The big question coming into the first day of the Oro Valley Music Festival this weekend: Will headliner Chris Young and opening act Cassadee Pope share the stage at some point Saturday, Oct. 13, to sing their chart-topping duet โThink of You?โ
Young isnโt saying yes, and he isnโt saying no.
So weโll take that as a more-than-likely.
But donโt be surprised if you see Young, who launched his career after winning โNashville Starโ in 2006, hanging out in the audience while Pope performs.
โThatโs one of the best things about festivals, honestly,โ Young, 33, said from a New Mexico concert stop in mid-September. โBesides everybody just being outside partying all day, actually being able to sit and watch other peopleโs shows is just a really, really cool part of that. I will walk out back and forth a couple of times during the day and check out whoโs on the show.โ
When we caught up with Young, we asked about his show, his songwriting and his induction last year into the Grand Ole Opry.
Having a really good year: โWhen you start out the year with a whole bunch of sold-out arenas and weโre going back out in the fall, Iโm not mad about it. Iโm enjoying myself. Itโs been going great. โHanginโ Onโ is now in the top 10. โLosing Sleepโ, the first single off the record, came out and was No. 1, platinum song.โ
Mixing up the set list: โPeople are going to hear the hits when they come to the show, but weโre going to mix it up. Weโll probably play maybe one album cut. I donโt play too many things that people havenโt heard before. Iโve been lucky now at this point of my career. I remember when I started I was playing whatever the single was at the beginning, the middle and the end of my show. Not being able to do that anymore and actually being able to cut some stuff (from the show) sometimes is just a really cool feeling. But we will throw in a couple of surprises for sure.โ
On Grand Ole Opry induction: โThatโs something thatโs been on my bucket list for a long time. So, yeah, itโs still a big deal.โ
On making music: โIโve always been writing constantly, even when Iโm not on the road. Now itโs just kind of one of those things where Iโve had people cut some of my songs. Iโve cut more of my stuff, especially on the last record. ... But I think for me, just being able to sit down, put pen to paper and be able to create something is always something thatโs going to be special.โ
Feeding off the crowd: โIf youโve got a crowd thatโs losing their minds, thatโs obviously going to affect you in the best way. I really do enjoy getting out there on stage when it is a festival setting and it is outside and everybody is having a good time, being able to get out there and make people happy. Thatโs one of the great things about being a musician: My only job is entertaining people for the 90 minutes or whatever I am up there on stage.โ
Songs he loves singing live: โThereโs a bunch of those now, which is cool. Still โGetting You Homeโโ โ co-written by Tucson native Cory Batten โ โwhich was my first No. 1, my first hit, that one still always gets everybody. Obviously, โIโm Cominโ Overโ does that to people. โAw Naw,โ which wasnโt a No. 1, it was just a big olโ hit and went to No. 3, that song plays like it was a multiweek No. 1.โ
