Multiplatinum entertainer and former Middle Tennessee State University student Chris Young returned to his hometown on Jan. 27 for the grand opening of a MTSU learning lab and live entertainment venue that bears his name.
The Chris Young Cafe, a renovated cafeteria tucked amid MTSU dormitories alongside the university’s library, also features an eye-catching “Famous Friends” outdoor mural honoring influential MTSU graduates and former students and faculty, plus a new Tennessee Music Pathways marker unveiled at the ceremony to mark Young’s success.
Young, an RCA Nashville country artist and member of the Grand Ole Opry, helped cut the blue ribbon to formally reveal the renovated facility on the campus where he spent time as an undergraduate student.
“So many things have happened in my career that I never expected, and really and truly, this Tennessee Music Pathways Marker is one of those things,” said Young, a Billboard Top 20 Country Artist of the Decade who attended MTSU in 2005.
“I remember standing on this campus trying to write music, meeting other people that I’ve continued to work alongside in music, and I am absolutely blown away. It’s an incredible honor,” Young continued. “This means the world to me . . . I hope everyone finds a use for this space. I really hope everyone enjoys it.”
The refurbished cafe, expanded from its previous 3,200 square feet of usable space to nearly 4,100 square feet, features a single large stage along its east-facing windows, backed by a custom LED video wall.
Visitors will find two club-type seating areas for listeners that feature artwork, framed gold and platinum records and other memorabilia.
Inside the facility, students will learn skills from nearly every facet of the business of entertainment: music business, audio production, songwriting, venue management, sound reinforcement and lighting and rigging, along with radio broadcasts, comedy shows and other events produced with help from all of MTSU’s academic colleges.
Young donated $50,000 to update the Woodmore Building as a teaching and rehearsal space for College of Media and Entertainment students and as a performance venue to put those students’ training to use.
“This cafe will serve as a catalyst for bringing people together and building community,” MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee said. “The Chris Young Cafe will encourage our students to dream bigger. Every time they see his name on the cafe, their aspirations will seem a little more obtainable, if they follow in his footsteps and work as hard as he has.”
Frank Baird, an assistant professor of audio production at MTSU and the director of the Chris Young Cafe, will teach three sections of his Sound Reinforcement course there this spring, plus an advanced class that delves deep into live event setup, performance and load-out.
“The cafe is a classroom for the live event production industry, which gives us a unique status,” Baird said, adding that it would complement the university’s recording studios and Tucker Theatre. “We’re trying to find a balance between using it during the day for classes and then have these labs in the evenings where we want to bring in bands and give the students more opportunities.”
McPhee also presented Young with a framed photo of the cafe’s mural, designed by Leslie Haines, a professor of visual communication in the college’s School of Journalism and Strategic Media, and Jonathan Coulter Trundle, a professor of photography in the Department of Media Arts.
