Chris Young

Chris Young is a study in contrasts and dualities. He’s frequently complimented by music press as being a country “traditionalist” — with good reason — but he’s equally fond of pushing against stylistic boundaries. He’s an old soul with songs that express deep wisdom as well as youthful rambunctiousness. He’s got a mind for the music business and one of the nimblest voices in Nashville, but he knows when to let art speak on its own terms. Somehow, he makes it look effortless.

“I still love what I do,” says the Tennessee native, who’s notched 14 career Number Ones and 25 R.I.A.A. certified projects. “I love creating music and I love making it and the fact that I get to do that for a living is a pretty incredible thing.” After pushing through the delaying Covid-era remote songwriting trend and scoring one of his biggest hits alongside his pal Kane Brown with 2020’s “Famous Friends,” Young again embraced working without restrictions and reveling in those extreme contrasts of his artistry. The result is Young Love & Saturday Nights, Young’s ninth studio album and a bold statement that he’s one of the most versatile and durable talents of his era.

At 18 songs, the project is Young’s most ambitious release yet, the result of countless writing and listening sessions. Instead of chasing trends, Young turns things up — emotionally, sonically, stylistically. The ballads hit harder, the rowdy tunes are more raucous, and the anthems hit new highs. “This is what this album felt like it needed to be for me,” he says. “It’s a little louder, a little more raw. Even the stripped-down songs are heavier.”

The title track and chart-topping single Nlips the iconic guitar riff from David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” into something new — a story of wide-eyed love and freedom about a young woman who “loves his southern drawl from north of Atlanta, that Silverado he got parked outside” that maintains the spirit of the original. Written by Jesse Frasure, Ashley Gorley, and Josh Thompson with Bowie getting a posthumous credit for the riff, it showed up in Young’s listening session with zero explanation.

“I had no idea what it was. The minute it started, I’m like, ‘Are they playing me “Rebel Rebel” right now? That’s weird,’” Young recalls. “Then I realized it was an entirely new song.”