Kane Brown Stoked To Sing With Chris Young, Thought He’d Decline Stadium Invitation

Kane Brown has long credited Chis Young as one of his biggest influences. Young took Brown on his arena tour in 2018 as the middle act. Now Brown is returning the favor. When the Georgia native headlines T-Mobile Park, the 48,000-seat ballpark in Seattle, Washington, on August 16, Young will play it with him. LOCASH and RaeLynn are also part of the lineup.

“I was so stoked when I got to open for Chris,” Brown said. “Chris was a huge part of everything I’ve done, just listening to his songs, singing them, and practicing with them. I didn’t think he was going to say yes when we asked him. I was like, ‘He’s definitely going to say no.’ So, for him to say yes meant the world to me.”

Brown recalled getting his start in country music by singing cover songs and posting them on social media. The videos went viral, eventually propelling Brown into superstardom.

Since he released his debut album in 2016, Brown has nabbed 11 chart-topping country songs, including his most recent “I Can Feel It” and “Famous Friends,” his multi-week No. 1 collaboration with Young.

Kane Brown in 2016: “Color does matter.”

In the days before releasing his debut album, Brown gave The Tennessean some insight into what it was like growing up an underprivileged bi-racial kid on the Georgia/Tennessee border.

He was sometimes homeless and attended five high schools in as many years. He noted, “Color does matter, even though people don’t see it. I’ve lived it my whole life. It’s just what I know.”

However, with the help of Young’s music, Brown changed the trajectory of his personal story. He covered one of Young’s songs during his first public performance at his high school talent show. He remembers being pelted with racial slurs from his classmates when he stepped up to the mic. By the end of the song, the students gave him an encore.

In an emotional full-circle moment, Brown and Young will sing “Famous Friends” together on August 16.

“It’ll be fun actually singing that song with him on stage,” Brown said. “I don’t even think we said that, but it’ll be nice to sing ‘Famous Friends’ with him other than having another artist out.”

Brown, who recently welcomed his third child—a son with wife Katelyn—called his current In The Air Tour “just amazing” and said it has been great to have Tyler Hubbard and Parmalee on the road with him for most of the tour dates.

“It’s been the most fun tour that I’ve been on, the most fun I’ve had touring in general,” Brown said. “I couldn’t ask for anything better. I’m excited to get to do the stadiums. It’s gone by super fast, so I guess we were having fun.”

(Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

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Kane Brown talks "In the Air" tour and his relationship with Chris Young.