of ‘In Case You Didn’t know’ that we have on the record, but also kind of 2.0 being Brett 2.0, the chapter of life that I’m in,” he explained to Country Now.

The album includes the fan-favorite single, “Drink With You,” and a reimagined version of “In Case You Didn’t Know” with rising star Hannah McFarland. 

Young is currently on tour, headlining his Back to Basics World Tour.