Chris Young Formulates a Five-Year Plan
Chris Young began plotting his career in country music back when he was a high school student in Murfreesboro, Tenn. He did a lot of local musical theater and put together a little country band and played wherever he could.
"I would drive up to Nashville and do pretty much any writer's night they would let me in on," Chris tells The Boot. "I did the whole show up at the Bluebird [Café] thing, and throw your name in the hat. I'd go out and do writer's night at the French Quarter [restaurant] and literally anything I could get in, I played."
We wondered if the 2006 'Nashville Star' winner has a decisive career path or if he's a little more spontaneous.
"I don't really think I'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of guy," laughs Chris. "I remember when I was making kind of my five-year plan -- I guess I was 16 -- when you're writing your five-year plans in high school. I remember writing one down about what I wanted to do with music, and my whole thing was I'd love to have a record deal by the time I was 21, and, have, hopefully a hit and start to break out as far as radio goes by the time I was 25. I had all this stuff written out."
"Everything is preparation and then a little bit of timing and a whole lot of luck," Chris continues. "I got my first record deal a month before I turned 21, then this past year we had a No. 1 ('Gettin' You Home'). A lot of it is work, and not just from me ... everybody that works for me and works at my label, and the songwriters who wrote some of my songs that I wasn't a part of on my record -- a lot of it is timing and luck."
Chris admits that he didn't have an alternate plan in place if the music gig just didn't work out.
"I would love to say I did have a Plan B, but I'm always going to do music. Even now, you never know what tomorrow is going to bring for you. You always hope that everything gets bigger and bigger and bigger, but you never know. But I will always sing, write and play music. That's all I'll ever do."
Chris's newest release, 'The Man I Want to Be' is in the Top 20 on the country charts. It appears his Plan A is alive and well!
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