CHRIS YOUNG

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

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.

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.

I'm a huge fantasy football fan.

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.

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

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.

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!'

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I'm a sucker for a sad song.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.