Brett Young Names Tim McGraw as Reason He's a Country Music Fan

Brett Young is quickly becoming a big name in country music, but for him, there's one star who will always be one of the most important names in the genre.

During a recent interview with PopCulture.com, Young revealed how he first became interested in country music, crediting Tim McGraw with sparking his passion for the Nashville way.

"The guy that got me into country music in the first place is Tim McGraw," Young shared. "I heard "Don't Take the Girl" before anybody in Southern California was really listening to country music, and it made me fall in love with the storytelling in country music. It's a reason that I'm a country music fan. It's the reason I do this for a living now."

The 38-year-old has since met McGraw, calling it "an amazing experience" and naming the star as the one person he'd love to collaborate with in the future.

While working with McGraw is still a dream for Young, the California native recently got to team up with another one of his personal heroes when he collaborated with Gavin DeGraw on a track for Young's new album, Ticket to L.A.

"That was probably to date the coolest thing I've gotten to do," Young shared. "We didn't go into the process thinking he was going to be on the record, we just wanted to write one together. And just getting to write with him and to write my story was a bucket list item in itself."

The result of the pair's writing session was "Chapters," which finds Young detailing his personal journey, from his childhood with his father to his baseball career-ending injury and eventual move to music.

"Every bit of that song was a huge — not just bucket list, but life — moment," Young said. "I'm so proud of that song to be able to talk about my dad in the song and talk about getting ready to mature. All of that, everything that led to music was really special for me."

The "Here Tonight" singer's second album recently debuted at No. 1, and Young shared that while he's thrilled to have seen such success with his music, he also appreciates the opportunities he's been offered in other areas as well.

"I don't know if everybody's like me, but I set my expectations at a reasonable place," he said. "I don't like to shoot for the moon and then get close to the moon and be a little bit disappointed. I set what I think are reasonable goals and to have the music be successful, that's one thing. But it kind of provides you platforms that you never thought you would get because you're writing good songs. And you get to do so much more. And be involved in so many more things than just music if you have success musically. And I think that's the thing that has been most incredible."

Photo Credit: Getty / Erika Goldring