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Chris Stapleton Relives His 2019 Road Trips in ‘Arkansas’

by
  • Ryden is a Junior Country Music Journalist at Country Thang Daily, specializing in data analysis and trends within the genre.
  • Before joining Country Thang Daily, Ryden wrote for top music publications and interviewed icons like Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson.
  • Ryden has a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Middle Tennessee State University, with a minor in Data Analytics.

Road trips have been part of the life of many of the country artists we know. It somehow became a lifestyle that they can flexibly sneak in some time to do wonderful things. One example is Chris Stapleton’s experience in late 2019 when he slowly introduced his road trip inspired and made song, ‘Arkansas’.

Back On track

During his live shows last year, Stapleton would often sing an unintroduced track which he calls ‘Arkansas.’ He later explained that it was birthed through a trip from Oklahoma City back home to Nashville, as he drives the new car his wife Morgane picked for him during his birthday. One of the most notable live performances of ‘Arkansas’ was made together with Brothers Osborne last year in October.

Although ‘Arkansas’ has already been enjoyed by fans for almost a year, Stapleton still plans to include the single to his upcoming fourth studio album ‘Starting Over.’ Some of the songs like the albums’ title track has already been released. That’s to give fans some sort of a teaser, and ‘Cold’ which can really give a good idea of what his fourth album is all about. Stapleton’s album will soon be out on November 13.

Chock-full of Collaborators

‘Starting Over’ will be released with 11 original tracks by Stapleton and three-song covers of John Fogerty’s ‘Joy of My Life’ and Guy Clark’s ‘Old Friends’ and ‘Worry B Gone’.

Many known artists like Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench are also collaborators in the album. They would play on some of the album’s first few tracks. Campbell even threw in an extra effort of lending a hand to Stapleton as he co-wrote two of the tracks included in it.

Aside from these big names lending Stapleton their support, he also got in touch with his touring/backing band’s bassist JT Cure, and drummer Derek Mixon as the backbone of his music. Of course, his wife Morgane Stapleton is his backup singer.

The album was produced by Dave Cobb, who was with Stapleton dating back the first years of his career. This time though, he would also be playing the acoustic guitar in the album together with the legendary pedal steel player Paul Franklin. ‘Watch you Burn’ and ‘From a Room’ Vol.1 and 2 are albums which Stapleton and Cobb produced together way back in 2017.

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