Chris Stapleton – FAOTW
This week’s feature artist is Chris Stapleton and we are now one day away from the release of his fourth studio album, Starting Over. We started the week by highlighting songs from his debut album, Traveller. Today (Nov 12), we feature an album cut on his second album, From A Room: Vol 1, released May 5th, 2017 and takes its name from Nashville’s RCA Studio A, where it was recorded.
The album was produced by Stapleton and Dave Cobb, who produced the upcoming album as well. From A Room Vol 1 is a beautiful combination of country, blues, and roots rock. It debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart and number two on the US Billboard 200. From A Room Vol 1 won the award for Album of the Year at the 51st CMA Awards and best Country Album at the 60th Grammy Awards.
There were two singles officially released from the album, including the first single “Either Way,” which won the Grammy Award for Best Country Solo Performance. It was followed by the Grammy Award Best Country Song of the year, “Broken Halos.”
One of the album tracks, “Second One to Know,” was premiered at the 52nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on April 2, 2017
“Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning”, was originally recorded by Willie Nelson, but Stapleton recorded it as an outlaw country guitar ballad, including harmonies from his wife Morgane in the background
While Willie Nelson is usually the first country artist you think of when someone talks about the green, it’s the topic on many OTHER country albums, including Chris Stapleton. The album cut we highlight today is sort of a follow up to “Might As Well Get Stoned” we talked about on Tuesday. Upon the release of From A Room Vol 1, one review described the country blues song as “a stoner with a dire need to restock his stash.”
Another review of this song described it as Nashville Honky Tonk, saying it is the sound you’d hear walking down Beale Street that would pull you in for a cold beer. That article said the song is about “trying to get some green from friends, but they’re all out too.” (via)
Those are literal meanings taken from the song and the title, however. For me, this song represents the moment you realize that perhaps, you’ve reached rock bottom and you start grasping at anything to keep you going or pull you back up. While most view rock bottom as a tragic place to be, for a lot of people, there’s a sense of freedom that comes from having nothing more to lose. For some, it’s when they start letting go of control and let a higher power take over. Sometimes, it’s in those moments when you’ve got nothing but “Them Stems” that forces you to change your outlook or state of mind and consequently, your life.
Here is your feature artist, Chris Stapleton, in his own words…
