Chris Young Carves Out Afternoon for Fan Club Party During CMA Music Festival

Not even a hectic touring schedule could keep Chris Young away from spending an afternoon with his fans during the 2012 CMA Music Festival. The singer held his annual fan club gathering at the Ernest Tubb Record Shop’s Texas Troubadour Theatre on Thursday (June 7).

Fans packed into an intimate setting to see Young perform many of his hit singles — as well as a few unexpected covers — while joking and mingling with the loyal fans who have supported him for many years. Guests were in for an added bonus, as Young brought along some of his singing pals to help entertain the crowd, including Frankie Ballard and hit songwriter Billy Yates.

Following his performance, Young met with his fan club members for several hours, spending that special one-on-one time with each of them — and they all walked away with smiles on their faces.

In years past, Young’s fan club celebration has fallen deeper into the CMA Music Festival week, but his current opening slot on Miranda Lambert‘s On Fire Tour has him missing out on most of the weekend’s activities around town. Still, this event was a priority to fit into his tight schedule.

“All together, if you count the signing and the individualization of seeing every person, talking to them and everything else, you’re looking at probably a good six hours invested in a day,” Young told Taste of Country at the party. “It is important to me to find the time for it because this is something I like to do to give back to my fans for being so active. They do a lot of stuff … they vote for me on countdowns and call radio and they do all that stuff.”

He adds, “They’re really one of the only reasons I get to play music for a living and get to go do these awesome shows and be part of these tours and have records go gold … it’s a nice way for me to kind of say ‘thank you’ to them. That’s why it’s so important to me that every year I do this. Obviously with CMA Fest and everybody being in town anyway, it’s the perfect time to do it.”