A New Home for a Country Music Icon

Chris Young's Career Highlights

Young has released an impressive nine studio albums, amassing over 9 billion on-demand streams. His music has achieved remarkable success, with 11 Billboard Country Airplay chart-topping songs and numerous ACM, CMA, CMT, and Grammy Awards nominations. He has won two CMT Music Awards for the performance of the year ("Drowning") and the collaborative video of the year ("Famous Friends" with Kane Brown).

This year, as a member of the Grand Ole Opry, he registered another Country Airplay top five with "Young Love & Saturday Nights," the title track of his most recent album released in March. His long and successful career is a testament to his talent and hard work.

The Signing Process

Young revealed that his deal with Sony ended around September, giving him the opportunity to become a free agent. He went into label meetings prepared, and Black River Records was the first one he attended. By the end of that meeting, he knew he wanted to be a part of the Black River Records family. "I had the chance to be a free agent. I felt sort of like an athlete a little bit," he said. "I was prepared to take all these [label] meetings, and I went in and [Black River Records] were the first meeting. By the end of that meeting, I told them, 'I want to be here.'"

Black River Records is home to a diverse group of artists, including five-time Grammy nominee Kelsea Ballerini, Scotty Hasting, Pryor Baird, and MaRynn Taylor. Young has long had ties to the company, as his 2012 song "Neon" was an early Black River Publishing cut, and he recorded several albums at their Sound Stage Studios.

New Music on the Horizon

Young hinted that new music is already on the way. "They had done their research and they were like, 'We want you to be part of this group. We're ready to go to work immediately.' And I gave them a dropbox with 20 songs in it," he recalled. Fans are eagerly awaiting the release of this new music and what it will bring to the country music scene.

Black River Entertainment president and CEO Gordon Kerr expressed his excitement about Young's addition to the roster. "I really do think his music is the soundtrack to a generation of country music. I've heard some of the music that's coming and he's going to deliver on that… I'm so grateful to RCA and [former label head] Joe Galante and the staff for pouring into Chris for 19 years. That's really important for us to be able to give them the kudos and respect, because they helped Chris build that. For us, the future is to say that we are going to take that and build on it."

Another Career Shift

Earlier this year, Young made another significant career shift by switching management from The AMG to Red Light Management, with Kailyn Finnegan serving as his manager. Now, with a new label deal in place, he is looking forward to an incredible 2025. "I really do feel like it's set up to be an incredible year. I'm really happy and excited for the beginning of next year, for everybody to hear all this," he said.