Chris Young Promises Dynamic New Album: ‘Everything Is On There’

Chris Young has been opening up about his forthcoming album, Raised On Country, for several months. With 11 No. 1 hits under his belt, he’s certainly going to have to raise the bar. But it doesn’t seem like the country music superstar feels any pressure. In fact, he calls this project his “best” yet.

“I think top to bottom, I think it’s my favorite album as a whole,” Young recently told Country Now and other reporters. “I’m not kidding I was listening to mixes this morning, everything is on there. There’s so many different thoughts, there’s so many different ideas.”

The highly-anticipated project’s lead single and title track, “Raised On Country,” has already become Young’s fastest-rising single of his career, steadily climbing up the charts since it’s January release. Young, who kicked off the first leg of his headlining tour of the same name last month, explained that he wanted to write something “anthemic” for his live shows.

“There are days when it’s really easy to write a song, and 95 percent of those times it’s a love song or a thought that I’ve already expressed on a record,” Young, who co-wrote “Raised On Country” with Cory Crowder and Cary Barlowe, explained of the idea behind the track. “We were really trying to chase something that I had not said before, which is who I am but also kind of just an idea of being raised on country. How people grew up, who I grew up listening to.”

The hitmaker went on to say that fans won’t find a lot of love songs on the forthcoming project, except for two, which were penned by outside writers. Despite lacking romantic country ballads, the record does include a generous mix of emotional and upbeat tunes. The poignant “Drowning,” available now on all digital and streaming services, is a perfect example of the former. Young, who recently delivered an emotionally charged performance the song at the Grand Ole Opry, wrote the heartbreaking ballad with Corey Crowder and Josh Hoge in memory of his late friend, Adam, whom he lost years ago.

“When I wrote this song with @coreycrowder and @joshhogemusic, we each thought of someone that we lost way too soon. For me, it was one of my best friends, Adam. Missing you comes in waves and tonight I’m drowning. This one is for you, brother. #Drowning,” Young captioned via Instagram after sharing the song with his fans.

As for more dance-worthy material, listeners can look for feel-good anthems like “Hold My Beer, Watch This” and the toe-tapping, “Town Ain’t Big Enough” featuring Lauren Alaina. Young and Alaina actually pleased a crowd of revelers during CMA Fest 2019 with their surprise performance of  “Town Ain’t Big Enough” at Blake Shelton’s Ole Red bar.

“Awesome playing ‘Town Ain’t Big Enough’ with Lauren Alaina tonight at [Spotify House] Ole Red Nashville!!!” Young shared on social media. “One of the songs on the upcoming album [Raised On Country].”

“Town Ain’t Big Enough” isn’t the only duet on Young’s upcoming album. In fact, he also previously teased a duet with labelmate Kane Brown.

“There’s a lot of guests on the record that nobody really knows about yet. So, I really do think this is the best record I’ve ever made,” Young said. “The album, the tour, I mean everything that I’m doing I do really and truly feel like I’m trying to at least meet the level of everything that has been awesome that I have had happen to me in my career before. I’ve put in as much work as I feel like I possibly could, and I want this to be something truly special and I think it’s going to be.”

Raised On Country will be the follow up to 2017’s Losing Sleep.  Young has been working some of his new material into his set-list while out on his Raised on Country World Tour. The trek currently runs through September 2019, and features opening act Chris Janson as well as special guests LoCash, Dylan Scott and Jimmie Allen on select dates. For more information, fans can visit chrisyoungcountry.com.