Chris Young is ‘Comin’ Over’ to Beaver Stadium

Chris Young is low key enough that if one hadn’t paid attention to the country singles chart or a couple significant creative developments in Young’s approach to making his latest album, “I’m Comin’ Over,” one might think everything was just business as usual for the country artist.

The singles chart is notable because the title song from “I’m Comin’ Over” held down the No. 1 spot for three weeks, a triumph that would illicit a can-hardly-contain-the-excitement response from many artists.

Young is certainly pleased with his latest success, but the matter-of-fact tone he showed in a recent phone interview lacked the kind of anticipation and urgency — not to mention excitement — one might expect from an artist who looks to be on the verge of arena-headlining stardom. Instead Young sounds self-assured, but humble, and focused on the work that goes into having a successful career.

“I don’t think you can get much better than having a No. 1 platinum single as the first single off of the new project,” the affable Young said of the song “I’m Comin’ Over.” “It’s just kind of (about) building upon that now.”

Young has been doing a good job of building momentum for his career over the past half dozen years. His 2006 self-titled debut album stiffed, but “Getting You Home (The Black Dress Song),” the second single from his sophomore album, 2009’s “The Man I Want To Be,” became a chart-topping breakthrough hit. Then the title song from that album and a third single, “Voices,” extended the streak of No. 1 singles to three.

The Murfreesboro, Tenn., native has been on a roll since. His next two albums, “Neon” (2010) and “A.M.” (2013) added three more No.1s to Young’s resume and set the stage for the emphatic run of the

“I’m Comin’ Over” single, and the strong debut of the new album (which sold an impressive 57,000 copies in its first week). He then followed that song up with two more No. 1 singles, “Think Of You,” a duet with Cassadee Pope, and “Sober Saturday Night,” which features a guest appearance from Vince Gill.

It’s not just the chart successes that are a big deal. The “I’m Comin’ Over” album involved some major changes in how Young has made his albums in the past — steps that also suggest he’s confident of his abilities at this point in his career.

After working with noted producer James Stroud on his recent albums, Young took the reins on the “I’m Comin’ Over” project by co-producing the album with songwriter Corey Crowder.

Artists producing their own albums, while somewhat common in the rock and alternative genres, is rare in country. But Young had no great revelations or statements about his decision to step into producing on “I’m Comin’ Over.”

“You know what, actually it just kind of felt like it was time,” he said. “I don’t think it was anything in particular. It wasn’t like some big moment where I was like ‘I’m going to do this.’ It was like, ‘I think this is the right way to go on this project specifically.’ It was a bit of a risk because it’s something I haven’t done in the past.”

Another significant shift was that Young worked with an almost entirely new group of songwriters in co-writing nine of the 11 songs on “I’m Comin’ Over.” He began to think of Crowder as his co-producer after writing sessions with Crowder and Josh Hoge.

Once again, Young sounded like switching up songwriting collaborators was about as earth shattering than changing shirts.

“I don’t think it’s anything in particular,” Young said when asked what led to working with a different set of co-writers. “I don’t think it was like something was going on where I felt the need to do that. It was more that this is just kind of naturally how this project worked itself.”

Despite those changes in how Young made “I’m Comin’ Over,” the album is perfectly in character with Young’s other albums — delivering another set of tuneful, well-crafted songs with lyrics that feel emotional and heartfelt without seeming contrived.

There’s a sturdy rocker in “Underdogs” and a breezy tune in “Sunshine Overtime.” Otherwise, “I’m Comin’ Over” is defined by melodic, easy-going mid-tempo tunes like “Heartbeat,” “Thinking of You” and the title song — as well as reflective ballads like “I Know a Guy” and “Sober Saturday Night.”

Now Young is out on tour, dong a mix of festival dates (including his Saturday appearance at the Happy Valley Jam at Beaver Stadium) and opening for Jason Aldean into October. He has a new single coming out, “Losing Sleep,” and suggested he takes things day by day when it comes down to choosing what newer songs to play.

“You definitely have to play the stuff that people have heard on the radio,” Young said. “You don’t ever want to play like the whole new record. It’s been just kind of a gradual change of me figuring out, ‘Today I think I’ll add this.’ So it kind of depends on what show people show up for.”

This story was originally published July 6, 2017 at 11:26 AM with the headline "Chris Young is ‘Comin’ Over’ to Beaver Stadium."