#3 - CHRIS STAPLETON - TRAVELLER (RJ'S TOP 10 AMERICANA/COUNTRY ALBUMS OF THE YEAR)

artist website - www.chrisstapleton.com

Producer - Dave Cobb & Chris Stapleton

Released - May 4, 2015

Traveller is Chris Stapleton's debut solo album. He has spent time previously in the bluegrass band The SteelDrivers as the vocalist and guitarist and he has written number one hits for Kenny Chesney, George Straight and Darius Rucker. He is a songwriting machine that has given over 150 songs to artists like Tim McGraw, Adele, Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley. All that being said, I had never heard of him before I bought this album earlier in the year. He's one of four artists that appear in my top 10 that I hadn't heard of prior to this year. I read a review of the album somewhere and it sounded good enough for me to take a chance on, and look where it ends up. Not too shabby for a debut release.

Do not make the mistake of thinking this guy might be "bro country". He's the furthest thing from it. He's a big, burly dude and he belongs in the same conversation as some of the all-time greats like Cash, Kristofferson and Jennings. You know who those guys are, right? Anyway, this dude can sing his ass off. Just check out the songs Fire Away and Whiskey And You. Man, he can belt it out. And don't think he's a one trick pony either. He mixes it up just fine. Parachute is an absolutely amazing song that sounds nothing like the other tracks here. I can't even explain it, you just need to hear it. And he can find that laid back vibe as well as anyone on a song like When The Stars Come Out. He covers the outlaw stuff with tracks like Nobody To Blame, Might As Well Get Stoned and Outlaw State Of Mind.

So if you long for country music that sounds like Jennings and Jones, but you just can't bring yourself to turn the dial to a country station because they only play bro's and hoe's (sorry, not trying to be misogynistic, I just refer to the female version of bro country as hoe country, no harm is meant), then you owe it to yourself to check out Chris Stapleton. And, as a finishing note, with all the above being said, he still won the CMA Awards for Male Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year and New Artist of the Year. This despite an overall lack of airplay. Go figure.

Tracks:

1. Traveller

2. Fire Away

3. Tennessee Whiskey

4. Parachute

5. Whiskey And You

6. Nobody To Blame

7. More Of You

8. When The Stars Come Out

9. Daddy Doesn't Pray Anymore

10. Might As Well Get Stoned

11. Was It 26