Anytime you hear about a Chris Stapleton feature, your ears immediately perk up.
With recent collabs with the like of Adele, Taylor Swift, Carly Pearce, Pink, Morgan Wallen, and many more, he might be the most featured voice in music right now (for good reason).
That being said, we won’t be graced with his flawless voice on this latest collab with Alana Springsteen, but rather his guitar.
The song appeared on her debut album, Twenty Something: Figuring It Out. The Nashville country singer kept the collaboration with Stapleton under wraps leading up to the album’s release until she let it slip on stage one night while opening up for Luke Bryan.
“May or may not have blacked out and accidentally announced ‘ghost in my guitar’ and the Chris Stapleton feature during the set at Merriweather with Luke Bryan on Friday.”
The artist shared on Instagram earlier this week.
While the news slipped before the track dropped, it almost did Springsteen a service allowing hype to build around the track.
“Ghost in my guitar ( feat. Chris Stapleton ) is a duet between me and Chris’ guitar. This song is about the things that haunt us… people whose memory we can’t seem to shake no matter how hard we try.
This duet needed to allude to the person who once was, which is why it couldn’t be vocal. I had this insanely specific tone in my head for it and ended up seeing Chris play his Fender Jazzmaster live for the first time right around the time I was cutting this song.
I knew immediately that it had to be him. There was never a backup plan if he said no.
Thankfully Chris is the kind of artist and musician who believes in the integrity of a song over anything else, and I’m forever grateful that he liked this one enough to lend his iconic talent to it.”
Chris’ Jazzmaster tone is haunting, portraying the messaging loud and clear, while Springsteen’s lyrics are carefully curated, tying feelings of heartbreak and betrayed memories to how a catchy guitar riff can have lingering effects in your mind.
It’s a very clever metaphor, and the addition of Stapleton’s guitar versus having him on the track lyrically is a unique collaboration.
Check it out.
