Chris Young is doing his part to help a musician in need. Nashville artist Sam Hayes had his guitar damaged by United Airlines on a flight. The airline offered to replace it, once Hayes purchased a new one, a costly expense. Fortunately, Young came to the rescue.
“Somebody with an orange jumper that was working the tarmac came in holding the guitar in a case upside down with a thousand pieces in it,” Hayes recalls to WSMV. “Your heart drops. It’s part of what you do and who you are. You fall in love with these guitars and they just become an extension of you.”
Hayes was still unsure what to do, when he received a phone call from Young.
“He said, ‘Do you want an Epiphone or a Gibson?’” Hayes remembers. “And for those that don’t know, there’s a massive difference between the two price-wise. I laughed and he said, ‘No, I’m not kidding. Which one do you want?’”
For Young, it was just a chance for him to pay forward what someone had done for him, years ago.
“A long time ago, when I was living in Texas, I had my guitar broken on a flight,” Young recalls. “I know what that feels like, so I was just trying to help out a friend. In the country music industry, we try to take care of each other. I hope one day someone else will repay in kindness after hearing about this.”
Young told Hayes there was a guitar waiting for him at Carter Vintage Guitars.
“It’s a very common occurrence that guitars get smashed by airlines,” Sales Manager Henry Conlon says, “So to have someone have that piece of them taken away is always hard to see. It was nice to be able to be a part of helping to make that right.”
Hayes shared a video of himself on social media, at Carter Vintage Guitars, after receiving Young’s generous gift.
“He just paid for it out of pocket,” Hayes says. “He told me to go pick it up today. I had an Epiphone and he decided that wasn’t good enough. Ended up swinging me this beautiful cherry red Gibson SJ 200. This is an absolute dream guitar for me. I’m just blown away by Chris’s generosity, and everybody reaching out. I want to say thanks. A big shoutout to Chris Young for giving me an absolute dream guitar. I don’t have the words to explain how much this has impacted me and my family.”
Hayes hopes that by going public with his story airlines will change their policies regarding musicians with instruments. He also wants to shine a light on the kind of person Young is, and what he does without any fanfare.
“That just goes to show who Chris is, and how he understands just the whole community and what music is to the folks that do it for a job and a dream chase,” Hayes says.
Young is back at radio with “‘Til the Last One Dies,” the debut single from his forthcoming new album on Black River Entertainment. Find “‘Til The Last One Dies” and all of Young’s music and upcoming shows at ChrisYoungCountry.com.