Chris Young Is “Pumped” About His CMA Nomination for Musical Event of the Year

You won’t get many—if any—complaints from Chris Young right now.

Chris is currently enjoining back-to-back No. 1 singles—the title track and “Think of You”—from his fifth studio album, I’m Comin’ Over, which also topped the Billboard Country Albums chart. He’s got a new single with Vince Gill, “Sober Saturday Night,” climbing the charts, and he has a new Christmas album coming out in a couple of weeks.

On top of all that, “Think of You,” his duet with Cassadee Pope, was nominated for CMA Musical Event of the Year on Aug. 31.

“I’m so pumped about everything with this song, especially to see it get a nomination is very exciting,” says Chris during an afternoon sit-down after he got the good news. “I know Cass is excited. I’ve been in interviews all morning, but I got a text message from her saying she was pumped about it. It’s my first nomination in that category. It’s big for that. This song, obviously, has just taken on a life of its own. We hoped people would like it, but a 15-week run to number one is insanely fast.”

Although there was a push for the smooth-crooning star to be nominated in the Male Vocalist of the Year category, it wasn’t to be this year as Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Tim McGraw, Chris Stapleton and Keith Urban took the five spots. But that hasn’t dampened Chris’ outlook in the least.

“That’s a stacked category,” says Chris. “There’s just a bunch of male vocalists that are always vying for that spot. I’ve been nominated once before in that category a couple of years ago at the ACMs. It definitely one where there’s a lot of competition. There’s a lot of great music out there. Awards nominations are one of those things that it’s like there’s no controlling that. The fact that I got that nomination for ‘Think of You’ just makes it that much cooler.”

We’ll have to wait until the CMA Awards on Nov. 2 to see how Chris fares. In the meantime, you can catch the fall leg of his I’m Comin’ Over Tour, and stay tuned for more info on his Christmas album next week.

photo courtesy David McClister/Monarch Publicity

Playlist

Concert Calendar