Chris Stapleton – Feature Artist of the Week with MJ
This week’s feature artist is an old soul who will share his wisdom with us through lyrics and his powerful voice on Friday, when his fourth studio album, Starting Over, is released.
Christopher Alvin Stapleton was born on April 15, 1978 in Lexington, Kentucky. He grew up in Staffordsville, Kentucky, and then moved to Nashville in 2001 to pursue a career in music, first, as a songwriter.
As a vocalist, however, Stapleton sang lead in two bands before he started recording as a solo artist including a bluegrass ensemble from 2008 to 2010 called The SteelDrivers and The Jompson Brothers.
Prior to the release of the Starting Over album on Friday, we’ll take a journey through Stapletons’ first three albums and talk about the songs, not released as singles, that will showcase WHY there is so much excitement for the entire album that will be released at a time we, perhaps, need it most.
We begin the week with a song from the album Traveller, which was released in 2015 and reached number one on the US Billboard 200
Chris Stapleton wrote “Fire Away” with songwriter Danny Green. At the time of the release, Stapleton said: “It’s a song about the frustration of commitment to me. Maybe that’s why my wife always wanted me to record this song.” The song features harmony vocals from his wife, singer-songwriter Morgane Stapleton.
The song’s music video, which won the award for Music Video of the Year at the 2016 Country Music Association Awards, and Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2016 CMT Music Awards, takes us through a young married couple’s happy moments that turn into challenging ones. The video brings awareness to mental health issues, specifically through the Campaign to Change Direction.
Chris stapleton explained, “[The idea for the video] was just a notion, and then it became real and useful and something that can hopefully make the world a better place,” said Stapleton. “The song is kinda about loving somebody unconditionally through not so easy times. The concept of the video kind of came to me as that would be the hardest possible space in which to love somebody.” (via)
