Hear Chris Stapleton's First Single From His Forthcoming Album

Not much in contemporary music rivals standing under a roof with Chris Stapleton and his band as they raise it in honor of American music. Stapleton ascended to stardom after sweeping the 2016 CMA, but by then the 38-year-old Kentuckian Nashville mainstay had spent a young lifetime in the slipstreams of Southern sound, and already understood how commitment, craft and love can make listeners' preconceptions about what's cool or current fall away. A polymath in a leather cowboy hat, Stapleton blends country's warmth, rock's rafter-shaking, and Southern soul's passion into highly personal songs that are also instantly relatable. And his voice touches heaven, even when he's just singing about sitting at the bar.