New Music: Chris Stapleton Debut

He may not have a song in this week’s Top 30, but you definitely know Chris Stapleton’s music.  He’s written several multi-week #1 hits, like “Never Wanted Nothin’ More” for Kenny Chesney, and “Drink A Beer” by Luke Bryan.  He’s also on the road now with Eric Church.   Now Chris Stapleton has put together an album of music for himself.  The album is called Traveller, and Country Countdown USA spoke with Chris about it.

Chris wrote Luke Bryan’s hit “Drink A Beer” after the death of his father.  That same event inspired this album’s title song “Traveller.” “I wrote that song driving through the desert in a head clearing move, and thinking about life and how we’re all just passing through it. That’s where that song came from.”

Chris’s father was a Kentucky coal miner.  When he died, he left behind his wife, and Chris’s mother.  We wondered what Chris’s mother thought when she heard the song.  Chris said, “You know, my mother is a woman of few words. I’ve never actually a gotten a verbal reaction to the record from her. She watches what I do, but we’ve never discussed it.  Maybe I should discuss the record with her.  We’ll see what she thinks of it.  Maybe she’ll speak up and render an opinion.  She was married to my dad for 43 years, and misses him very much every day, and she’s working on finding a new routine for life.”

We noticed the title song is spelled with two “L”s, rather than the conventional “traveler.”  The dictionary says both are acceptable, but we asked Chris why he chose to spell “Traveller” this way: “That’s the old English spelling, and I just liked it better.  I think it looks better with two Ls.  When there are two spellings, I like the older one.  It’s like why would we change the spelling?  It seemed like the way this particular traveler should be spelled.”

Chris wrote 12 of the 14 songs on the album.  One of the songs is a cover of the George Jones classic “Tennessee Whiskey,” done in a blues style.  I asked Chris how that came about: “If you’re going to do a Jones song, you’re not going to out-Jones Jones.  So if you’re going to cover something, and can’t take it to a new place, you shouldn’t do it at all.  That was a happy accident.  We were playing a show in Charlottesville VA, and the band was vamping on that groove, and I wanted to sing something on top of that groove.  So I started singing that song.  We played it that night, and every night ever since, and wasn’t planned to be on the album, but it found it’s way in there.  The writer Dean Dillon gave his thumbs up on it, so I think we did OK.  I feel better about it, I have a fun time singing it, it’s one of my favorite songs, and something I hold in high regard.”

You recorded this record in an historic studio RCA Studio A.  How’d that happen?  “It was another happy accident.  My producer and I usually record in the Sound Emporium (built by the legendary Cowboy Jack Clement), but it was booked.  So we were looking around, and RCA Studio A was mentioned.  At the time, it was slated for demolition.  So I said we should go there.  I’d never set foot in it.  He said ‘It has a sound.’  I said I don’t care, we should do it.  That should be our room, because it’s the last one left, and it’s not going to be here anymore.  It was the best accident that ever happened to me.  There’s something in the walls, it’s a magical place.  If you haven’t recorded there, it needs to be on your musical bucket list.  It’s a magical place, and I’m glad we’re saving it.

Category: New Artist