Chris Stapleton beautifully bridges country, rock, soul at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena
Chris Stapleton's All-American Road Show pulled into Nashville's Bridgestone Arena Friday night, and brought with it a journey back into the heart of rock 'n' roll. In particular, parts of the evening harkened back to an era when Southern rock bands filled arenas nationwide.
Stapleton, one of country music's most decorated modern artists, was supported by Nikki Lane and her band playing a set suited for a dusty cowboy lounge that doesn't mind the occasional hippie longhair, along with Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives who swaggered through whatever they damn well pleased.
The evening was a reminder that, at its best, both country and rock are best when played live.
A relaxed, elevated performance
Two shows remain on Stapleton's nearly three-dozen-date and five-month nationwide tour.
He and his band played with a level of relaxed confidence driven by knowing that this was a crowd equally ready to groove, swing and pump their fists in the air with equal enthusiasm.
Stapleton has been viewed as country music's best male vocalist for much of the past decade. He's also a father of five children and created harmony — on and off-stage — with his wife, Morgane, for nearly 20 years. His band for the evening — as it has often, recently — also included hall-of-fame pedal steel guitarist Paul Franklin and Mickey Raphael. The latter has also played harmonica for Willie Nelson for a half-century.
The band and artists fell quickly into a groove. Now bolstered by legends playing iconic phrasing and riffs, Stapleton's familiar hits like "Parachute," from his 2015 breakout album "Traveller" and his most recent smash hit, 2023's set opener "White Horse" take on a more vibrant color. The set felt like turning on high-quality car speakers for an idyllic, two-hour joyride.
A marriage proposal?
How joyous was that ride? While Stapleton played his 2020-released cover of John Fogerty's "Joy Of My Life," in Row E of Section 104, a black Western-style vest-wearing fan to turned to his black fringe dress and cowboy hat-wearing girlfriend and dropped to one knee.
Yes, she accepted.
"Some may have their riches / Some may have their worldly things / As long as I have you / I'll treasure each and every day," Stapleton crooned.
Stuart and The Superlatives stand out, as expected
Marty Stuart, Chris Scruggs, Harry Stinson and Kenny Vaughan shone like stellar, guitar-slinging constellations gracing Bridgestone Arena's stage. If unaware of who they were — but aware of other quartets known for wearing rhinestone-adorned Western suits designed by Manuel Cuevas or Nudie Cohn — you'd have mistaken Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives for Gram Parsons and The Flying Burrito Brothers.
Country Music Hall of Famer and Grand Ole Opry member Stuart, age 65, met Parsons a half-century ago. That cultural through-line felt as timeless as ever on Friday night.
Appropriately, the band played their Western-inspired album cut "Time Don't Wait."
Stuart's also a rare breed of authentic musician who couldn't imagine writing a song inspired by Native American spirituality unless he was also an honorary member of the Lakota Sioux tribe.
"Time don't wait on nobody / It just keeps movin' on," Stuart sang. In the moment that followed, a bemused smirk signifying that The Fabulous Superlatives had consumed, then freed their spirit overtook the faces of many in Bridgestone Arena.
Stuart and crew play timeless classics
Yes, he also played his hits, including "Hillbilly Rock" and "Whiskey Ain't Working." Those deliver like the 80s-era country rockers that they were and remain.
But alongside the spiritual essences awoken during the set, hearing Stuart and the band crack open the bluegrass vault and play cuts familiar to Bill Monroe sets like "Angels Rock Me To Sleep" and "Old Old House," plus Stuart, on his mandolin, playing "Orange Blossom Special," was particularly noteworthy.
Alongside "Tomahawk," his 2023 "Altitude" album homage to his longtime bandmate, friend and mentor Johnny Cash, it rounded out a phenomenal set of timeless anthems of historical and perpetual relevance.
Stapleton's soul
Country music's modern era has seen the genre's R&B stylings leaning toward hip-hop-driven trap music made famous in the past two decades.
That is, save the work of one artist.
Chris Stapleton's ability to infuse '60s soul and '70s jazz into country's mainstream, namely via 2020-released instant classic "Cold," 2023's "Think In Love With You" and his now iconic cover of "Tennessee Whiskey," is significant.
Start with Stapleton's longtime bass player J.T. Cure delicately merging the space between inherently understanding — by his southeastern Kentucky roots — what Patty Loveless means when she implores that "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" and having a Delta bluesman's style understanding of a bassline's heart-wrenching power.
Place Stapleton's distinctively soulful tenor and virtuoso guitar work over that grounding and what occurs is a transcendent, inimitable thing that doesn't merely blur lines between genres. Instead, it defines a rarefied style of great music, in general.
Stapleton with a peerless group of set closers
Mega-ballads like "Traveler," "Fire Away" and "Broken Halos" join "Tennessee Whiskey" among the closers in Stapleton's set.
If looking to define what makes so many describe the superstar and his band as the quintessential definition of country music excellence, look no further than them also using Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" as the introduction to when they deliver "Traveler" album anthem "Devil Named Music" late into their two-hour performance.
Yes, it sometimes felt like we were hearing the epic, 11-minute-long version of solely "Free Bird."
But that's just because, uniquely, "Devil Named Music" feels like a continuation of the story where, like Icarus in Greek folklore, Ronnie Van Zant's unchanged bird succeeds at being tantalized into tragically flying into the sun.
"And sometimes I'm drunk, sometimes I'm stoned / And yes, I get tired of being alone / I miss my son and I miss my wife / But the devil named music is taking my life," sings Stapleton.
It's a wildly evocative moment that tugs at heartstrings until they break.
Chris Stapleton Set List, Aug. 9, 2024 — Bridgestone Arena
White Horse
Nobody to Blame
Second One to Know
Millionaire
Crosswind
Hard Livin'
Worry B Gone
Might as Well Get Stoned
Think I’m in Love With You
What Are You Listening To?
Where Rainbows Never Die
Arkansas
Parachute
Starting Over
Joy of My Life
You Should Probably Leave
Cold
Free Bird / The Devil Named Music
Traveler
Fire Away
Broken Halos
Tennessee Whiskey
Encores
Whiskey and You
Outlaw State of Mind
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Chris Stapleton bridges country, rock, soul at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena
