Photo: Adrianna Casiano
Brett Young delivered passionate renditions of his melt-your-heart hits when he returned to his native Southern California for his exclusive iHeartCountry Album Release Party on Thursday evening (August 10). The performance for an intimate L.A. crowd comes nearly one week after the award-winning country star debuted his fourth full-length studio album, Across The Sheets.
Young, a professional when it comes to matters of the heart, performed a few of his biggest career-spanning anthems during the show as he celebrated the release of Across The Sheets, beginning with a heartfelt hit that he included on the track list of his self-titled debut album in 2017, âIn Case You Didnât Know.â
âI really dug deep while writing this record,â Young previously said of his latest body of work. âAcross The Sheets is by far the most adventurous Iâve ever gotten thematically and lyrically. I went into this with the goal of putting out 'a little bit of something for everyone' and to pull back the curtain and continue to be vulnerable so people could see and know more of my life through my music. I hope more than anything that is what comes across. We've been playing the new songs on out on the road and to see how fans have already connected with them is truly special.â
The California-born country star told iHeartRadioâs Brooke Taylor, who hosted the event and special Q&A questions, that when he sits down to make a record, he and his team ensure that the project will have a mixture of songs for the heartbroken, for listeners who are falling in love for the first time, for those who have been in love for a long time and everyone in between. Youngâs newly-released 8-track album was named for a lyric that appears twice, which the singer-songwriter admits he âdidnât realizeâ heâd done. Still, it made for a âromanticâ title that serves as a tribute to âthe person you wanna wake up next to.â
Young sweetly featured his wife, Taylor Mills Young, and the coupleâs two young daughters in his latest music video, âDance With You,â one of the fan-favorite tracks on Across The Sheets. It was âso specialâ to film the first music video as a family of four, Young shared with Taylor as he reflected on filming with daughters Presley Elizabeth, nearly 4, and Rowan Marie, 2. âDance With Youâ includes footage from Youngâs wedding day in the background as his wife and daughters dance (with âno choreographyâ planned,â he noted).
The exclusive iHeartCountry Album Release Party marked a special moment for Young and his bandmates, also former Southern California residents. Young reflected on growing up in Orange County in the 90s, flipping through radio stations and landing on the âcracklyâ country station that barely came through. But he heard enough to get hooked on the storytelling that often takes the spotlight in the genre, and that longtime appreciation for country musicâs heartfelt lyrics inspired the lone cover track on Across The Sheets: âDonât Take The Girl,â released by Tim McGraw in 1994. Decades later, Young would hear his own single on the radio for the first time (âSleep Without You,â which he heard after performing at Stagecoach Music Festival for the first time, he remembered).
Young treated the intimate L.A. crowd to career-spanning fan-favorites and new ones from Across The Sheets. The setlist included âIn Case You Didnât Know,â âLet Go Too Soon,â âDonât Take The Girl,â âLady,â âDance With You,â âSleep Without You,â âNot Yet,â âLike I Loved You,â âYou Ainât Here to Kiss Me,â âMercy,â âBack To Jesusâ and âYou Didnât.â Young is currently touring with Sam Hunt on the âHard To Forgetâ artistâs headlining tour (just âtwo girl dads hanging out on the road together,â Young said of performing with Hunt), and next month, heâs kicking off his own headlining trek with Jake Scott and Griffen Palmer.
Find Youngâs full Across The Sheets album on iHeartRadio here, and see his âDance With You Tourâ dates below.
1 of 6 Photo: Adrianna Casiano for iHeartRadio
2 of 6 Photo: Adrianna Casiano for iHeartRadio
3 of 6 Photo: Adrianna Casiano for iHeartRadio
4 of 6 Photo: Adrianna Casiano for iHeartRadio
5 of 6 Photo: Adrianna Casiano for iHeartRadio
6 of 6 Photo: Adrianna Casiano for iHeartRadio
September 14 â Bethlehem, PA
September 28 â Normal, IL
September 29 â Sioux Falls, SD
September 30 â Omaha, NE
October 1 â Denver, CO
October 4 â Bakersfield, CA
October 5 â Las Vegas, NV
October 6 â Sandy, UT
October 7 â Rexburg, ID
October 12 â Boise, ID
October 13 â Moscow, ID
October 14 â Tacoma, WA