Chris Stapleton on supporting Black Lives Matter, America's 'broad awakening': 'I thought we were living in a different country'
Country star Chris Stapleton sees the Black Lives Matter protests that have followed George Floyd’s death at the hands of police as a “broad awakening” for America.
“You know, I thought we were living in a different country. And that’s 100 percent real,” the singer old CBS This Morning in an interview that aired Tuesday. “I feel like the country that I thought we were living in was a myth.”
Stapleton said he unequivocally supports the movement.
“Do I think Black lives matter? Absolutely ... I don’t know how you could think they don’t,” he said.
The musician, who just released the track “Starting Over,” said he thinks all Americans should be doing and listening more to root out systemic racism.
“I think we all have a lot of work to do, you know, as individuals and as a society,” Stapleton said. “And if you don’t think that ... you’re not looking.”
Stapleton will release his fourth album, also called Starting Over, on Nov. 13. It includes a meditation on another tragic event, the mass shooting at a 2017 country music festival in Las Vegas, called “Watch You Burn.”
“It’s a powerful number to me that conveys the sentiment, hey, let’s cut the evil s*** out … it’s a plea in some ways,” Stapleton said.
He described writing it as “therapeutic.”
Stapleton said that while quarantining with his wife, Morgane, and five kids outside of Nashville, he has also been riding a mountain bike his wife gave him through the woods to center himself.
“There’s good days and bad days,” Stapleton said. “If anybody tells you that they haven’t reached a near breaking point mentally in these times, I think they’re probably lying to you.”
Stapleton’s Tuesday at least began in a good place: He was nominated for two CMA Awards: Male Vocalist of the Year and Music Video of the Year for “Second One to Know.”
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