Brett Young performs at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s A&B Amphitheater and Yokouchi Pavilion on Sunday at 7 p.m. Gates open at 5:30 p.m.
Since releasing his debut single “Sleep Without You” in 2016, Brett Young has become one of country music’s biggest stars, winning over fans with his soulful vocals, romantic lyrics, and memorable songs.
Praised by Rolling Stone as “one of country’s most consistent radio stars,” Young’s latest album “Across the Sheets,” released in the summer of 2023, continues his winning streak.
Among the highlights, it opened with the love song “Dance With You,” a tribute to his wife Taylor, and was accompanied by a charming video featuring footage of their wedding day. While it was personal in nature, Young explained his songs have universal appeal.
“The whole idea behind the song was to write something about those things in your life that you don’t necessarily care for, but there’s one person that you’re willing to do them with to make them happy,” he said. “For me, it’s dancing. But I think for everybody in relationships, they have those things that aren’t necessarily their first choice, but if their significant other enjoys them, they’re willing to step out of their comfort zone.”
Young has described “Dance With You,” as his most adventurous album, especially “musically first of all,” he explained. “It strays a little bit towards singer-songwriter in some of the songs, which is getting back to my roots. That’s pretty much what I was doing in Los Angeles before I moved to Nashville. The other thing is, I don’t know that sexy will ever be the right word, but I think this is as close as we get to sexy topically with my stories. Now that I’m married and we’ve got babies and stuff, I wanted to kind of loosen and liven it up a little bit.”
The album closed with a cover of Tim McGraw’s classic “Don’t Take The Girl,” which was the song Young heard that initially inspired his love for country. “It’s the song that made me fall in love with country music as a fan,” he recalled. “Growing up in Southern California, country music didn’t really have much of a footprint in the early ’90s. I was so late to the game with Tim McGraw and Shania Twain and Garth Brooks in the early ’90s. That was the beginning of what I would call pop country, and then we went full pop country. Then there was a stretch where we had that bro country. I feel country music has gotten back to its roots in the last couple of years and I’ve recently started going back and diving into the George Jones of the world and things like that.”
A former University of Mississippi baseball pitcher, Young began honing his songwriting after an elbow injury halted his professional dreams. Self-releasing a couple EPs, he signed with a major label and scored a No. 1 hit with “In Case You Didn’t Know.” The winner of the 2018 Academy of Country Music Awards’ New Male Artist of the Year, his self-titled debut album, sold over a million copies. His subsequent hits include “Mercy,” “Sleep Without You,” “Like I Loved You,” “Here Tonight,” “Catch,” and “Lady.”
“I played baseball all my life, and it looked like that was going to be my future,” he said. “I was going to get to do something that I love to make a living. Then I got injured, and it didn’t work. When music became an option as a career, I realized that was something else that I was in love with. When it started working out, I realized that getting on stage all the way down to writing the song in its infancy, every part of that process is something that I love. It’s not the attention that you get on stage. It’s the fact that I get to love what I do and call it work. That’s my favorite thing about it, and that wouldn’t be possible without the incredible fans that we have.
“One of the things that you can really do as a songwriter is let people know that they’re not alone. You have a rare and unique opportunity with every song you put out to speak to people, and that’s a special thing.”
Following tour dates in Hawaii, Young will head to Europe in May. “It’s very similar to Hawaii in the way they are very excited to get country music when they get it,” he noted. “They’re grateful for it. Shows sell out as soon as we can put them on sale. We’re playing Belfast for the first time, and it sold out so quickly that we had to book a second date there, and we’ve never even been there. It’s really encouraging and flattering. It’s not very different from the way we feel when we come to Hawaii. There’s not a ton of country artists making their way over there, so when you go, everybody’s really grateful to have you.”
Brett Young performs at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s A&B Amphitheater and Yokouchi Pavilion on Sunday at 7 p.m. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $59.50 and $99.50 for VIP, plus applicable fees. All tickets are general admission (with no seats provided). Prices increase the day of the show. Seating is first come first serve on the bleachers. No beach chairs, strollers or items with frames are allowed. All VIP ticket holders receive access to front of stage and access to the Yokouchi Pavilion bars and restrooms.
Brett Young performs at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s A&B Amphitheater and Yokouchi Pavilion on Sunday at 7 p.m. Gates open at 5:30 p.m.Today's breaking news and more in your inbox
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