A professed fan of all things Christmas, Murfreesboro's hometown country music performer Chris Young is super-enthused about his first-ever holiday tour: “It Must Be Christmas – An Acoustic Evening with Chris Young.”
This month, for the holiday tour, the band will perform in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusettes, Virginia, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, concluding on Dec. 20. The tour's start during mid-November included performances in Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.
The tour comes on the heels of Chris releasing a brand-new, bold album during October: "I Didn’t Come Here To Leave." As his tenth album, and first with Black River Entertainment in Nashville, it's being deemed a landmark project that features 14 fresh songs with 11 co-writes. The album’s fall release date also coincided with another special milestone: the GRAMMY-nominated vocalist’s 8th anniversary of his induction into the exclusive membership of the Grand Ole Opry.
Chris first teased this album project with the 2025 single “Til The Last One Dies.”
Born in Murfreesboro, 40-year-old Chris attended Trinity United Methodist Church, 2303 Jones Blvd. His grandfather, Richard Yates, was a performer on the Louisiana Hayride, a radio and television show that launched the careers of legends susch as Elvis Presley and Hank Williams.
Chris reportedly was interested in music from an early age, performing in various children's theater productions around Murfreesboro. While attending Oakland High School, he sang in its choir and began playing in local clubs. In 2000, he performed with his high school's Winter Drumline in a performance, "A Night at the Palladium," where he was a mariachi singer. In 2003, he was a national YoungArts winner and Presidential Scholar of the Arts as part of the Presidential Scholars Program.
While attending college, he performed more than 150 shows a year.
Nearing 20 years in the country music spotlight, Chris is considered a long-haul superstar. One of Billboard’s top country artists of the decade, the prolific hitmaker boasts 14 No. 1 singles and 9 billion-plus streams. His songwriting and style balance country roots with a modern edge.
Breaking out with 2009’s romantic classic “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song),” his early success had him charting alongside contemporaries, such as Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Zac Brown Band, Darius Rucker, Lady A and Dierks Bentley. From there, he hit the road with icons such as Rascal Flatts, Martina McBride, Brad Paisley and Alan Jackson. His 2025 summer tour included headlining shows with festivals alongside Lainey Wilson, Brooks & Dunn and Luke Bryan.
The CMT Award winner and ACM, AMA, CMA and GRAMMY nominee has written and co-produced much of the work behind his 54 RIAA certifications.
Re-centering his foundation of timeless romance, while embracing the energy of his legendary live shows (and bringing his deep vocal rumble “back to my baritone roots”), the new set of songs represents what he calls the most complete cross-section of his creative vision and the highest level of craftsmanship in his career.
Chris says passionate attention to detail was poured over every syllable of every lyric, accompanied by old-school recording dynamic found only in a live studio band. He adds, “It’s wild to step back and see a really long list of things I’ve gotten to do already. But I didn’t come here to leave.”
“Music's tied to the season's spirit for me; I want to celebrate that feeling with everyone on the road!"