Chris Young Ready to ‘Take Out’ His CMA Competition

Chris Young garnered his first CMA nomination for New Artist of the Year, alongside many of his friends, such as Jerrod Niemann, Luke Bryan, Easton Corbin and the Zac Brown Band.

During the announcement early Tuesday morning at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, Chris' name was called in the promising star category, and he was a bit overwhelmed, especially with the historic significance of the location of where the nominations were announced. "Being able to stand on this stage and get the nomination is kind of just extra cool," Chris tells The Boot. "It was cool to [just] stand here and be a part of it, then hear my name called, it's pretty awesome."

The singer released his self-titled debut album in 2006, after being declared the winner of the USA Network's 'Nashville Star,' and even though his first single, 'Drinkin' Me Lonely,' came out four years ago, Chris still wears the new artist moniker and is quite satisfied with it. "I still feel like the new guy," explains the Tennessee native, "even though this is my second record really. We didn't have a whole lot of radio success and didn't start blowing up and being on tours until we had 'Getting You Home.' With 'Gettin' You Home' and 'The Man I Want to Be,' I feel like this is just kind of a new version of me when we made this second record. So, it's cool to be in this category."

So, what does he think about his competition? "It's going to be tough! Somebody said this as of last month, I think for Jerrod -- and me and Jerrod have been buddies for a long time -- I was so excited when he had his first No.1, and then I looked at the names ... and I was like, 'We've all had No. 1 records,'" Chris says. "So, it's a tough category. I think Zac's had like five, so we're just going to have to all team up and take Zac out before this thing goes down. [laughs]"

Following up his two recent chart-toppers, Chris is back in the Top 30 with his single, 'Voices.'