NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Country music megastar Chris Young, on stage before a packed house at Blake Shelton’s Ole Red on Lower Broadway, didn’t mince words about his love for Middle Tennessee State University.
“One of my favorite places on the face of this planet was MTSU,” Young said of his alma mater in a Q&A interview with Alison Hudak, editor of Nashville Lifestyles, before the magazine’s Music in the City event on Feb. 7. “I’m very lucky and very grateful to have had the chance to work with everyone from that university.”
“You hear so many people, so many times, not reference where they went to school,” Young told the crowd. “Everyone that I know that went to MTSU always just sings their praises — and I love that university. I’m just grateful that I grew up in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and got to go somewhere like that.”
The Music in the City event is one of several marking the 50th anniversary of the university’s storied Recording Industry program, which helped launch the careers of music stars like Young, as well as recent MTSU graduate and country artist Jaelee Roberts, who opened the show.
Watch a clip from Young’s remarks and a special MTSU presentation in his honor followed by a short clip from Roberts’ performance:
MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee and Beverly Keel, dean of the College of Media and Entertainment, joined Young on stage. They presented Young with a framed photo montage of students using the Chris Young Café, a campus entertainment venue and classroom laboratory. Young’s financial support helped open the café.
“You are one of our shining stars,” McPhee said. “You are incredible and I have been blessed to know you and call you a friend.”
Keel called Young “one of a kind,” adding, “Who you are as a person is who we hope our students become. You’re a great artist and you’re an even better man.”
Roberts was introduced to the Ole Red crowd by Odie Blackman, one of her professors in Recording Industry, as a “future country music star.”
In an interview with Nashville Lifestyles, Roberts said her degree “absolutely helped me become a better, more prepared artist, with an understanding of all aspects of the music business.”
She also said she received “a great deal of support from faculty and I know they will always be there cheering me on and helping anyway they can.”
Young and Roberts spent time with about 20 Media and Entertainment students before the show, answering questions about their careers and the industry and taking photos with them.
From the stage, Young pointed to the framed montage that McPhee gave him and shouted out, “MTSU students, just know this is what happens when you go there.”
— Andrew Oppmann (Andrew.Oppmann@mtsu.edu)
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