Aug. 18, 2009 — Nearly three years after he released his first album, Chris Young is readying his sophomore CD, The Man I Want To Be, and it includes an appearance by a guy who just about every aspiring country singer wouldn’t mind being: Willie Nelson.
Chris remade a 1987 Waylon Jennings hit, "Rose In Paradise," and enlisted Willie — one of Waylon’s frequent musical partners — to make it a duet. Many of Willie’s collaborations through the years — including the Ray Charles duet "Seven Spanish Angels," the Julio Iglesias song "To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before" and the Hank Williams Jr. project "Mind Your Own Business" — found Willie taping his parts in his own studio separate from the other vocalists. So Chris was completely stunned when Willie added his "Rose In Paradise" contributions in person.
"It’s so cool that we did that," Chris gushes. "Really, just bein’ a huge Willie Nelson fan, when we got to do this song together, I kind of figured that what would probably happen is we’d send him the hard drive and he would sing it and send it back from Austin. And when he ended up comin’ into the studio to record this with me, it’s just probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever gotten a chance to do."
Willie made a strong impression on Chris, though Chris isn’t sure what kind of an impression he made on the Country Music Hall of Fame member in return.
"I have no idea what I said to him the whole day," Chris laughs. "I know everything he said to me, but I don’t think I said hardly anything that was coherent or worth listening to."
As a vocalist, Chris is certainly worth listening to. Earlier this month, he previewed a handful of songs from the new album for media in Nashville. Performing only with two acoustic guitars and a bass, he demonstrated a strong resonance, a firm sense of pitch, a Tracy Lawrence-like growl and a bit of emotional relatability. He also showed enough confidence to cover the standard "A Rainy Night In Georgia"; he didn’t have quite the same power as Brook Benton (nobody could), but he was believable nonetheless. And it proved he’s a bit of a risk-taker, too.
The Man I Want To Be comes out Sept. 1.
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