1 of 2
JEFF JOHNSON
2 of 2
JEFF JOHNSON
These days, you’re likely to find country star Chris Young in the spotlight, strutting across a massive stage in front of 15,000 fans (or more).
He just did that on Lower Broadway back in July, in fact, filling the neon streets for a live music-video taping. But not so long ago, he was walking the quad at Middle Tennessee State University instead of a concert catwalk. Back then, Young was just another student in MTSU’s Music Business program—an aspiring artist and the beneficiary of a childhood full of music education. And now that he’s a star, his free time is dedicated to giving other kids that the same opportunity. In between hits like “Famous Friends” (with Kane Brown) and tour stops all over the nation, the Murfreesboro native is a card-carrying board member of the CMA Foundation, and an active patron of MTSU’s musical mission. He’s working every day to make a difference in an educational field he truly believes is essential—even though it’s often overlooked.
“Education, specifically music education, and music in schools, I think that is so important,” Young says, taking time out from promoting his Famous Friends album to discuss the issue in-depth. “Not only for what [music education] did for me—the fact that music’s my job now. I also think it’s so important because it’s one of the first things that gets cut [from budgets].”
You can hear the passion in Young’s smooth, dark baritone as he talks, continuing to explain that, for him, this is more than a pet project. It’s a calling just as distinctive as his desire to sing. He hopes to make music a fundamental part of every kid’s school experience. But unfortunately, Young has his work cut out for him. After crippling cuts in the wake of the 2008 recession, schools around the country made steady improvements in access to arts education, recognizing a growing value-consensus in the years leading up to COVID-19. But with the pandemic creating budget crises everywhere, those gains are once again under threat. It’s still too soon to say how music education has really been impacted by COVID-19. That data will come later. But with every state tightening the budgetary belt as revenues plummeted, arts were some of the first things on the chopping block for a new school year, just like Young predicted. And going forward, he knows how easy it would be for cash-strapped districts to drop school music altogether and use the savings elsewhere.
“That’s one of the first line items that people are like ‘Hey, maybe we don’t have to worry so much about choir or band,’” Young says. But according to Young—and researchers everywhere—people should be worried. The truth is that music education is not just about music; it’s about development. Students involved in music do better everywhere. “It’s wild when you start digging into it, because you find that kids who have access to music actually have higher test scores,” Young says “It’s another way for them to learn things maybe they don’t process well through other means.”It may go without saying, but music classes often give kids a much-needed energy outlet, allowing them some self-expression in a day of “sit down and be quiet.”
1 of 2
JEFF JOHNSON
2 of 2
JEFF JOHNSON
And they also offer many a sense of achievement, gaining confidence they may not get in other subjects. But those are just the intangible effects. Music’s math and language base often helps students improve in those areas as well, while the creative stimulation helps others approach problem solving with fresh eyes. From the Brookings Institute to official SAT data, studies have shown time and again that music and arts education can truly unlock doors for students—so much so, that some schools have begun shifting from a STEM focus to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics). Those benefits are a big part of the reason people like Young believe music education should be fundamental.
“That is a way for kids to not only express themselves, but even if it doesn’t become their job, it’s a really great way for some kids to learn,” he says. “You look at the actual underscore of mathematics that’s involved—being able to count measures and stuff like that—and even learning other languages. It always takes people back a couple of steps to learn that I can sing in multiple languages, and I say ‘Yeah, I learned that while I was in choir.’ “Had I not had access to that, I wouldn’t know any of those things,” Young goes on. “It’s been proven statistically—and in the real world—that having music as an option in schools only betters [students]. Period.”
Although states like Tennessee fared better than expected through the pandemic, declining tax revenues mean 2020-2021 arts budgets were cut all over the U.S., from big cities like New York (11 percent citywide) to rural areas that had to let their one-and-only music teacher go. Federal relief money is helping, and Tennessee reportedly got $4 billion for K-12 education that must be spent by 2024. But music programs may not be high on the list of priorities, and the National Education Associates places Tennessee at 46th in the nation in overall education investment per student. Combine that with the collaborative nature of music itself, which makes virtual learning difficult, and scholarly observers are predicting a lost generation of musicians. It’s issues like this where the CMA Foundation can make a difference and has been since 2006. As the charitable arm of the Country Music Association, they believe music to be “an integral part of brain development, human connection, and even stress relief,” and say for students it’s “an effective and invaluable tool” to help kids improve academically, socially, and emotionally.Aiming to get as many students access to quality music education as possible, the CMA Foundation partners with country stars like Young to get the word out.
1 of 2
JEFF JOHNSON
2 of 2
JEFF JOHNSON
“They raise so much money and it’s such a high level of attention to detail,” Young explains. “Like ‘Are we getting the most value for kids directly?’ It’s tracking the money and finding programs that are smaller, like ‘How do we make sure this is happening not just in major cities, but also in more rural areas?’ You can see specific instances where it’s like ‘Hey, this music program is going away,’ and then it’s brought back because of the stuff the CMA has done.”
The CMA Foundation helps lobby Congress for federal arts funding through things like the National School Boards Association’s Advocacy Institute. And they also work directly with schools in need through a grant program, buying new instruments, setting teachers up with supplies and best practices, and keeping in touch to make sure schools follow through. A few examples include the CMA’s ongoing investment in Metro Nashville schools, which impact around 87,000 students; the Mr. Holland’s Opus grant, which provides instruments and expert input around the country; and Education Through Music, which hires teachers specifically for the largest public school district in the U.S.: New York City.
Meanwhile, Young is also determined to make a local impact, working with his alma mater MTSU. After graduating from Murfreesboro’s Oakland High, he went on to enroll in the university’s acclaimed Music Business program, and says it had a huge impact on his eventual career. “I remember playing songwriter’s nights with [fellow country artist] Eric Paslay on the square,” Young says, reminiscing about his undergrad days in the early 2000s. “I mean it’s wild. That’s where I went to school, and now my name is on one of the buildings. [Going there] continued to foster my love of music, and my interest in the industry as a whole.”
Out of the approximate 20,000 students who study at MTSU each year, only a small percentage are involved in the music and recording programs. But those programs turn out important figures in the industry.Along with Young, alumni include country artists like Lady A’s Hillary Scott, Sam Hunt, Brett Eldredge, and HARDY. Christian hip-hop star Lecrae was “True Blue,” as well as Evanescence lead singer Amy Lee and Americana favorite Anderson East. Grammy-winning songwriters like Josh Kear and Luke Laird went there, and so did chart-topping producers like Tay Keith—not to mention countless behind-the-scenes power brokers.Young started helping in small ways, and his efforts first got noticed in 2012 when he donated his old touring rig to students learning sound engineering. Then he stepped up in 2016, founding a whole scholarship for recording-industry students.“It was something that I wanted to do,” he says simply.
“A lot of people need help when they’re about to start going to college, and I know I applied for a bunch of different scholarships when I started. Hopefully I’m helping someone run a publishing company, become an artist, or head a record label. Hell, there’s really no limit.” This past year, though, Young turned a corner. The multi-Platinum “Losing Sleep” star donated $50,000 to convert an old cafeteria into a state-of-the-art performance venue, which the school decided to name the Chris Young Cafe in his honor. It will surely help build the program for years to come.
“We took a building that wasn’t really being used for a whole lot and turned it into a space where regardless of what you’re going there for—if you’re a musician, or a vocalist, if you want to learn photography and do live-event photos—it’s this live entertainment space that’s set up for anybody who wants to use it,” Young explains. “Being able to go and perform, and have that space to play and have real lighting and video, everything else they’ve set up? I’m incredibly jealous because we didn’t have that when I was there, and I would have loved that.”
Access to such facilities is key to music education. Young explains that there’s an art to live performance that must be learned on the fly.“Everybody has to figure that out for themselves a little bit, but we were like ‘Hey, where can we go play on the square in Murfreesboro that has any sort of sound system?’” he says. “Versus now, having a space that’s got a full video wall, full lighting, everything is plugged up correctly. You’ve got [direct inputs]! As many as you want!”But part of a good education is the knowledge that learning never really stops, and that can be seen in Young’s new album, Famous Friends. Marking his eighth studio set and named after his multi-week Number One with Kane Brown (which calls out Rutherford, Hamilton, and Davidson counties), Young co-wrote almost every song and also co-produced it with Chris DeStefano. That would certainly make his MTSU professors proud, and Young even took over the studio controls himself for one track, saying he’ll continue tapping into his drive to learn.
“People are gonna find a little bit of everything on this record. It’s really cohesive, but everything has its own place,” he says of the set, which dutifully mixes classic country emotion and resonate vocals with new school electronic beats—the kind kids are now learning to create in middle school music programs. “All of the different songs are on here and I really am proud of everything that’s on this record. And with all the people who contributed to it, it made a lot of sense to call it Famous Friends.”
Indeed, Young even teams up with fellow MTSU alum Mitchell Tenpenny for the new single, “At the End of the Bar,” which was the massive music video he was filming downtown in July. Thinking back on his own school days, Young says now he never would have thought he’d have 12 Number Ones and another headlining tour planned for this fall—much less, his name on a university tech lab. But in a way, he hopes that’s the lesson: You never know what could happen. Or where a music education may lead.“Like I said, the reason I’m so passionate about music in schools is that’s one of the first things that gets cut and people don’t think it’s very important,” he says. “But it is important. It’s just not always top of mind.”