Multiplatinum country singer/songwriter/producer Chris Young signed with Black River Entertainment’s Black River Records roster.
Joining Black River marks a major career move for Young, who previously worked for Sony Music Nashville’s RCA Nashville imprint since the start of his career, signing there in 2006.
Young has released nine studio albums, accumulated over 9 billion on-demand streams, landed 11 songs at the top of the Billboard Country Airplay charts, and earned numerous ACM, CMA, CMT, and Grammy Award nominations. He won two CMT Music Awards for Performance of the Year (for his song “Drowning”) and Collaborative Video of the Year (for the music video “Famous Friends” with Kane Brown).
This year, the Grand Ole Opry member recorded another top five Country Airplay hit with “Young Love & Saturday Nights,” the title track from his most recent album, released in March.
“Nineteen years is an incredibly long time to have a career, let alone be in one place with one team,” Young said. Billboard. “This is the next chapter for me and I couldn’t be more excited to be where I am.”
Young says his contract with Sony ended around September. “I had the chance to be a free agent. I felt a bit like an athlete,” he says. “I was ready to go to all these (label) meetings, and I went and (Black River Records) was the first meeting. At the end of that meeting, I told them, “I want to be here. »
Black River Records is also home to artists including five-time Grammy nominee Kelsea Ballerini, Scotty Hasting, Pryor Baird and MaRynn Taylor.
Although Young is the latest addition to the Black River Records roster, he has a long-standing connection to the company. His 2012 song “Neon” was one of Black River Publishing’s first cuts, and he recorded their albums. I’m coming And Lose sleep (both of which debuted at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart), as well as his holiday album It must be Christmasat the company’s Sound Stage studios.
Young hints that there’s already new music on the way.
“(Black River) had done their research and they were like, ‘We want you to be a part of this group. We are ready to get to work immediately. And I gave them a drop box with 20 songs in it,” Young recalled.
Black River Entertainment Chairman and CEO Gordon Kerr shares Billboard“I really 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…I’m very grateful to RCA and (former label executive) Joe Galante and the staff for investing in Chris for 19 years. It’s really important for us to be able to give them kudos and respect, because they helped Chris build this. For us, the future is to say we’re going to take this and build on it.
Earlier this year, Young made another career move, moving from managing The AMG to Red light managementwith Kailyn Finnegan as Young’s manager.
Heading into 2025 with a new deal with a new label, Young says, “I really feel like this is shaping up to be an incredible year. I’m really happy and excited for the start of next year, for everyone to hear all of this.