''Famous Friends'' is the eighth studio album by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist Chris Young. It was released on August 6, 2021, by

RCA Records Nashville RCA Nashville is an American country music record label based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is distributed by Sony Music Nashville which is part of Sony Music. Artists Current artists *Kane Brown * Corey Kent * Nate Smith * Morgan Wade Former art ...

. It was preceded by the three singles " Raised on Country", "

Drowning Drowning is a type of Asphyxia, suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Submersion injury refers to both drowning and near-miss incidents. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where othe ...

" and the

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...

. " At the End of a Bar" would be released on September 13, 2021, as the album's fourth single. Young co-wrote all but two of the songs on the album overall.

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 "

" on September 23, 2019 and " Famous Friends" on November 20, 2020, Young announced after the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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 former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

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 Lauren Alaina Kristine Suddeth (born November 8, 1994) is an American singer and songwriter from Rossville, Georgia. She was the runner-up on the tenth season of ''American Idol.'' Her debut studio album, ''Wildflower,'' was released on October ...

– duet vocals on "Town Ain't Big Enough" *Cary Barlowe –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

, background vocals *

Kane Brown Kane Allen Brown (born October 21, 1993) is an American country music singer and songwriter. First garnering a mass following on social media, he released his debut extended play (EP) ''Closer (Kane Brown EP), Closer'' in June 2015, and followe ...

– duet vocals on "Famous Friends" *

Sarah Buxton Sarah Jane Buxton (born July 3, 1980) is an American country music singer formerly signed to the independent Lyric Street Records. Between 2006 and 2008, she issued three singles from an extended play titled '' Almost My Record'', in addition t ...

– background vocals * Dave Cohen –

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

, piano,

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

*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 Christopher Michael DeStefano is a Grammy Award-winning American singer/songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist currently living in Nashville. As a songwriter, he has multiple #1 songs with artists Carrie Underwood ( “Good Girl ...

– background vocals *

Hillary Lindsey Hillary Lee Lindsey (born August 11, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She has written songs with or for a number of artists including Michelle Branch, Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Shakira, Lady A, Gary Allan, Sara Evans, Carrie Unde ...

– background vocals *Tony Lucido – bass guitar *

Mac McAnally Lyman Corbitt McAnally Jr. (; born July 15, 1957), known professionally as Mac McAnally, is an American singer-songwriter, session musician, and record producer. In his career, he has recorded ten studio albums and eight singles. Two of his sing ...

– acoustic guitar *Rob McNelley – electric guitar *Miles McPherson – drums *

Shay Mooney Dan + Shay is an American country pop duo composed of vocalists and songwriters Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney. They are signed to Warner Records Nashville and have released six albums, '' Where It All Began'', '' Obsessed'', ''Dan + Shay'', ''Goo ...

– background vocals *Russell Terrell – background vocals *

Derek Wells Derek M. Wells (born 28 November 1946) is a former Canadian politician who served as the Liberal member of Parliament for the riding of South Shore from 1993 to 1997. Early life and education Born in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Wells grad ...

– electric guitar *Alex Wright – B-3 organ,

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

, piano, synthesizer,

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

* 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 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 a gui ...

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

Ashley Gorley Ashley Gorley (born April 29, 1977) is an American songwriter, publisher, and producer from Danville, Kentucky, who is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Gorley has written 81 number 1 songs and has over 400 songs recorded by artists including Luke ...

– background vocals *

Mitchell Tenpenny James Mitchell Tenpenny III (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 '' Tellin ...

– 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 Danny Rader (born November 1, 1981) is a musician from Panama City, Florida. Born into a musical family, he began to play drums at age 2 and branched out into bass, guitar and piano in his early teens. Later he incorporated bouzouki, mandolin, b ...

– acoustic guitar *Scotty Sanders –

steel guitar A steel guitar () 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 conventional guitar i ...

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

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

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