Gettin’ the boys back together.
It goes without saying, but Chris Stapleton and Justin Timberlake’s 2015 CMA Awards show duet of “Tennessee Whiskey” and “Drink You Away” might be the best thing to happen to country music in a long time.
Why?
Because it completely changed the course of country music.
Make no mistake, Chris Stapleton was well-known in the country music community. Writing songs for artists like Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, George Strait, Tim McGraw, Luke Bryan, and more, everybody in Nashville knew Chris Stapleton was the real deal.
Dierks Bentley even called him “probably the best singer in the world,” all the way back in 2010.
But… he was still relatively unknown to the general public (unless you were a fan of The Steeldrivers or the Jompson Brothers).
Until 2015…
He took the stage alongside pop superstar (and Tennessee native) Justin Timberlake to perform “Tennessee Whiskey,” along with Timberlake’s “Drink You Away,” and they blew the roof off.
The world had finally been exposed to the magic of Chris Stapleton.
Sales for Traveller, Chris’ debut album, shot through the roof and he’s been on a rocket to the moon ever since. In fact, to this day, you can still find Traveller in the Top 10 on any country album sales chart at any given time.
Even right now it sits at #8 on the iTunes country album charts, and his most recent album, Starting Over, is sitting at #5.
And this past weekend, at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, Chris once again brought his buddy Justin Timberlake out to join him:
“I guarantee that most of you probably know me because of this man I’m about to bring onstage.
He’s one of the greatest musical artists that has ever lived.”
Here’s another angle:
