sure is!’” After writing the song, Young asked friend and fellow artist, Kane Brown, to sing it with him. They revised the lyrics, which already had references to Rutherford County, Tenn. (where Young grew up), to include Hamilton County, Tenn. (where Brown is from). The song also mentions Nashville’s Davidson County. The music video, which won this year’s CMT award, shows Young and Kane singing from a rooftop overlooking Music City, and includes shots of some of those real-life friends. Since bursting onto the country music scene 15 years ago, it’s been a steady ride for Young. He’s had a stream of No. 1 hits, been inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, and so far, had the rare opportunity to stay with the same record label his entire career. “You can put in all the work in the world and some of that stuff is going to be out of your hands,” Young explains. “The fact that I’ve been able to stay at one label my entire 60 DeSoto
career has been very cool because you don’t hear those stories very often. You hear more about people moving around or getting to a point where, okay, now it’s time to go our separate ways. That may happen at some point, but the fact that I’m still here means something. When I started my career, my first three songs were not hits. None of them even broke 37 on the charts. So, the fact that I can look back at all of these No. 1s and Top 5s and other gold singles that may not have even been on radio, is just wonderful.” A powerful vocalist, Young’s talent as a songwriter has also helped cement his strength as an artist. One song on the album called “Drowning” touches on the loss of a close friend. “That was a tough song to write, but it was very cathartic,” he says. “It was about a buddy of mine I lost many years ago in a car accident. He was there one day and the next day he was gone, and I’d never really dealt with that sort of loss before.” Young got together with co-writers Corey Crowder
