The first minute or so of country-pop star Chris Young’s title-track single from his 2017 record “Losing Sleep” gives hints of mellow soul, hot country, hip-hop and big rock flourishes. There’s a little of all things for all people there, but it’s done in a way that seems naturally distilled as opposed to cynically engineered.
Young can do country crooning in the style of George Strait or Alan Jackson. He can sing with a purr and a shiver, or he get emphatic for the party anthems. He has a warm caramel-tinged baritone and the songs on his recent record sound engineered to a radio perfection.
Young, who’s from central Tennessee, came on the scene back in 2006 when he won a country singing competition show on TV. He has country music in his blood, with a grandfather who played on the Louisiana Hayride. In the tradition of George Jones and Charlie Rich, Young’s song “Where I Go When I Drink” offers a sentimental cautionary tale about booze and the toll it takes on relationships. The dark subject comes up on several of Young’s song, like the atmospheric album closer “Blacked Out.”
Chris Young performs at the Grand Theater at Foxwoods, 350 Trolley Line Blvd., Mashantucket, on Saturday, Feb. 3, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $77. foxwoods.com
