By Cathalena E. Burch
Chris Young, who is touring under his latest album, โRaised on Country,โ will play a show at Casino del Solโs AVA, Sunday.
Country singer Chris Young is about to drop what he believes is his best record to date.
โItโs definitely an album that I think is really, really special,โ he said from his home in Tennessee during a call to talk about his show at the AVA at Casino del Sol on Sunday, July 7. โIt is top to bottom one of the best records I ever made.โ
โRaised on Countryโ already has produced a Top 10 hit of the cover song and a viral moment in June that could land him his 12th No. 1 hit in a career that goes back a dozen years to 2006.
It happened in mid-June when he debuted the heart-tugging song โDrowningโ during an appearance on the Grand Ole Opry. When he got to the chorus โ โSo Iโm gonna pull out pictures, ones with you in โem / Laugh and cry a little while reminiscing by myself / I canโt help that all I think about is / How you were taken way too soonโ โ he held back tears and stepped away from the mic. It took him a few moments to regain his composure and finish the song.
The reaction from the Opry crowd prompted Young to release the single two days later. During that next week, โDrowningโ was streamed 1.2 million times.
The song, inspired by Youngโs lifelong friend Adam who died in a car accident several years ago, struck a chord with fans.
โI have had so many people online or in person tell me hey this reminds me of my dad that I lost or one of my friends that I lost,โ he said. โItโs a cathartic thing but also itโs not all sad. Sometimes itโs them remembering that person, which is what it was when I wrote it remembering a friend that I lost.โ
โ(Adam) was one of my best friends,โ Young added, then chuckled. โWe actually had a lot of people convinced we were actually related, that we were brothers because we hung around so much. He died in a tragic car accident. No warning. One day you have one of your best friends in the world there and the next day theyโre gone.โ
โDrowningโ debuted last week at No. 18 on Billboardโs Hot Country Hits and will likely be one of the highlights of the AVA concert, which is part of Youngโs โRaised On Countryโ tour. The tour, which he took to Europe earlier this year, will criss-cross the country through September.
โThe last couple years especially have been huge for me and my career,โ said 34-year-old Young. โGraduating from last year doing arenas and the year before that doing small arenas and now being in amphitheaters, itโs an amazing feeling.โ
Young has been a regular on Tucson stages since he won โNashville Starโ and launched his career on a national level in 2006. Weโve seen him most often at Desert Diamond Casino and last October he headlined the Oro Valley Music Festival on a dreary rainy day that kept half the audience away.
โIโm really excited to be coming back there,โ he said, hinting that this will be the most elaborate stage show weโve seen from him. โEverythingโs changed. We went and started from scratch this year and that goes not only for content but every single piece thatโs on stage โ the video walls, the structure of things, the setlist โ everything top to bottom has changed this year.โ
โRaised On Countryโ includes guest appearances by Kane Brown, Lauren Alaina, and Reilly Green and Brad Paisley, who joined Young on a cover of the classic โI Like Beer.โ
โThere are a lot of songs like โDrowningโ or โRaised on Countryโ that are topically stuff that I have not written exactly that way before and things that maybe I havenโt touched on, which is strange because this will be my eighth record,โ he said. โItโs just something I think people will dig into and love. I love it so I hope everyone else does.โ
