CHRIS STAPLETON’S STARTING OVER DEBUTS AT #1 ON BILLBOARD COUNTRY CHART
RELEASED TO OVERWHELMING CRITICAL ACCLAIM
Chris Stapleton’s highly anticipated new album, Starting Over, debuts this week at #1 on the BillboardCountry Albums chart and #3 on the Billboard 200 with over 102,733 units. The album also tops Billboard’s Americana/Folk Albums and Digital Albums charts and is #2 on Billboard’s Top Albums chart.
Out now on Mercury Records Nashville (stream/purchase here), Starting Over is an album of startling prescience, featuring fourteen tracks that examine life’s simplest joys and most serious struggles. Once again produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb, the record is already receiving overwhelming critical acclaim:
“Chris Stapleton may have the album of the year with Starting Over”—American Songwriter
“a sure-footed masterpiece…one of the year’s finest albums”—Associated Press
“Simply put, there are few recording artists in country operating at Stapleton’s level, and Starting Over keeps the bar very high.”—Billboard
“a dynamite and dynamic new album from the mighty-voiced Kentucky native…the singer-songwriter is hitting new heights, nailing the crossroads of country, rock, gospel, and pop across 14 tracks.”—Entertainment Weekly
“14 rich, intricately-wound odes to tiny admissions and big emotions”—Esquire
“He has nothing left to prove, but somehow, he just gets incrementally better…This is as good as any of his albums and maybe just a tad better.”—Glide
“mixes beautifully stark songwriting with blues, country, and rock melodies, allowing Stapleton’s sturdy, propulsive vocals to carry the show”—GQ
“vividly exemplifies the complex emotional character of Stapleton’s best music. He’s burly but soft. Tough yet vulnerable. A protector of his loved ones and a man in perpetual search of shelter.”—Los Angeles Times
“What makes Starting Over unique is its emotional center…Stapleton cuts through the tangled jungle of pre-COVID life like a machete, clearing a new path forward.”—Nashville Lifestyles
“Chris is at the top of his game with this record. It sounds like a record from a great.”
—NPR Music
“Starting Over may be Stapleton’s best album yet…every song on the album comes as a perfectly wrapped gift to the listener”—No Depression
“The chill Nashville trailblazer feels at home in songs that echo his pop songwriting and his country roots.”—Rolling Stone
“if Starting Over offers a statement of principles, it’s that Stapleton is going to make Stapleton music, equal parts country, Southern rock, raw sentimentality, and self-reflective singer-songwriter-ism.”—Slate
“It is easily one of the best records I’ve heard this year. It’s easily one of the best country records I’ve heard in a long time. And I have no doubt it’s going to be one of the best country records I’ve heard this decade once everything is said and done.”—The Needle Drop
“lands precisely where country meets Southern soul: with grit, details, clarity and ache.”
—The New York Times
“the results are stunning…his most personal work yet.”—The Ringer
“expands a sonic identity and storytelling fervor that Stapleton established on his paramount debut, Traveller, and its two-part follow-up, From A Room Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.”—The Tennessean
“He has [Willie] Nelson’s tender touch, but his bluesy side is much louder; his is a part-acoustic, part-stinging approach in which Nelson’s Trigger meets B.B. King’s Lucille.”—Variety
“It’s every bit the tour de force his breakthrough album was…Elegant writing and delicate musicianship combine in an album ranking among the year’s best.”—Vulture
In celebration of the release, Stapleton was recently a guest on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” performing the album’s title track and speaking with the host (watch the performance HERE and interview HERE). Additionally, Stapleton was also featured earlier this month on NBC’s “Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist,” NPR’s “Morning Edition” and performed an acoustic version of “Starting Over” at the 54th Annual CMA Awards.
Starting Over finds Stapleton back in his second home, Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A (with additional work done at Muscle Shoals Sound and Compass Sound Studio), surrounded by his trusted collaborators as well as some new faces. In addition to Cobb (acoustic guitar), the record features his beloved wife, Morgane Stapleton (vocals, tambourine), with J.T. Cure (bass) and Derek Mixon (drums). Special guests include legendary musicians Mike Campbell (electric guitar), BenmontTench (Hammond B3 organ) and Paul Franklin (pedal steel) as well as the All Voices Choir who are featured on “Watch You Burn,” written by Stapleton and Campbell.
Kentucky-born Stapleton is a 5x Grammy, 10x CMA and 7x ACM Award-winner and one of the country’s most respected and beloved musicians. Following 2015’s quadruple platinum breakthrough solo debut album Traveller, Stapleton released two #1 albums in 2017. Both From A Room: Volume 1 (certified platinum) and From A Room: Volume 2 (certified gold) take their name from legendary RCA Studio A, where they were recorded with Cobb. Released to overwhelming critical acclaim, The Tennessean praises, “Both are rich with the textures of Stapleton’s vocals that make him one of country music’s most beloved artists, classic country sounds and thoughtful articulate lyrics about love, life and pain.” He was recently announced as the first-ever “Artist-Songwriter of the Decade” recipient by the Academy of Country Music and will resume his extensive “All-American Road Show” tour next year. Highlights include headline shows at Washington State’s Gorge Amphitheatre, Chicago’s Wrigley Field, New York’s Madison Square Garden and “A Concert for Kentucky”—a special performance benefitting his newly created Outlaw State of Kind Hometown Fund to be held at University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field onApril 24. Presented by Live Nation, the performance is the first concert ever held at UK’s Kroger Field and will feature very special guests Willie Nelson & Family, Sheryl Crow and Yola. 100% of the concert’s net proceeds will go toward Chris and Morgane Stapleton’s Outlaw State of Kind Hometown Fund. Established in partnership with the Blue Grass Community Foundation, the fund will specifically support local and national organizations directly impacting Kentucky, with initial grant distributions focusing on music and arts education. See below for complete itinerary.
STARTING OVER TRACKLIST
- Starting Over
- Devil Always Made Me Think Twice
- Cold
- When I’m With You
- Arkansas
- Joy Of My Life
- Hillbilly Blood
- Maggie’s Song
- Whiskey Sunrise
- Worry B Gone
- Old Friends
- Watch You Burn
- You Should Probably Leave
- Nashville, TN
CHRIS STAPLETON’S “ALL-AMERICAN ROAD SHOW”
April 21—Toledo, OH—Huntington Center†
April 22—Columbus, OH—Schottenstein Center†
April 24—Lexington, KY—A Concert for Kentucky – Kroger Field‡
June 5—San Bernardino, CA—Glen Helen Amphitheater§
June 10—Boise, ID—Ford Idaho Center Arena#
June 11—Portland, OR—Sunlight Supply Amphitheater#
June 12—George, WA—The Gorge Amphitheatre#
June 17—Bakersfield, CA—Mechanics Bank Arena#
June 18—Sacramento, CA—Toyota Amphitheatre#
June 19—Mountain View, CA—Shoreline Amphitheatre#
June 24—Salt Lake City, UT—USANA Amphitheatre^
June 25—Denver, CO—Pepsi Center^
June 26—Denver, CO—Pepsi Center^
July 8—Milwaukee, WI—Summerfest at American Family Insurance Amphitheater+
July 10—Camden, NJ—BB&T Pavilion°
July 17—Chicago, IL—Wrigley Field%
July 23—Holmdel, NJ—PNC Bank Arts Center**
July 24—Syracuse, NY—St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview**
July 28—Gilford, NH—Bank NH Pavilion††
July 29—Gilford, NH—Bank NH Pavilion††
July 31—Minneapolis, MN—U.S. Bank Stadium‡‡
August 5—Cuyahoga Falls, OH—Blossom Music Center°
August 7—South Bend, IN—Notre Dame Stadium§§
August 12—Charlotte, NC—PNC Music Pavilion°
August 13—Raleigh, NC—Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek°
August 19—Des Moines, IA—Iowa State Fair^^
August 20—Tulsa, OK—BOK Center##
August 21—Arlington, TX—Globe Life Field%%
September 18—Biloxi, MS—Mississippi Coast Coliseum++
September 23—Knoxville, TN—Thompson-Boling Arena++
October 1—Atlantic City, NJ—Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall++
October 2—Mansfield, MA—Xfinity Center++
October 8—New York, NY—Madison Square Garden++
October 14—Columbia, MO—Mizzou Arena++
October 15—Lincoln, NE—Pinnacle Bank Arena++
October 16—Sioux Falls, SD—Denny Sanford PREMIER Center++
October 22—Nashville, TN—Bridgestone Arena++
October 23—Nashville, TN—Bridgestone Arena++
October 28—Lubbock, TX—United Supermarket Arena°°
October 29—Albuquerque, NM—Isleta Amphitheater°°
October 30—Phoenix, AZ—Ak-Chin Pavilion°°
November 4—Austin, TX—Frank Erwin Center°°
November 11—Estero, FL—Hertz Arena**
November 12—Orlando, FL—Amway Center**
“ALL-AMERICAN ROAD SHOW” SPECIAL GUESTS
†with special guests Margo Price and Yola
‡with special guests Willie Nelson & Family, Sheryl Crow and Yola
- with special guests Dwight Yoakam and The Dirty Knobs with Mike Campbell
#with special guests Margo Price and The Dirty Knobs with Mike Campbell
^with special guests Sheryl Crow and The Dirty Knobs with Mike Campbell
+with special guest Sheryl Crow
°with special guests Elle King and Kendell Marvel
%with special guests The Highwomen, Mavis Staples and Mike Campbell
**with special guests Sheryl Crow and Kendell Marvel
††with special guests Elle King and Nikki Lane
‡‡with George Strait and Little Big Town
- §with George Strait and Brothers Osborne
^^with special guest Nikki Lane
##with special guests Willie Nelson & Family and Yola
%%with special guests Willie Nelson & Family, Jamey Johnson and Yola
++with special guests The Marcus King Band and Yola
°°with special guests Jamey Johnson and Yola
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
ASHA GOODMAN OR CARLA SACKS AT SACKS & CO., 212.741.1000, ASHA.GOODMAN@SACKSCO.COM OR CARLA@SACKSCO.COM