Boyz II Men, Gavin DeGraw Join Brett Young On Christmas Special

Brett Young will be hosting his very own CMT TV special, CMT Country Christmas: Brett Young & Friends on December 8th on CMT.

It's based on his new album, Brett Young & Friends Sing the Christmas Classics. Not everyone from the album was able to make it to the special, but that gave him the opportunity to collaborate with some other artists. “Just because of travel, we weren’t able to have all of the artists that sang on the record come be on the special, but we were able to fill those spots. And Boyz II Men weren’t on the record but Boyz II Men are on the Christmas special. And Gavin DeGraw is not on the record but he’s on the Christmas special. It was incredible. We got there the first day for rehearsals, and my manager said, ‘Can you believe you already have your own special?’ And I said, ‘Already? How many people never get one?’"

Gavin DeGraw is a particularly significant guest; as Brett said in a 2017 interview, after suffering a career-ending baseball injury, he had to figure out what to do next, and DeGraw's music provided some inspiration. "I felt like I had all this creative energy that I needed to put somewhere. And I knew I wasn't going to get a desk job, I'm way too ADD for that. And so, Gavin's [2003 Chariot] record came out, and I had to choose whether I was going to sulk around and be depressed about this elbow injury and the fact that I couldn't play baseball anymore, or if I was going to get excited about something else. And I really just enjoyed his songwriting. And I picked up my guitar and started writing."

The special will also feature some of Brett’s friends who appear on his Christmas album, including Darius Rucker and Maddie & Tae.