Chris Young Wants to Be Just Like Dad

Chris Young was in the studio recording songs for his album when he first heard 'The Man I Want to Be.' While the first verse and chorus were playing, he knew it was an amazing song and that he just had to cut it before someone else snatched it up. The tune became the title track of the album and is also his current single.

The song states, "I want to be a good man, a 'do like I should' man ... I wanna be a strong man, and admit that I was wrong man," which is pretty much how Chris would describe his role model and the man he calls Dad. "Whenever I refer to my dad, it's my stepdad," says Chris. "That guy has totally made it impossible for me to better him for the rest of my [life]. He's such a great guy, and I have so much respect for him, and he's my dad. It's just really, really cool. He proposed to my mom on Valentine's Day, and then asked our permission being that we weren't his kids."

Last year, Chris' construction-worker dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. It was a rough time, but made much easier by his father's outlook and work ethic. "He went in and had surgery where they removed part of his lung," says Chris. "They got all of the lung cancer, and he's getting ready to go through some chemo ... just so it doesn't come back, hopefully. Two weeks after surgery, he was working again. You want to know what defines a man to me -- it's my dad. It's pretty cool for me to be able to look at him and [say], 'That's what I'd like to be remembered as.'"

'The Man I Want to Be,' written by Brett James ('Jesus, Take the Wheel') and Tim Nichols ('Live Like You Were Dying'), is the follow-up to Chris' recent chart-topping hit, 'Gettin' You Home (The Black Dress Song).'