Chris Young is on the radio with his new hit, “Voices” — and one voice that he was thrilled to hear this morning was that of buddy Justin Moore, Chris’ co-host at the press conference announcing seven of the 12 categories of final nominees for the 44th Annual CMA Awards. One of the categories Justin announced was New Artist of the Year, and one of the names that Justin read was “Chris Young”! It’s Chris’ first-ever CMA nomination, and we caught up with him after the press conference to get his reactions! (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

• Chris and Justin revealed the inital CMA category nominees in Nashville this morning at the Ryman Auditorium. Miranda Lambert — who picked up five nominations already today! — and Dierks Bentley will be in New York City tomorrow to announce the nominees for the remaining categories on ABC’s Good Morning America.

  Chris Young shares his reaction to his CMA New Artist of the Year nomination, which was announced by his buddy Justin Moore. (:20)
“It was just pretty awesome for me. I mean, anytime you get nominated for anything…I’ve actually never been nominated for a CMA award before, so this is really cool for me, and especially ’cause me and Justin are buddies, so I’m sittin’ there watching who he’s reading, going, ‘Okay, I know that I have a possibility of being in this category.’ So it was cool when he said my name.”

  Chris Young says that a CMA nomination has been a longtime dream. (:31)
“Oh, absolutely. One of the things that was always so cool with the CMA awards was that I’ve been, you know, as a kid, and I watched ’em, you know, obviously. But bein’ from Nashville, it was easy for me, if I could get a ticket, to go watch them and be there in the house and see the award show. It was just always something, I was like, ‘Man, maybe one day I’ll actually get to be a part of that,’ other than just sittin’ out in the house and watching other people hear their names called. It is something that’s really important to me, especially growing up here.”

  Chris Young says that the feeling of getting his first CMA nod is everything he thought it would be. (:31)
“Any time you hear your name called for something like this, it’s a good day. I mean, it’s just a great feeling. It’s one of those things that, really to be recognized like this as an artist, it means a lot to you. And especially me, being that it’s my first CMA nomination, and all the stuff that goes with that, it’s just a little extra. You know, everybody is always excited to hear their name, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard my name called for this. So, it’s a really big deal for me, and it feels just as good as I thought it would. It’s pretty awesome.”

  Chris Young looks back at his career so far to share what’s made him proudest leading up to his first CMA nomination. (:70)
“Probably the thing that I’m most proud of is just really how everybody else has treated my career. I’ve always been really excited and just proud to be on RCA and proud to be able to have my music heard, you know? I get to go in the studio and work with people like [producer] James Stroud and make records and, you know, write songs with all these fantastic songwriters and make videos. There’s just, like, moments where you stop and you’re like, you know, ‘I get to do this.’ This is what I’ve always wanted to do, and what I’ve always been excited about doing. And probably the coolest thing is everybody else, you know? Everybody at my label that’s believed in me…you know, all my fans stuck with me for four-and-a-half years. So, it’s cool to look down and see people that have really been in your corner for so long and how excited they are. I think about how excited I am, and then I’ll have people come up that are just as excited as me, or just fans outside looking in, they’re just really proud. It’s something special that there’s a lot of people that I don’t know have that kind of connection with their fans, and I’m just really lucky that I’ve got people like that in my corner.”

  Chris Young says he’d love it if he got to sing on the CMA Awards, even though it can be a little intense singing in front of so many big stars. (:20) 
“Well, I mean, you know, I’ve been in the seats behind them for so long, it’s gonna be a little awkward ’cause I’m just used to staring at the back of their head, goin’, ‘That’s George Strait up there, that is the back of George Strait’s head, I know that’s George Strait.’ So, I think it’ll be awesome! I’ll be looking out into the crowd, if I get a chance to do that. So, I love performing, and that’s something I’m always excited to do. So that’d be awesome.”

  Chris Young laughs that sometimes one word just seems to sum up the day! (:05)
“And if I said ‘awesome’ any more in this interview, it’d be ridiculous. ‘Cause it’s awesome!” (laughs)