Dan + Shay made peace with time

“It was a very life-giving process, writing this record,” says Shay Mooney from his home in Nashville. “I feel like all the hours that we spent putting into writing and recording this record, I feel like I gained something from that. It was not a draining thing.” With a couple of days off in between shows, Shay and band mate Dan Smyers have jumped on the phone to chat through the near fifteen-year career that has led them to new album Young, an intimate and reflective record born out of the toughest period in their professional lives. Since releasing their debut album Where It All Began in 2014, the duo have been on a continuous, gradual ascent, clocking in milestones with gold and platinum records, eight American Music Awards and three consecutive wins at the Grammys for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. “In the world that we live in today a lot of times you have to have this big viral moment to get started and for us, we tried to have a steady climb,” says Shay. “We never had this just massive moment. We were out there, opening up shows for anybody who would let us come out and we were trying to write the best songs we could. We started to stack up some number ones on country r...