One Liner: Literally saving country music
Poster Position: Headliner!
Both Weekends
Friday at 8:30.
AmEx Stage.
Thoughts: Why aren't the headliners starting at 8? I want a full two hour set from the best thing on the poster, dammit!
I unreservedly love this guy. I am piecing together the review below from a bunch of sources, because I have already written a lot about him. I was trying to add it up and I think I have seen him play live 5 times so far. I think that is right.
Before I get to the albums, I want to start back at the beginning for me. I first found out about Stapleton through a friend who played "Whiskey and You" for me on the back porch of a little cabin in the Hill Country while we watched a massive rainstorm pound a canyon wall in front of us. Which was a cool time in itself, but that song just clicked and made me want more. I think the thing about him that makes him so different and amazing is the pure soul that just seeps out of his voice. He's not trying to do some affected "country" voice like half of the new country guys these days. He's just belting out pure vocal honey over the top of his seriously legit guitar.
So, he moved to Nashville from Kentucky when he was 18, in order to attend Vanderbilt and get an engineering degree. How bad ass is that? Vanderbilt is hard as hell to get in to in the first place, but much less their engineering department (although, he was the valedictorian of his high school). His dad was an engineer in the coal mines back home in KY. But because he is amazing, he dropped out to pursue his music. He signed with a label and started writing songs for other folks, but in 2007 he became the frontman for a bluegrass band called The Steeldrivers. They are fine, not nearly as good as his solo shizz, but they are fine. But by 2013 he was doing his own thing.
His first album was 2015's Traveller. This album is fantastic. His voice and tone are a little more bluesy than expected in country, but he also cranks out a pretty legit old school country sound, plus some Springsteen-esque tunes as well (see "Fire Away," particularly the intro). "Whiskey and You," "Daddy Doesn't Pray Anymore," "Fire Away," these are all really great songs. "Daddy Doesn't Pray" has stuck in my head for days - "guess he finished talkin' to the Lord" gets me. Maybe maudlin, but it is beautiful. Love that song. Here is the title song from the album. 200.9 million streams.
Sounds very much like an old Austin staple, someone that would open for Arc Angels, Los Lobos, or Lyle Lovett comfortably on any given night. I listened to it multiple times while mobile for a few hours the other day, and I love it. "Whiskey and You" is a killer lover's lament - I can't decide whether that is the best song on this album over "Daddy Doesn't Pray," but either of them is a well-written gem. "Whiskey and You" has 120.7 millionm streams, most of them by me.
"One's the devil, one keeps driving me insane, sometimes I wonder, oh, if they ain't both the same." I want to sing that in full throat at any given time. It's not just the boss lyrics, the sound is just soulful and strong and warm. "Devil Named Music," a brutal indictment of missing out while out on the road. "Outlaw State of Mind" and "Might as Well Get Stoned" are the tough guy tunes, but also great. Now I'm just apparently going to name every song on the album. He also runs out a cover - "Tennessee Whiskey" - that hews too much to country formula (feels lame to sing "you're as smooth as Tennessee Whiskey, sweet as strawberry wine" after the rest of these great lyrics), but has, predictably become his biggest song. 1 BILLION streams.
Nice tune, although I prefer his original tunes quite a bit more than that one. In addition to getting to work on his solo albums, according to Wikipedia, over 150 of his songs have appeared on albums by folks like Adele, Darius Rucker, Tim McGraw, Luke Bryan, and Brad Paisley. He also worked with Justin Timberlake, John Mayer, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, the list is crazy. He's had at least 4 #1s for other artists.
This debut album, which was released in 2015, won a bunch of the CMT awards - Best Male Vocalist, New Artist of the Year, and Album of the Year. He also won the Grammys for Best Country Album and Best Country Solo Performance. I don't know if you recall his performance at the Grammys that year, with Gary Clark, Jr. and Bonnie Raitt. Electric and good stuff.
I should move on to the next album, but this was the disc I personally ranked as my #3 album of all of the 2010's. I think "Daddy Doesn't Pray Anymore" is a killer track. So great. 34.9 million.
Those lyrics just kill me, man. Couldn't sound more like a country anthem, with prayer, and daddy, and a break between the two. Oh, and then I also found a Tiny Desk for Stapleton, which is excellent.
Hell yes. That L.A. Nights track ("When the Stars Come Out") is good stuff too. Cool tidbit about that video, that is his wife, country singer Morgane Stapleton, doing some sweet harmonies with him in the Tiny Desk. Love it.
I loved his show in 2016, and then after that, I was lucky enough to get to go see him do an ACL TV show taping. It was fucking outrageous. I was seriously blown away by just how amazingly good the Stapleton ACL taping was. Other than the Paul Simon one, I'm pretty sure I've never been to an ACL taping that affected me more. It helped that I was in good seats and with three people who were likewise having a blast, but the music and performance was top notch.
(holy damn, that video is the saddest shit I've ever seen. WTF. Why am I tearing up right now?)
His voice is just something else. He can go from the most tender ballad (like the absolutely stunning "Whiskey and You" that he did last night, or the excellent "Daddy Doesn't Pray Anymore," that he sadly didn't include in his set) to a soulful jam like "Broken Halos" or "Traveller" to the most raucous barn-burning rocker like "Nobody to Blame" or "Might as Well Get Stoned." He can do a fine falsetto, a powerful, soulful tenor, and drop it down into baritone when needed. I just feel like all the emotions are packed right into that voice. I must have shown my wife the goosebumps on my arms 5 times at the taping.
Surprisingly, his guitar work is damn good as well. At one point, one of his solos got me to thinking about Stevie Ray Vaughan. I mean, his playing on the albums is fine, but damn, when you watch him peeling notes from the strings with all the love and soulful soft touch in the world, I mean, he can jam. And shred as well, they got into a jam circle at one point that was pretty legit. He literally switched guitars between every single tune, and one of the friends I had brought with me was geeking out in a major way, talking about how rare it was to see a Jazzmaster being played like that, or how it was rare for a Telecaster to have a black head, or OMG a hollowbody (something-or-other, I dunno, he got real excited). The band was super basic, just drums, bass, and Stapleton handling lead vocals and guitar, but they were strong as hell. He also had his wife up there singing the harmonies with him, and she was just endearing as can be, watching him do his thing and joining in to accent the vocals. So lovely (I just wish her mike had been turned up a touch higher).
My only other beef with the entire show was how businesslike Stapleton was. Other than saying "Thanks" or "Maybe I should move to Austin," he pretty much said nothing. Never introduced his band or his wife. Never mentioned that he has a new album coming out soon. He did respond to a big woohoo! that came from the upper decks at one point, but generally, he just charged forward into the next track and then said thanks. Which, on one hand, I respect because some bands can talk too damn much from the stage. But on the other hand, a little bit of banter and humanization is very cool at the ACL tapings.
2017 saw the first of his From a Room albums. He apparently named them that to reference Nashville's RCA Studio A. Which is a dumb ass reason to name these two albums that same thing. Really? Again, the guy can freaking wail, and keeps the flame of traditional country alive in a way that makes me still able to say that I like country music, despite all the absolute garbage that passes for country these days. The lovely balladry of something like "Either Way," or the rocking shake of "Second One to Know," or the great covers like "Last Thing I Needed, First Thing this Morning," all are so good. I'll give you the album opener, because it is the one that gets stuck in my head and won't leave. Here is "Broken Halos," which has 415.4 million streams.
Tuneful, pretty, soulful, and well-written, just sounds like a classic. If you are into Kenny Chesney or something, then I get that you wouldn't enjoy, but so long as you enjoy country (or even country leaning rock) then you should enjoy this album too. He won his second CMA Album of the Year for this one as well, while "Broken Halos" won Song and Single of the Year at the CMAs. He won Male Vocalist of the Year for the fourth time.
Also in 2017, hey, more songs that were recorded in a room! Who knew?! Songs from a Room Vol 2 was released in late 2017. While I wish he had stuck this album together with Vol. 1 to make life even better, it's still excellent on its own. The album opener, "Millionaire," is another smooth sailing track of soulful country goodness, then the second track ("Hard Livin'") kicks in some classic outlaw country swagger. I love Stapleton's ability to go from down-low, low-down blues like "Nobody's Lonely Tonight" into a drinking/stoned rock swagger track like "Tryin' to Untangle My Mind" or "Midnight Train to Memphis."
This next video isn't the most popular track on the album (that would be "Millionaire" at 247.5 million streams) but it is a really sweet one. " A Simple Song," which has just 79.3 million streams.
The title is perfect, it's just a simply plucked little tune, supporting a classic country sentiment of happiness despite things not being perfect.
Next is 2020's Starting Over. The opening track, which is also the title track, is magic made with his wife. 352.6 million streams.
Unbelievably sweet to think about getting to sing that song with your wife manning the piano and singing harmonies with you. Just a perfect picture. "You Should Probably Leave" ended up with more streams, at 497.2, but the whole disc is, as usual, good stuff.
His discography gets a little weird in here, maybe the pandemic led him to some odd new places. He has a song with Tom Morello that sounds like shit. HIs cover of "Nothing Else Matters" for the Blacklist compilation is cool. The Santana one is kind of fine. And the Kelly Clarkson Christmas tune is whatever.
The first time I heard that track was at a Texas baseball game and I was like "Stapleton has new music? Stapleton has new MUSIC!" You know the man is big time when he hasn't put together a video for a hundred million stream song. Any smaller artist would be doing everything they could to pump up those numbers, but he just cranks the guitar one notch louder and wails at his lover. Excellent track, I can see it being amazing in a live setting. "It Takes a Woman" is lovely, as is "What Am I Gonna Do" and "Higher." Front to back, great stuff.
Now, here is the lover's conundrum. I've seen him several times. But I also love him. I've never seen Blink 182. But I generally like them without a true and deep love. So do I go watch one of the best, or do I go for something new and possibly bratty and shitty? I REALLY wish that they would have put him on Saturday against the DUAL IPA. WOuld have been an easy call. Hmmmmm.
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