Chris Young has been vocal about his love and admiration for his father, who is technically his stepfather, Michael Harris. Although they may not be biologically related, Young thinks of him in every way as his parent, and someone whom he deeply respects.

“Everybody looks at us when they see us out, and they’re like, y’all look so much alike,'” Young says during a recent media event. “And I’m like, that’s weird, ’cause it’s actually my stepdad, but we do. It’s sort of … not creepy, but it is sort of strange. ‘Cause everybody will be like, ‘You all look so much alike,’ and we’re just like, ‘Yep, sure do. Thank you.’

“I take it as a compliment mainly because that’s the guy that proposed to my mom on Valentine’s Day,” he continues. “He had me and my sister come downstairs, and got our permission to marry my mom. And he’s the guy that raised me, the guy who has been through a whole lot.”

The Song On Chris Young’s ‘I Didn’t Come Here To Leave’ That Honors His Father

Young honors his father in “Just Keep Living,” a song from Young’s latest album, I Didn’t Come Here To Leave, which Young wrote with Chris DeStefano, Jason Duke, and Josh Hoge. The song is about Harris overcoming cancer. Through the scary health crisis, Young’s respect for Harris only deepened.

“This is a man that is extremely likable,” Young says. “Even if he’s gruff, and is like a man’s man. And he loves my mom absolutely to death, and loves me and my sister as well.”

Young asked Harris’s permission before putting “Just Keep Living” on I Didn’t Come Here To Leave.

“I had to ask his permission to put that on the record because it was so personal,” Young reveals. “I wrote that about his battle with cancer. I remember he looked at me, and the very first thing that he said was just basically telling me, my mom, and my sister that he had cancer. He walked out of the room, and my sister and my mom cried. I didn’t, because I was like, ‘All right, I’m the other man in the room. I got to be like locked in, right?’ They leave, he comes back, and I was like, ‘Dad, are you okay?’ I called him old man, but I asked him if he was all right.

“And he looked at me, and he was like, ‘Son, when I had the heart attack several years ago, they wheeled me back – and they do this because I’ve almost died before from a septic infection,” he continues. “They have one person look at you and say, ‘Say your prayers to whatever God you believe in, in case you don’t wake up.’ And he goes, ‘I prayed about you and your mom and your sister, and I knew you were gonna be okay. I felt a weight lift off of me. Because this is nothing. I’ve already dealt with that.'”

What Chris Young Says About His ‘I Didn’t Come Here To Leave’ Album

I Didn’t Come Here To Leave is Young’s tenth studio album, and his first on Black River Entertainment. It’s also the record he’s most proud to have made, and the one that feels the most like him.

“I am very, very excited about this record, and for a lot of reasons,” Young boasts. “Mainly the level of care that’s been given to this album. Not that any of my other albums in my career haven’t had that same level of care. It’s just that there’s something special about this one. I don’t know what it is. And it just makes me happy.

“I love going back and listening to it,” he remarks. “Normally, as an artist, I feel like a lot of us get done, and don’t go back and listen to it anymore. And I’m walking around to my friends, going, ‘Hey, listen to this. This is cool, right?’ So, I’m just excited. I think this record is special. and obviously the new relationship with Black River is pretty incredible.”

Photo Credit: John Shearer