Chris Young is a smart guy smart enough to know which way the country winds are blowing in 2013 Positioned as a bit of a traditionalist ever since he won Nashville Star in 2005 Young now makes a modern move with 2013&s AM brightening up his sound by leaning on cheerful chipper pop hooks & a production so gleaming it shows his reflection; he has even chosen to smile on his album cover for the first time ever Certainly it&s hard to shake the impression that Young has been rocked by the success of Luke Bryan whose amiable bro-next-door party-hearty persona permeates every part of AM that isn&t devoted to ballads Those slow sometimes melodramatic songs remain Young&s specialty & although they&re often somewhat glossier here than they&ve been before -- there&s a greater emphasis on echoing guitars the kind that can fill an arena -- they feel like they belong to an older different artist than the one that&s showcased on the rest of AM an album so steeped in modern vernacular that one of the centerpieces is a song called