As country fans, I’m sure many of us know the Billy Joel classic “Shameless” because of Garth Brooks’ iconic cover.
I mean, it took me forever to realize it wasn’t originally by Garth Brooks…
It’s still one of my favorite of his songs though because of the emotions of the song (I’m a total cheesy love song gal) and because of Brooks’ powerful vocal performance.
I honestly didn’t think anyone could do the song any better, but of course, enter Chris Stapleton.
Everything this man sings just absolutely makes my jaw drop, and I am pretty devastated that I can’t put this version on all of my playlists.
This cover took place during the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song Concert for Garth Brooks back in 2020.
Garth also performed at this concert along with Lee Brice, Keb’ Mo’, and Trisha Yearwood among others.
The entire concert is available on PBS’s website if you’re a member, but it’s Stapleton’s performance that’s really a standout to me.
And that should be no surprise.
Stapleton’s voice is an absolute powerhouse. But while Garth Brooks brings this smoothness to the song, Stapleton brings a lot of rasp.
Like damn. It’s so good.
The fourth verse is when this rasp is really put on display because of the belt followed by the cutting off of the music for the next line:
“But I’ve never been in love like this
It’s out of my hands…”
I kept waiting for his voice to crack or cut off, but it just doesn’t. It keeps going getting more and more powerful until you just gotta get up and walk it out.
You know a voice is good when you need to get up, walk around, maybe jump a couple times. Or when you’re just slack-jawed in front of the screen.
Either way, Stapleton absolutely delivers on this cover.
And then you have Garth, who looks like a kid in a candy store watching Chris just murder up there. And you know there were some tears…
So, please check it out, and if you can’t get enough of Chris Stapleton covering Garth Brooks, you can also listen to him sing “Rodeo” form the same concert.
