Country Singer Chris Young Arrested on Assault Charge in Nashville

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Country singer Chris Young has been arrested in Nashville.

Young, 38, was booked into the Nashville Metro jail on Monday, January 22, and charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and assault of an officer, Us Weekly can confirm. He was released on Tuesday, January 23, and is scheduled to appear in court on February 16.

The alleged incident took place after Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) agents walked into a bar on Demonbreun Street to complete a compliance check. Young was present, and allegedly began questioning the agents and recording video of them, according to court documents obtained by ABC news affiliate WKRN.

The agents then left and walked to a different establishment to perform another compliance check. When they went to leave, Young allegedly put his hands out to stop the agents from leaving the bar. One TABC agent claimed that Young then “struck” him on the shoulder and began “yelling and screaming.”

Us has reached out to Young for comment.

Young rose to prominence after winning season 4 of the USA singing competition Nashville Star in 2006. After his victory, he was signed to RCA Records Nashville and has released eight studio albums to date. Earlier this month, he announced his next record, Young Love & Saturday Nights, which is set to be released on March 22.

Metro Nashville PD
“It’s time. I’ve put a lot into this next one and I cannot wait for y’all to hear it,” he wrote via Instagram on January 12.

During an interview with the website RoughStock earlier this month, Young said the album is “a little louder [and] a little more raw” than his past releases.

“Even the stripped-down songs are heavier,” he said. “I love creating music and I love making it and the fact that I get to do that for a living is a pretty incredible thing.”

Before announcing his new album, Young released a single of the same name in July 2023. David Bowie is credited as one of the songwriters as the track borrows a guitar riff from the late musician’s 1974 single “Rebel Rebel.”

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“There are a lot of songs where people use something as a sample or have exactly the same melody or lyric. This is different,” Young told Rolling Stone in July 2023 of Bowie’s influence on the tune. “This is creating something new, with a nod to something that pre-existed. And if you get the reference, it just made the song even cooler for you. Just to have a song that has David Bowie listed as a songwriter is amazing.”

Some of Young’s other recognizable songs include “Gettin’ You Home,” “The Man I Want to Be” and his 2020 collaboration with Kane Brown, “Famous Friends.”