''Famous Friends'' is the eighth studio album by American country music artist Chris Young. It was released on August 6, 2021, via RCA Records Nashville. It was preceded by the three singles " Raised on Country", " Drowning" and the title track. " At the End of a Bar" would be released on September 13, 2021, as the album's fourth single. Young co-wrote all but one of the songs on the album.

Content

" Raised on Country" was released as the leadoff single on January 28, 2019. It was originally intended to be the title track, but following the releases of " Drowning" on September 23, 2019 and "

Famous Friends "Famous Friends" is a song recorded by American country music singers Chris Young and Kane Brown. It was released on November 20, 2020, as the third single from Young's eighth studio album of the same name. Young wrote and produced the song wi ...

" on November 20, 2020, Young announced after the COVID-19 pandemic that the album would be retitled to ''Famous Friends''.

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

of AllMusic wrote that Young "started drifting toward the middle of the road around the mid-2010s", but that ''Famous Friends'' "finds him making a course correction, adding some livelier, stylish elements to his smooth foundation".

Commercial performance

''Famous Friends'' debuted at number three on the Top Country Albums chart, as well as number 13 on the ''Billboard 200'' chart, selling 24,000 copies (including 14,000 album units) in its first week.

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from liner notes.

Tracks 1–4 and 10–13

* Lauren Alaina – duet vocals on "Town Ain't Big Enough" *Cary Barlowe – bass guitar, electric guitar, background vocals * Kane Brown – duet vocals on "Famous Friends" * Sarah Buxton – background vocals * Dave Cohen –

B-3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

, piano,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

*Corey Crowder –

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

, bass guitar, programming, background vocals * Chris DeStefano – background vocals * Hillary Lindsey – background vocals *Tony Lucido – bass guitar * Mac McAnally – acoustic guitar *Rob McNelley – electric guitar *Miles McPherson – drums *

Shay Mooney Dan + Shay (the plus symbol substituting for an ampersand as an 'and' indicator) is an American country pop music duo composed of vocalists and songwriters Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney. They are signed to Warner Records Nashville and have release ...

– background vocals *Russell Terrell – background vocals * Derek Wells – electric guitar *Alex Wright – B-3 organ,

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

, piano, synthesizer, Wurlitzer * Chris Young – lead vocals

Track 5

*Josh Hoge – background vocals *Mark Holman – electric guitar, piano, programming *Miles McPherson – drums, percussion *Chris Young – lead vocals

Tracks 6–9

*Chris DeStefano – acoustic guitar, banjo, bass guitar,

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

, drums, electric guitar, keyboards, piano, programming, violin, background vocals *

Ashley Gorley Ashley Glenn Gorley (born April 29, 1977) is an American songwriter, publisher, and producer from Danville, Kentucky, who is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Gorley has written 60 number 1 songs and has over 300 songs recorded by artists including ...

– background vocals *

Mitchell Tenpenny Mitchell Tenpenny (born August 17, 1989) is an American country pop singer and songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee. He has released three studio albums and five extended plays through Riser House Records, with the first being '' Telling All My S ...

– duet vocals on "At the End of a Bar" *Chris Young – lead vocals

Track 14

*Dave Cohen – B-3 organ, piano, synthesizer *Wes Hightower – background vocals *Julian King – programming *Tony Lucido – bass guitar *Miles McPherson – drums, percussion * Danny Rader – acoustic guitar *Scotty Sanders –

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

*Derek Wells – electric guitar *Chris Young – lead vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Chris Young 2021 albums Chris Young (singer) albums RCA Records albums Albums postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic