Traveller (2015) – Chris Stapleton

Mercury Nashville, 2015

Chris Stapleton touches a range of country subgenres on Traveller to deliver a debut studio album that gives a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Traveller lives up to its name as it travels throughout the South’s many genres of music. From old-school country, to contemporary country rock, to outlaw country. On “More Of You”, Stapleton even whips up a beautiful 3/4 time balladic ode to his wife Morgane—who he performs the song with.

Beyond the sojourns throughout the genres of the South, Traveller is characterized by Stapleton’s dynamic vocal performances. He belts with a country twang on tracks like “Traveller”, “Nobody To Blame”, and “Outlaw State Of Mind”. Contrast that with the soft and heartfelt moments of “Whiskey And You”, “More Of You”, and “When The Stars Come Out”. On almost every track, Morgane Stapleton provides beautifully complementing backing harmonies that neither overpower Chris’s vocals, nor come across as redundant or excessive.

Traveller is evidence that Chris Stapleton knows how to write some beautiful, beautiful country ballads. “Tennessee Whiskey” is likely the one song most people will know Chris Stapleton for, but it will never be a bad thing because of how magnificent the song is. Stapleton LOVES singing about whiskey, but only he could use various alcohols as metaphors for a woman’s greatness.

The theme of good fucking song and whiskey is continued on “Whiskey And You”—a track that’s the complete opposite of “Tennessee Whiskey”, but just as powerful. It’s a barebones track that only features Stapleton and his acoustic guitar. This song about breakup contrasts love and whiskey where love is a real high and whiskey is an illusioned high that only masks the low of the loss of love.

The lowlights on the record come in the high pace tracks. “Nobody To Blame” and “Outlaw State of Mind” are easily the worst tracks on Traveller. On “Nobody To Blame”, Stapleton momentarily steps into the dark land of radio country pop (spooky). He checks all the references off for a stereotypical contemporary country song: fishing rods, guns, hot rods, and John Deere—yikes. It’s hard to believe this is the same guy that wrote “Tennessee Whiskey”. One of the outlaw country tracks on the album, “Outlaw State of Mind”, can be categorized as “Ford F-150” music or even better, ”Chevy Truck Month” music. Sure, it’s really not the worst song ever—the verses have meh lyrics, but good instrumentation, and the outro is really quite good actually—but the hook is what really kills the song. It’s pure truck ad music and it’s absolutely overpowering.

The other outlaw country track, “Was It 26”, is a nice one though. It captures the cinematic aspect of outlaw country perfectly. There are notes of Johnny Cash and the good parts of Bon Jovi. It would work great for the outro music of a neo-Western ending.

Outside of country, we also get some adult contemporary/soft rock vibes with “When The Stars Come Out” which isn’t the most brilliant song, but does have a decent hook. Acoustic versions of the track without the boring drum pattern are much better.

The closer “Sometimes I Cry” is a soul track where Chris Stapleton just wants to show off his vocal skills and guitar skills. There isn’t much to the songwriting, but Stapleton really just dials it up in his vocal performance. There’s also a nice smokey guitar solo that’s quite enjoyable. It’s an odd album closer considering its Stapleton’s most impressive vocal performance. It leaves the listener wanting to hear more of this level of singing. Thematically, “Sometimes I Cry” leaves the record ending on a weirdly somber note as Stapleton sings about being vulnerable and crying when his lover is gone. I suppose the live aspect with the audience cheering and applauding at the end of the track fits as a closer, but beyond that, it’s placed peculiarly on the record.

Six years ago, Chris Stapleton burst onto the country scene with a ferocity. Traveller is critically acclaimed and Stapleton’s most successful record to date—and it’s easy to see why. With it came one of the most memorable country tunes of the past decade in “Tennessee Whiskey”—a song that transcended country audiences and had all types of music fans singing its metaphorical lyrics. Though Stapleton shows his versatility on this record, he truly shines when he sings and plays the songs he knows how to write best. Songs about love and whiskey.

Favourite tracks: Traveller, Tennessee Whiskey, Whiskey And You, More Of You, Might As Well Get Stoned, Was It 26, Sometimes I Cry