Chris Stapleton travels his own path

In the days leading up to the Academy of Country Music Awards’ takeover of AT&T Stadium this past April, Chris Stapleton played a sold-out, excruciatingly hot gig at Dallas’ City Tavern.

The heat was literal — the venue’s air conditioning seemed to struggle throughout his 50-minute set — and figurative: Stapleton was just a few weeks away from releasing his much-buzzed about major label solo debut, the Dave Cobb-produced Traveller.

The 13-song record, produced by Dave Cobb, is a 21st century riff on some of country music’s most timeless themes: faith, love, and falling into the bottle.

Stapleton’s wizened, wise lyrics are grounded by spare, powerful sounds; pedal steel and strings provide texture for his rough-hewn, captivating and soulful baritone.

The 37-year-old singer-songwriter’s career has continued to smolder since that April gig in Dallas, as critics have singled out Stapleton as part of the new class of country artists capable of maybe saving Nashville from itself.

The troubadour will also spend much of the summer on the road, including a stop at Billy Bob’s Texas on Friday, to perform as a part of the venue’s inaugural 4th of July Picnic. (He’s also one of the handful of artists making an appearance both in Fort Worth and in Austin, for Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic.)

But no matter the size of the stage — whether jammed into City Tavern’s cramped confines or appearing at one of several festivals across the country — Stapleton is intent on giving his all.

“I saw an interview with Carlos Santana one time and he said, ‘Sometimes you’re going to play in arenas and sometimes you’re going to play in clubs. Just keep playing,’” Stapleton says from his Nashville home. “That was like a revolutionary thought to me … that was his philosophy: I’m just going to keep making music; I’m just going to keep playing, whether I’m playing for 60 people or 60,000.”

Stapleton is traveling an increasingly familiar path, shifting from a songwriter punching the clock on Music Row — the Kentucky native has penned hits for a host of Nashville stars, including Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan and Brad Paisley — to an artist taking center stage.

Such a transition creates the appearance of a dichotomy — feeding the bro-country machine while also making music diametrically opposed to it — but Stapleton argues the perception of such a schism, while perhaps unavoidable, is absolutely necessary.

“I think there’s very much one Nashville and we’re all part of the same whole,” Stapleton says. “Even if the music might feel like two sides of the same coin, you need both sides. I don’t think they’re opposing forces — I’ve had somebody say to me, ‘Oh, you buck the system.’ No, man, you can’t simultaneously be the problem and the solution. I’m trying to do all those things. I think we have to have all that.

“You can complain about whatever act you want to all day long, if you don’t like their music, but their success allows other music to be made. I should shake their hands, if they’re on my label, because they allowed my record to be made.”

Yet, even if Stapleton’s neo-traditional style wasn’t being faciliated by arena-conquering country acts, there’s little doubt Traveller would have been realized one way or another.

After all, Stapleton talks about writing and playing music in the language of addiction: “It’s a compulsion — and I love it too. But, certainly, the darker side of it — it’s a compulsion and a bit of an obsession and something that can take over real quick.”

Indeed, he’s fed that compulsion — stoked the creative fire — in a variety of ways, whether as a member of the SteelDrivers or on his own.

“I think it’s a point on the map; I think all those things [I did before] led up to this moment of music,” Stapleton says. “This music will fall into that melting pot of music and more music will be along somewhere. I think that’s kind of how it has to work: it feeds off itself and becomes something else.”

This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Chris Stapleton travels his own path."