Chris Young surprised with invitation to join Grand OIe Opry

Eleven years after Chris Young first debuted on the Grand Ole Opry, Tuesday night Vince Gill surprised him with an invitation to become the Opry’s newest member. 

Young spontaneously kissed the Opry’s hallowed circle and lifted Gill off the stage in a bear hug. 

“I’m standing backstage going, ‘Why is he making me go last?’” Young said. Typically Young would play before Gill at the Opry, but Tuesday night they justified the swap by blaming Gill’s ongoing scratchy throat.

“Will you?” Gill reiterated.

“Yes,” Young replied, before he dropped his head into his hands in disbelief.

The men celebrated the chart-topping success of “Sober Saturday Night” with a party at the Grand Ole Opry House before the show. During the event, Young was presented with his first platinum album signifying his album “Neon” has sold more than 1 million copies and a gold single for “Sober Saturday Night.” Gill and Young were on the Opry stage together to perform their hit song later that night when Gill stunned Young with the invitation.

“As a friend and as someone who has been out here for 30 years, you will not believe the friendships and the relationships and the heart that you will gain from being out here for the rest of your life,” Gill said. “It’s going to really be powerful to you.”

Young, known for his distinctive baritone and for blending traditional and contemporary country styles, has played the Opry 78 times since his debut.

When the show was over, Young said he still couldn’t process what had happened. 
 

“My mind is still running a million miles an hour,” Young said backstage. “I love the history of country music. I love the Grand Ole Opry. I’ve wanted to be a member since I was a kid. It was a pretty incredible day. There’s a whole lot that’s happened in a pretty short period of time.”

When Young, 32, is inducted into the Grand Ole Opry Oct. 17, he will join an Opry family of more than 60 members as the youngest among them.

“Moments like this don’t happen all the time,” Young said of his invitation to be a member. “I cried a little bit, and I don’t cry. There are very few times in my life that I’ve cried, and I know when they were and they were very, very special.”

Young will release his seventh album “Losing Sleep” Oct. 20. The album’s lead single and title track is now on country radio.