Chris Stapleton: ‘I’m Pretty Lucky In That Way’
Chris Stapleton has been touring this spring on his “All-American Road Show,” with shows in early May coming up in Philadelphia and Greenville, South Carolina. See all his tour dates…
Chris Stapleton has been touring this spring on his "All-American Road Show," with shows in early May coming up in Philadelphia and Greenville, South Carolina. See all his tour dates here.
Chris has become a big name in country music as he continues to win award after award and dazzle fans with his shows and performances on award shows which often become the highlight of the award show.
I've been fortunate to have interviewed Stapleton many times. In an early interview, he told me that he knew who he wasn't early on, "I found it out because I didn't like anything else, and I found out a bunch of things that I was not, sold cars and drove an ice truck and went to college and did different things not in that order."
He added with a smile, "You know, you find out who you are not, and the thought of doing anything else just made me so miserable. I think that really (laughs) kind of steered my path and for better or worse, and fortunately for me, it kind of worked out and I'm pretty lucky in that way."
The country star is working his way quickly to becoming legendary in country music. As he told me in an interview a few years back, his influences were all legends.
Chris said, "Some of my earliest memories of music is outlaw country, you know, Waylon, and Willie. Merle Haggard, things my dad listened to but also Otis Redding, Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin, and those were things that were always present in my mind and are formative things."
He added, "You can go other places and do other things, but those are always there, and they're always kind of the standard that you hold music to. There's a certain level of joy involved with hearing those sounds."
Stapleton has even had the chance to sing on one country music legend's record. He told me, "I basically begged a guy to sing on a Don Williams record one time, and I got to."
He concluded, "So, to get to be a part of the fabric of music in that way is an honor that very few people get to have."
