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.

Chris Young

Everybody has their favorite sad songs. That's part of what I love so much about country music. Country music is never afraid to go with a sad song.

Chris Young

Sad Music Love

Social media is a very, very powerful tool. It also gives power to tools.

Chris Young

Power Very Tools

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

Chris Young

Want UN Try

Your family are people you lean on and learn from. When I told my family I wanted to do music, they were really supportive.

Chris Young

Music Family Your

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.

Chris Young

Who Want Tin

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.

Chris Young

You Writing Tin

I'm a sucker for a sad song.

Chris Young

Sad Sucker Suck

Any time I'm trying to find that groove on a big tempo song, I go back and listen to some Aerosmith records. 'Love in an Elevator,' 'Rag Doll,' all that stuff was really great music. It's something that I still dig and go back and listen to.

Chris Young

Time Music Love

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.

Chris Young

Wing Win Vocal

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!'

Chris Young

Wit Wanna Walked

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.

Chris Young

Home Funny Writing

I'm a big fan of breakfast food. Literally, the simplest thing in the world - if you can scramble eggs without burning them, I'll eat them. It doesn't matter what time of the day it is.

Chris Young

Time Food You

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.

Chris Young

Christmas Art You

There's probably a couple someones that are gonna hear the songs and go, 'I think that might have been about me,' or, 'I know it's about me.' I do play that pretty close to the vest. I don't think I'm ever gonna write a song and drop somebody's name in it.

Chris Young

Write Vest Up

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.

Chris Young

Music Write Wins

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.

Chris Young

Work Time You

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.

Chris Young

Mom Wing Win

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

Chris Young

Home Very Use

I'm really loud. I can't sing softly.

Chris Young

T Soft Sing

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

Chris Young

York Wondering Wonder

My standing gig in college was playing the El Chico patio on Murfreesboro Road. I got $100, tips, and free quesadillas.

Chris Young

It's amazing to me how often the answer to making something sound better is to play something less.

Chris Young

I grew up loving Vince Gill. That guy sounds just like his record - or better than his record. I've always been such a fan.

Chris Young

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

Chris Young

The only piece of advice I've ever given anybody is learn to write songs and write as many songs as you can. Because it's never gonna hurt, and when you run into that problem of, 'God, I don't know what I want to say,' or the opposite problem of, 'I know exactly what I want to say, but no one has written it,' then you can just go write it yourself.

Chris Young

I don't think breakups are ever easy for anybody. If they are, they aren't much of a breakup.

Chris Young

Everybody influences everybody else, in my opinion. There are different trends in music all the time. No matter who starts them, if it's a true trend in the music, it ends up influencing other people as well.

Chris Young

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.

Chris Young

I'm a huge fantasy football fan.

Chris Young

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.

Chris Young

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.

Chris Young

I think the biggest way of connecting with people is through your music and kind of saying what you want to say as an artist. And hopefully, you're making something that someone's going to be like, 'This is my favorite song.' That's always your goal, I think, anybody in any genre.

Chris Young

For awhile there, I kind of hit the plateau. Anytime you do that as an artist, one of two things can happen... you're either going to start to fall back off, or you're gonna start to rise.

Chris Young

Finding new books to read and relaxing is what I enjoy when I do have some time to spend on my own.

Chris Young

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.

Chris Young

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.

Chris Young

If you were to ask me when I was 17 if I was mad because I didn't have a deal, I would have probably said, 'Yeah.' Now I'm so glad I got it when I got it. People tell you to be patient and wait. Patience is not a virtue of mine, but I think everything definitely happened the right way for me.

Chris Young

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

Chris Young

For every single show you do, make sure you go out and literally try to beat what you did the day before. It's something that you can incorporate into everything you do. If you're constantly trying to beat your best, over time it will help you grow.

Chris Young