Young navigates the detours on winding road to stardom

Chris Young has spent the past 15 years hitchhiking his way through the country-music landscape.

He packed his bags in high school, when the young country singer released his first album, before heading out the door to college at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, his hometown.

Young's career idled by the roadside while he sang in an Arlington, Texas, dance hall, where his coworkers suggested he try out for the USA Network show “Nashville Star.”

With his signature black cowboy hat and penchant for slow ballads, he snagged a victory in 2006 and a record deal from RCA.

While his major-label debut maxed out at No. 3 in country-album sales, the next several years saw him back out on the road, reminding audiences of his name.

Finally, in 2011, he topped the Billboard country-music chart with “Neon,” which stuck to traditional elements such as slide guitar Who: Chris Young Where: Value City Arena, West Lane Avenue and Olentangy River Road Contact: 1-800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com Showtime: 7:30 p.m. Thursday Tickets: $40 to $60

and syrupy lyrics at a time when peers such as Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line snuck clap tracks and “oh-ohs” into their party anthems.

Despite sales success, Young stayed put as the opening act — including Jason Aldean’s October show at Value City Arena — until this year, when he sold out the first 20 shows of his debut arena tour. He'll perform tonight at Value City Arena.

The slow build, while irksome, isn't unusual, he acknowledged.

“I think there’s always points in anybody's career where they get frustrated,” Young, 32, said. “If you never got to a point where you’re frustrated, I don’t know where you’re setting your bar.”

His bar went up a notch after guitarist Vince Gill invited him to join the Grand Ole Opry in August. The singer couldn’t contain his excitement, lifting Gill off the floor.

Young teared up before taking a moment to collect himself by the piano in order to perform “Sober Saturday Night,” a duet with Gill that went platinum last year.

Earning an Opry induction at a relatively young age is an especially thrilling achievement.

“Obviously, just with the level of history involved with that place and how big an honor it is for a country artist, (I’m) very, very beyond excited,” he said. “I don’t even know if that’s enough words.”

A few days before his official induction in late October, Young released his seventh album, “Losing Sleep.”

He admitted that his voice, so deep that George Strait could be his grandfather, will never change, but he took a stab at pop in the title track.

With an intro reminiscent of Justin Bieber’s 2015 smash “Love Yourself” and the aforementioned clap track, he edges slightly out of country range.

In small ways — swapping his cowboy hat for a black baseball cap emblazoned with his lucky number, 7 — and in more noticeable ones — his black-and-white album cover looks more like a GQ shoot than anything in Country Music magazine — Young has been moving in this direction for several years.

Still, most of “Losing Sleep” sticks to his wheelhouse, including the breakup ballad “Where I Go When I Drink.”

“I think that song would sit if you time travel it three albums backwards,” he said.

Young writes all of his own songs, enlisting the help of a co-writer or two to add fresh ears.

Sometimes he leads the sessions, and other times he doesn’t even bring a guitar. Writing comes naturally to the singer, who said that he has written songs in 40 minutes.

His songwriting started at age 14, when he wrote “She’s the One,” a romantic song that he admitted was lousy.

No matter the quality or popularity, though, Young will keep crafting choruses.

“Even if I never cut any of my songs, I’d still keep writing,” he said.