Chris Stapleton’s “Traveller” Has Officially Sold Over One Million Copies
There is no signs of slowing down for Chris Stapleton, and now he’s entered a very elite class in country music. His debut album Traveller has officially sold over 1 million copies—actually 1.05 million copies to be exact, with another 27,000 copies sold last week according to Billboard. What does this mean? Aside from adding another digit to the odometer, it puts Stapleton at the very top of the genre in album sales. It means Traveller has beat out Florida Georgia Line’s latest album Anything Goes in sales, and has beat out reigning CMA and ACM Entertainer of the Year Luke Bryan’s latest album Kill The Lights in sales.
Not just from a standpoint of critical praise, awards, or peer appreciation, Chris Stapleton is now the best selling artist in all of country music at the moment. Traveller is the best selling album in country music released in the last 18 months and counting, and has been in the Top 15 of the Billboard 200 for 20 straight weeks—ever since his big night at the CMA Awards in November. And this is all as Stapleton heads into the ACM Awards in just over a week (April 3rd) with more nominations than anyone, and has already walked away with the award for Best New Male Vocalist. For all intents and purposes, Chris Stapleton is the Adele of country music.
And that’s not where the recent plaudits for Chris Stapleton stop. Radio has been the last roadblock for Stapleton to declare total dominance, but due to the success of Traveller and the demand of listeners, his single “Nobody To Blame” is now officially a Top 10 hit on radio, coming in at #9 last week. Where does it all stop? It may not stop anytime soon if he wins big at the ACM Awards. So far Stapleton has won all four of the country industry awards he’s been nominated for and that have been presented.
“I didn’t expect to win any CMA Awards. It’s the superstars who usually win,” said Stapleton.
Well guess what Chris, you’re now officially a superstar.
March 24, 2016 @ 6:43 pm
There is a chance he could become as big as Luke Bryan in the country world. Of course, he doesn’t have the pop appeal of Luke, but he seems to be doing just fine without it. I really hope he releases an album later this year, he needs to keep up his momentum. Where all of this is going I don’t know, but 2016 is looking pretty good for country music.
March 24, 2016 @ 8:08 pm
I agree about the need to keep striking while the iron is hot. I’ve seen acts over the years get red hot for a while, then try to slow down long enough to take a breath, then have trouble recapturing the audience. So far, he seems to be keeping the foot on the gas, recently adding huge festivals.
According to an interview, winter might be the timetable for recording the next album.
Whatever else he does or doesn’t do from here out, though, “Traveller” is a job well done, and as a side effect, it elevated Cobb into position to bring along other artists with traditional leanings. It will be fun watching what comes from that in the next year or two.
March 24, 2016 @ 6:47 pm
Not that impressive considering all the hype he’s had
March 24, 2016 @ 6:54 pm
Not sure if serious.
March 24, 2016 @ 7:04 pm
Call me crazy, but does anyone think that this album might outsell both Garth Brooks’ and Shania Twain’s best-selling albums?
For the record I hope it does because I consider Shania Twain the bane of my 90’s childhood and I want that “Come On Over” Album and every song released from it to disappear from the universe.
March 24, 2016 @ 7:19 pm
‘Come on Over’ has been certified for 20 million units for Shania Twain and ‘No Fences’ has been certified for 17 million units for Garth Brooks so he is never going to reach those levels nor will anyone else unless there are massive cultural changes in how people buy music. Adele’s ’25’ has been a massive hit and it is sitting somewhere between 8 and 9 million last I saw so she won’t even get close to the numbers of Garth and Shania and many others.
Stapleton’s numbers are very impressive in this era but the sales records are going to stand as long as Cy Young’s 511 career victories in baseball I would bet. Different worlds.
March 24, 2016 @ 8:02 pm
I could see Stapleton reaching that Taylor Swift level with his next release though, maybe a few million copies and near a million out of the gate, especially if he chooses not to stream it. Stapleton has that same rapid rising action that saw those two post sales numbers nobody thought were possible anymore.
March 24, 2016 @ 7:28 pm
Both those albums were released in the era before digital downloads, torrents and streaming. We’re in the era of instant downloading from your couch. We’ve got YouTube and other methods of getting that instant gratification without having to go out to the record store and buying a physical copy of an album. Thinking anyone will ever break those records is a pipe dream sadly.
March 25, 2016 @ 9:11 am
“For the record I hope it does because I consider Shania Twain the bane of my 90”™s childhood and I want that “Come On Over” Album and every song released from it to disappear from the universe.”
Shania was the beginning of the end for country radio and country music of substance . Taylor was just the one she passed the torch to although I’d even admit that for her demographic Taylor may have had more substance if far less talent and skill. Once the industry saw the young potential ” country ” market Shania was successfully perverting with her sex-sells videos the writing was on the wall . Happy for Shania ……successful is successful . VERY sad that she chose the country genre to “sell her wares” . Easily one of the worst things to hit the genre up until that time . The floodgates were open and let in all the floatsam and jetsome that has clogged and congested country air waves since.
March 25, 2016 @ 10:10 pm
Leaving aside the ridiculous commentary on Taylor Swift’s talent and skill, aren’t you ignoring all of the country music of the 00s? I have an entire library of country songs from that decade, and by and large they featured solid lyricism and melody and by and large adhered to the country sonic tradition (though with a strong rock influence). I would not characterize it as “flotsam and jetsam”.
March 24, 2016 @ 7:08 pm
Still waiting to see how the second single does on the charts before i stop worrying that all this is a fluke, and not a sign of change finally coming to country.
March 24, 2016 @ 8:04 pm
Eh, it’s radio’s loss if they don’t jump on Stapleton’s momentum. There’s a reason iHeartMedia is $20 billion in debt.
March 24, 2016 @ 7:33 pm
It is impressive considering how easily music is pirated theses days.. If you added in all the YouTube views and redmp3.cc pirates it is probably upwards of 5 million. That reminds me, this Russian website is the equivalent of original Napster and I don’t think there is anything anyone can do about it. It also is loaded with malware so if your smart just stay away. Once they ?acquire your IP address? they stop you from downloading temporarily, but it seems if you live in Russia or Ukraine you can steal all the music you want.
March 24, 2016 @ 8:06 pm
Equivalent streams are considered in these number. I believe it is 1,500 song streams would count as 1 album purchase, and that would include YouTube. Obviously pirated material wouldn’t count, but there’s been a sharp drop off in that activity in the advent of ad-supported free streaming.
March 25, 2016 @ 8:18 am
Yeas, and there are a lot of pirated material…
About a year ago someone uploaded all four of FAK’s records. “Stay Gold” was taking down about a month ago it had then accumulated about 1.3 million views. Immediately a new “Full Album” video appeared it had then 80K views, two weeks later it had 110k and was also taken down. So Sony/Columbia seems to be more vigilant now.
But “The Lion’s Roar” is still on YouTube. It also has about 1.3 millions views. And all their songs on all their records are also uploaded as separate videos. Only one of these has been taken down, it was a copy of their official video for” My Silver Lining ” It had about 2.3 million views when it was taken down.
And what is even worse: It is easy to install “add-ons” to your browser and in those program/add-ons you can choose whether to download the videos as mp4 or as mp3 (and other format ex. gp3 for smart phones) . And in the description section of the “Stay Gold” Album the uploader had even provided a link to a “cloud” where the whole album could be downloaded as separate mp3 files….
But I also want to add something positive…The Brittish people seems to be very honest because they have bought enough units of “Stay Gold” to make it the the best selling Americana album 2015 in UK. And it was at #85 in the chart for the top 100 most sold album in UK, despite the fact that they could have downloaded for free….
As a fotnot:
After writing this I did a search for Emmylou’s albums using the phrase: “EmmyloHarris full album” And found This:
https://youtu.be/tbi9M-FS9ZI it’s a video that cointains ALL her vinyl albums and some of Gram Parson. All together about 5,5 hours of music…
I download it (over 2 GB in size). With my broadband (100/Mbit) it took about 48 minutes…
I also made a search for this “Chris Stapleton full album”. Didn’t found a “Full album” – video but two different play list with all
the songs from “Traveller” , one having about 684K views, the other 6,7 million views…
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAE6sL9nOAoLtIQUYYmlRljTZ4ORYLn_G
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDXnVE6Om1SOfWOEL5LQNdr_mPxi4YwW6
March 25, 2016 @ 10:20 am
Unauthorized material on YouTube remains a huge issue. Google and their algorithmic and automated approach to everything creates these vacuums on space where laws can be circumvented, and bad things can happen.
March 24, 2016 @ 7:57 pm
Well well well, it seems I was right about the juggernaut he would become. There’s no way to stop him now. Radio doesn’t have a choice anymore, because despite all those twitterfails on farce about the losers who don’t like Stapleton, radio will prove itself out of touch and irrelevant if it doesn’t play an industry star, and with awards and sales racking up left and right Chris Stapleton is stepping outside of the bounds of “outsider” (despite his insider songwriting his solo project has always been an outsider act) and has taken control of the mainstream through the brute force of his art. and some of us didn’t see it because we were waiting for the hero who would call out Luke Bryan, who would start riots every time Blake Shelton played the Opry, the one who would lead a revolution.
We’re never going to see it because that person never existed. There will never be a headline that reads “Luke Bryan to be dropped by Country Radio.”
But because we were looking for it, we missed Chris Stapleton doing exactly what we needed under our noses.
That November thing kicked off something only a few people could have predicted, and at this point he may launch himself into superstardom like we haven’t seen in decades.
March 24, 2016 @ 8:21 pm
I love Nashville I know some very good people from there, but when they’re putting music on the radio, they’re not putting their best artists out there. They are sending their rapists, drug dealers, city boys, just their worst people. Country radio doesn’t win anymore. When Chris Stapleton is playing, country radio will win again. We’ll win so much people will get tired of it. They’ll say, “please Chris, we just want to rap about going to the river and drinking beer,” and you know what we’ll do? We’ll put out more great songs by more great artists and we won’t stop until we make country radio great again! Chris Stapleton for radio savior 2016.
March 24, 2016 @ 9:41 pm
Huh… I am not sure how I feel about that. Really puts into perspective how popular popular stuff was growing up. So I quit counting around 30 million views on YouTube, but I’ve got to assume just traveler album cuts got at least 1,000,000 views a piece and some had up to 14. So carry the one on YouTube a generous estimate is 50,000,000. That’s only 33,333, that still leaves the better part of a million. Do they count all streaming services I wonder?!?
I can see why you could easily discount streams just based on the count, let alone that in a way that shows a majority of people neglected to buy the album. Pretty sad I front really even like him that much and I bought it. But I guess based on those numbers he did at least earn the platinum status, I guess,? I really had thought he had already went platinum weeks ago.
March 24, 2016 @ 9:49 pm
I don’t think YouTube counts for the RIAA certifications which I think need some kind of price point.
It really is stunning to see the number of albums sold that are needed now to top the charts as opposed to the 1990-2005 years. It’s what makes the accomplishments of Adele and Taylor Swift so extraordinary. They are true outliers.
March 24, 2016 @ 9:52 pm
I’m not sure if the RIAA counts YouTube views, but I know for sure Billboard does, and I do know that info goes into the artist’s metadata and royalties are paid out (however small) for them.
March 24, 2016 @ 10:06 pm
It’s one of the problems with counting streams I think in that how do you possibly compare someone driving to a store and buying a physical copy with cold hard cash with someone watching a free service like YouTube with someone downloading legally via iTunes with someone streaming on something like Spotify. These are all so different and trying to make equivalents seems like guesswork to me. And what happens if in the future they adjust what the equivalent number is doesn’t that invalidate the previous data?
They obviously have to count streaming data but I’m not sure how to quantify and compare what it all means historically. And for someone who loves the history side of things with charts and records sold and the like it sucks.
March 24, 2016 @ 10:19 pm
Chris Stapleton Traveler reviewed by Lil Dale
At the beginning of May 2015, I was in Nashville when Traveler was released. I went to several music stores and it was already sold out. I decided it wasn’t meant to be and left town. I even avoided listening to the album for some reason. Up until last week, the only songs from the album I had heard were “Tennessee whiskey” and “nobody to blame but me”. The latter of the two is a pretty good song. But once I heard the rest of the album I was frankly disappointed. Even with the tempo changes from song to song, all I can remember are all the songs oozing with too much mo-townish soul for my taste. This guy must hang out with Justin Timberlake a lot. This is what Otis Redding making a country album would have sounded like. Maybe if the rest of the album sounded like the last half of “outlaw state of mind” and “nobody to blame”, this album would have lived up to the hype. And another thing, songs about being lonely sang by dudes who could pull any piece of ass from the bar they want are tired and inauthentic, which didn’t necessarily help the cause. When looking at the album cover photo, this album looks like you’ll be taken out west on a cool journey, but instead, you’re taken to some shithole bar in Memphis you’re likely to get robbed walking to your car from. With all of that said, I would still rather listen to any song from this album on the radio instead of “real men love Jesus” or “humble and kind”. Chris Stapleton looks like a cool enough dude so I’m glad he’s doing well. So go buy the album and maybe burn me a copy but I don’t want to pay for one.
1 gun up
March 25, 2016 @ 12:12 am
Being a fan of the Jompson Brothers, I bought the album when it came out, and before all the hoopla. I was also a bit disappointed being the album didn’t really have the southern rock sound of the Jompsons, and not really all that country either. The album has grown on me some, with the songs you mentioned as well as Fire Away being my favorites. But I think your description of the music sounding like soul is right on, with southern blues mixed in. Not necessarily a bad thing, but surprising to me all the hype as the next big thing in Country music.
March 25, 2016 @ 6:43 am
It’s one of those albums that does grow on you. The first time I listened to it (around May 2015), I liked a couple of the songs a lot and the rest where meh. As time has wore on, I’ve opened up to many of the others.
I still detest, though, his rendition of Tennessee Whiskey. I know that’s what brought him to the dance, but it does nothing for me.
March 25, 2016 @ 9:32 am
“Grower” is a good word for this album. I’d been hearing a few tracks from it here and there, but it wasn’t until recently (just days before the “Fire Away” video came out) that I finally caved and had to have the whole thing — the title cut and “Nobody to Blame” had become especially addictive to me by then. 🙂 After several spins, “Fire Away,” “Whiskey and You,” “More of You,” “When the Stars Come Out” and “Daddy Doesn’t Pray Anymore” have also grown to be favorites of mine.
March 24, 2016 @ 11:55 pm
I am wondering how long before we have 50 Stapleton sounding bands jammed on to mainstream radio? I can see studio execs now telling their music scouts ” Get out and find me the next Chris Stapleton “, or telling Luke and Jason that their new albums aren’t Stapleton enough.
I guess a bunch of southern rock blues sounding bands on the radio is better than what we have now.
March 25, 2016 @ 6:50 am
There is a very Stapleton-like guy competing on The Voice right now, so it is bound to happen. I would actually call him a Stapleton clone, but I don’t know his background or how long he’s been at it, so I don’t want to be unfair to him. In the parts of the show I’ve seen, no one, including Blake has mentioned Stapleton and instead act like the guy on the show is unlike anything in country music right now. It’s really weird. Granted, I haven’t seen every part of every episode.
March 25, 2016 @ 8:03 am
Good for Country Music,good for US that want Substance when we listen to MUSIC. I cheer Chris Stapleton for his strength to continue in a genre that has almost turned into mush. Maybe we will see how the next 2 years play for Chris and Jason Isbell and others like Anderson East.
I can only hope that FGL, Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan will be marginalized by NEW music coming next from Chris Stapleton, Strugill Simpson along with Jason Isbell. If we S country music consumers can get ourselves explore More AMERICANA and give other artist’s like Lindey Ortega a chance ,then we can drown out the noise of Bro-Country, and pop country. It’s up to us to make that happen.
March 25, 2016 @ 9:22 am
“I cheer Chris Stapleton for his strength to continue in a genre that has almost turned into mush. ”
Let’s not forget , Cilla , that CS was integral ( as a writer ) for turning the genre into that bowl of “mush” with all of those immature , childish “hits” he wrote for others . Not denying his talent ….but he has much to atone for in my book in that regard .
March 25, 2016 @ 9:34 am
Maybe, but I understand why he did. Every musician at the starting point has to figure out how to stay in the industry and Put food on the table. Yes, he has atoned.
March 25, 2016 @ 9:46 am
Debatable point …but taken . The litmus test for his integrity, then , is yet to come . He’s made his mark , he’s made some serious dollars, he’s won awards , he’s selling out shows and selling music. There would be NO reason whatsoever for him to write another piece of radio crap for himself or others at this point . Let’s wait and see .
March 26, 2016 @ 8:59 am
Eh, so was Jamey Johnson. Even some of his for-hire stuff, like Drink a Beer, would be much better than it ended up being if he’d recorded it.
March 25, 2016 @ 7:28 pm
Speaking of Americana, I just discovered a really cool “Americana with Attitude” band out of Sacramento, CA called The Nickle Slots. Google them, especially their song “Devil’s Chain Gang.”
March 25, 2016 @ 10:14 pm
I disagree that Americana in general should be the future of country music. Too many (perhaps most) Americana songs feature boring melodies and instrumental styles on top of subpar vocals.
The future lies with artists like Kacey Musgraves, Jamie Lin Wilson, Ashley Monroe, and Brandy Clark (when she is in the “heartfelt” rather than “tough woman” mode).
March 25, 2016 @ 8:22 am
It’s going to be interesting to see how record labels with singers like Luke Bryan and Jason aldean react to this uprising with Chris Stapleton and Jason Isbell I would like to see what the songwriters come in with for next yr when The Bro-Country singers come into the studio to record their next project.
What are the odds of Luke Bryan and FGL and Sam Hunt or even Jason Aldean falling hard in sales with their next albums? Will these artists still have the appeal for their RECORD LABELS?
What negotiations will be on the table for these artists when their contracts are in play?
Interesting times ahead for Country music and a lot to keep an eye on.
March 25, 2016 @ 10:18 am
Florida Georgia Line’s new album is already in the can. They were a step ahead with their first album, but with their current one and the next one, they’re a step behind. They should be one of the biggest acts in country, but they’ve been cursed by bad timing. Their last album came out right as Bro-Country was falling out of favor.
March 25, 2016 @ 11:47 am
“Kill the Lights” is already slowing down a lot in week-to-week sales, so I think unless Bryan shakes it up and thinks more to the sound of his first two albums where he can still rely on solid hooks but with more organic production……………Bryan’s career is already in a downward trajectory and it will only continue on that course.
Florida Georgia Line probably will continue to decline as well, but they do seem to recognize the change in the wind and that’s why they serviced “Confession” as a single and seem to have more songs in that vein for their forthcoming album. They may be fated to the perception of “niche act” either way, but I do think they’ll at least remain a viable radio staple for the next several years at least even if their new album struggles to go Gold.
I think Sam Hunt will inevitably get a lot of frontloaded hype with the lead single for his sophomore album. But Sam Hunt as a whole just strikes me as that kind of entertainer that’s going to decline in popularity faster-than-average because of his lack of stage presence and charismatic attributes. There are already faint signs of Hunt fatigue as reflected in the notably quiet debut of his new single “Make You Miss Me” (which is also presently #51 on the iTunes Country chart) despite it being public knowledge it’s his new single for weeks now.
Jason Aldean will be interesting to watch for sure. I’ve heard even from many of his fans that the singles from his most recent album put them to sleep and bored them to tears, so passion in his ranks appears to have diminished significantly much like Brantley Gilbert’s has. Aldean has insisted his next album will be loaded with heavier rockers, so we’ll have to see if most of his fans are still willing to pay lip service to the brand he has established for himself.
March 25, 2016 @ 12:05 pm
I wish I got to see the effect of Luke Bryan’s downward trajectory. I’m trying to get someone to go see Chris Stapleton and Alabama Shakes with me, and everyone is all, “oh, sorry, I already am getting tickets to Luke Bryan.” 🙁
Hey how is Eric Church’s latest album doing?
I was like the world’s biggest hater, but I have to begrudgingly confess that he totally won me over with the Mr. Misunderstood album and I actually went out and bought it. But now that he’s finally making music I find pretty good, I hear nothing about him! And I hate this feeling that when he finally tried to do better, it hurt him overall. And then he’s just gonna turn around and make more total garbage.
(it was also terrible timing, given that he was dropping that album right as the CMAs were making Chris Stapleton ALL of the story.)
March 25, 2016 @ 2:22 pm
Eric Church’s latest is selling surprisingly weak, it seems.
“Mr. Misunderstood” is hovering at #96 on the Billboard 200. Old Dominion are slightly outselling him week by week just to put the disappointment in context.
“Record Year” isn’t exactly lighting up the charts, either. It’s at a mediocre #29 on the iTunes Country chart: behind even “Fix” and “Dibs”.
Which is a shame because “Mr. Misunderstood” is definitely Church’s best album to date, in my opinion. Granted the rollout was abrupt and unconventional, but it still can’t help but seem his newest material is resonating to the broader public quite like its predecessors.
March 25, 2016 @ 2:41 pm
I actually really like the song “Record Year.” I love the line when he says “if you make it back, I owe you a beer for my record year.”
I actually really like almost all the album a lot. Shame it seems to have been such a miss for him. I suppose we will see a return to Outsiders like crap.
March 25, 2016 @ 5:50 pm
I love “Record Year” too.
I’m just saying, from a mainstream standpoint, I can see why some casual listeners may not know what to think of some of its lyricism because they can’t sink their teeth into the references. It’s as though it SOUNDS like a radio song in that it sounds vaguely like a more understated, acoustic cousin of Mark Wills’ “19 Somethin'”, but its lyrical content is ambivalent to radio.
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Honestly, I doubt Church pays much mind as to the commercial reception of this. Even though he does clearly like to have it both ways anyway, he genuinely strikes me as one who just wants to do what he wants to do no matter what others think.
Oddly, this era still can’t help but feel like an unofficial one for Church. From the way the album was rolled out, to the lack of interviews and promotion, I can’t help but wonder if that’s the point and that Church intended this as something he just wanted to write for himself and his best of fans.
Still, with material this good to pass up, I still hope it gets regarded as a standard era.
March 25, 2016 @ 2:34 pm
If I were Eric Church, here’s what I’d do at this point:
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1) See the release of “Record Year” through despite the mediocre early signs. It’s achieving enough to where I don’t think it warrants pulling the plug prematurely. I do think this song will be a “grower” to many in that it may just be hitting too many listeners over the head in its wittiness and fairly obscure references.
2) Immediately after “Record Year” peaks, release “Kill a Word”. I personally admit “Round Here Buzz” is the more radio-tailored track, but “Kill a Word” is reasonably catchy too and far more likely to resonate considering the troubled social climate now. It will turn out to be one of Church’s most important songs released to date and I predict will become a hit via word-of-mouth and the timeliness of its message.
3) Assuming it becomes the hit I think it will, and the album also picks up a second wind, release “Round Here Buzz” as the fourth single. It’s an obvious single candidate that I also think will hit pretty big.
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Tim McGraw’s current album “Damn Country Music” had a fairly weak start as well, but has since rebounded in a big way off of “Humble and Kind” alone.
I truly think “Kill a Word” will be the “Humble and Kind” for Eric Church.
March 25, 2016 @ 2:45 pm
I am surely not the mainstream radio market, but “Round Here Buzz” and “Kill a Word” are my two least favorite tracks. Though I like the lyrics to Kill a Word, the song bores me.
I LOVE LOVE Knives of New Orleans. But really I love every track besides those two. Holding my Own is safe and catchy and likeable, in my opinion. And Chatanooga Lucy and Mistress Named Music are two of my favorites.
I’m mad at mainstream fans for abandoning Eric Church when he finally made something that seemed a little more like honest music. Now here *I* am taking up for the guy, and I hated Eric Church until a few months ago!
March 25, 2016 @ 5:54 pm
“Round Here Buzz” is my least favorite track on the album (it’s still a decent track that won’t leave me turning the dial if it was on my radio, just doesn’t really grab me in any way) but I don’t doubt it would resonate to mainstream listeners if released as a single. It’s easily the most radio-friendly track on the album and melodically reminiscent of his earlier hit “Talladega”.
“Kill A Word” is my favorite track, however. It’s definitely not easy to write an anti-bullying anthem that doesn’t come across as corny and/or preachy, but I think Eric Church has pulled it off with a great deal of heart and teeth in equal measure. It sounds accessible enough for mainstream listeners but the contributions by Rhiannon Giddens really enhance the final chorus on an emotionally urgent level.
March 26, 2016 @ 8:49 am
RE Eric Church . I think he CAN write sold lyrics but can’t find a way to make them stick with his unforgettable melodies ….he can’t write a melody that stands above the din . Of course the problem of melody is an issue across the board in ” country ” music. They are underwritten and quite generic ……and that isn’t helped by the generic chord progressions , instrumentation and lack of rhythm variety in contemporary stuff.
March 25, 2016 @ 9:38 am
Chris is the cover boy for this month’s Gun and Garden magazine.
The title of the lead article is something like “Modern Outlaws”.
March 25, 2016 @ 10:15 am
I have a general positive feeling about Garden & Gun, and love most of the artists featured in that article. But to call any of them “Outlaws,” including Chris Stapleton, and excluding only Whitey Morgan, is an absolute joke. That was a piece to troll the respective fan bases of those artists. The artists post the article on Facebook, it racks up a bunch of unique traffic for Garden and Gun, the artists get a free piece of pub, and everyone feels like they’re making a difference in music. If you truly were going to put a piece together about today’s “Outlaws,” you have to include Dallas Moore, Peewee Moore, Rowdy Johnson, Roger Alan Wade, Brigitte London, Dale Watson, and a host of others. Been thinking about writing an answer piece to that article it got my dander up so bad. Those are the “Outlaws” of independent roots’ upper crust.
March 25, 2016 @ 11:36 am
Called it! ^__^
What’s most impressive, though, is that he accomplished this a little sooner than I thought. I thought he’d do so by early June, but Stapleton exceeded even those expectations.
What’s notable, too, is that “Kill the Lights” has been selling quite lethargically since its strong debut. A lot of its total sales were clearly frontloaded, and now it’s looking like “Kill the Lights may have a chart run similar to that of Miranda Lambert’s “Platinum”: some of the best sales right out of the gate, but having much weaker legs in its chart run as a whole and ultimately proving to be one of his lesser-selling albums.
March 25, 2016 @ 11:38 am
Well, I’m happy to say this is one of those rare times in my life where I liked and bought the music before it became “popular”. I am by no means a traditionalist, but I first heard Chris when he opened for Little Big Town at the Louisville Palace in March 2015. At the time I didn’t realize he was from KY (my home state and current residence), but I researched him once I left the concert (where he received about as good or better a reaction as the main act). I can’t recall if I pre-ordered the album at that time, but I know I either did that or bought it as soon as it was released. So happy for all of his success.
March 26, 2016 @ 2:50 pm
Well, I’ll throw in my 2 cts as well. First off, I’m in agreement with others that this record isn’t country, it’s more southern rock/blues. Then after that I still think it’s overrated. I find his vocals kind of soulless. I’ve tried a few times but I keep coming to the same conclusion. The Dave Cobb sound production is amazing, I will say that. The musicians are also awesome, with a ton of soul. But then in each track when he starts singing, I’m like, meh. It’s like everything is either great or good on this album except his vocals. He doesn’t have the authenticity in his voice of Merle, Waylon, etc. He sounds like he’s trying too hard. There’s just something about his vocals and that does absolutely nothing for me. Which is weird, because I’m in agreement with others on this site about other vocalists, etc. Fyi too- I still think he ripped off his record title from Douglas and song title/line from Cody Johnson, but I’m not going to rant about it anymore. I think it’s uncool, but I’ve said my peace. But that has nothing to do with the record. There is just something about his vocals that is inauthentic, and not nearly as good as vocalists from the past.
March 26, 2016 @ 6:45 pm
I apologize. I did not know that Jerry Douglas praised his CMA performance. I definitely was not trying to damage his reputation, or career. I’m sorry about this.
March 27, 2016 @ 10:24 pm
Nice to see these KY musicians like both Sturgill and Stapleton, both of whom are within a couple yrs. of my age and both from appx. 45 min. or so from where I was born and raised & am currently living (I did live in Birmingham AL for a time where I got to experience a young and only “somewhat-known” Drive-By Truckers, so that was a lot of fun as well)! Great to hear about THESE guys and not friggin’ Billy Ray Cyrus anymore…
March 28, 2016 @ 1:27 am
It couldn’t have happened to a greater guy that is most deserving of all & more that this industry has to offer. It’s awesome to see such great things happen to a truly great person & his band & crew. I speak as an outsider looking in & not saying this because of my involvement in the record.
March 29, 2016 @ 2:20 pm
I held out on purchasing Traveler for quite a while. I almost bought it right before all of the awards. I have owned it for about a month, now. It would be a very good album if the first 4 and the last song was removed. Parachute is the real puker I can’t get through the last one without ejecting and sticking something else in there. I like the rest, though. It just reminds me of Travis Tritt in his prime (not a bad thing). .
September 21, 2016 @ 8:50 am
going back in time here and eating crow. I was really irritated with Stapleton’s defense of bro country in Rolling Stone but I bought Traveller on vinyl because it is a damned good album. I think Trigger was spot on with choosing McMurtry’s complicated game as his album of the year but Traveller is good. And Stapleton has more impressive pipes than Warren Haynes. I wish he were as ballsy as Sturgill when it comes to criticizing Trashville but I can’t deny that album what it is due. I won’t be going to see him live with Luke Bryan and the other crap headliners he is touring with but love the music and eating my crow.