Smoother than Tennessee whiskey, that Chris Stapleton.
Yesterday, it was announced that the country superstar is teaming up with JR Motorsports to attempt to make its debut in the NASCAR Cup Series.
The team will field an entry in the 2025 Daytona 500 with Justin Allgaier as the driver, and he will drive the No. 40 car for Chris Stapleton’s Traveller Whiskey brand (to correspond with the blend No. 40 in the product), with Greg Ives as the crew chief.
And today, Stapleton sat down with Dale Earnhardt Jr. for his Dale Jr. Download podcast to talk about the new partnership, and of course, Chris’ impressive country music career thus far. But one of the sweetest moments was when Dale Jr. asked Chris about his lovely wife Morgane, who sings with him onstage and on all of his records, in addition to doing some producing.
Chris gushed:
“I have a great partner in life… we raise kids together, we work together, we do everything together.”
He explained that the worked at neighboring publishing companies at the time, and she had a record deal back then that ultimately didn’t work out (I’m still waiting on that Morgane Stapleton album, by the way…), though they would pass each other in the hallway often and he was smitten:
“We wrote at neighboring publishing companies. She had a record deal long before I did, that didn’t work out as they do… we shared writer rooms, basically, with another publishing company, and we would pass each other in the hall. That was it.”
Chris told Jr. he asked her to a writing appointment at 8 o’clock at night on a Friday night, which is not at all the standard in Nashville. They usually write during the daytime, like a regular 9 to 5 job. I’m sure Morgane knew what he was up to, and I think it’s pretty smooth, actually:
“I asked her to a writing appointment at 8 o’clock at night on a Friday.”
Jr. asked if it was “intentional,” and obviously, it very much was… and as you can imagine, they didn’t get much writing done that night:
“Oh yeah… I don’t know how much songwriting we actually got done, it was fine. It was fun. She’s in the band, she produces record and all this stuff. She’s always been my greatest asset in this business I think.”
While it’s a unique situation he’s grateful for, Chris admitted that, obviously, it’s not always easy when you’re married and work together and it certainly comes with its own set of challenges:
It is really unique, and hard sometimes, cause we’re married, too, you know, so I’m not gonna pretend that that’s not… doesn’t enter into it. We’ve been married 17 years at this point.”
The two share five children together, work together and make incredible music, and have built something really special that compares to no one else in the industry.
You can watch Chris talk about it here, it’s really sweet:
I mean, they’re just magic together…
Chris, Morgane and the rest of his band is gearing up to hit the road on the All-American Road Show tour that will kick off in February in Australia and run through August, ending in Denver, Colorado.
You can view the full list of dates below.
CHRIS STAPLETON CONFIRMED 2025 TOUR DATES
February 25—Melbourne, Australia—Rod Laver Arena* (SOLD OUT)
February 26—Melbourne, Australia—Rod Laver Arena* (SOLD OUT)
February 28—Brisbane, Australia—Brisbane Entertainment Centre* (SOLD OUT)
March 1—Brisbane, Australia—Brisbane Entertainment Centre* (SOLD OUT)
March 4—Sydney, Australia—Qudos Bank Arena* (SOLD OUT)
March 5—Sydney, Australia—Qudos Bank Arena* (SOLD OUT)
March 7—Auckland, New Zealand—Spark Arena* (SOLD OUT)
March 8—Auckland, New Zealand—Spark Arena* (SOLD OUT)
June 4—Greenville, SC—Bon Secours Wellness Arena†
June 7—Charlottesville, VA—John Paul Jones Arena‡
June 12—Grand Rapids, MI—Van Andel Arena+
June 18—Greensboro, NC—First Horizon Coliseum^
June 20—Albany, NY—MVP Arena^
June 27—Tinley Park, IL—Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre#
July 11—St. Louis, MO—Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre‡
July 12—Milwaukee, WI—Harley-Davidson Homecoming Festival
July 23—Belmont Park, NY—UBS Arena~
July 25—New York, NY—Madison Square Garden~
August 1—Noblesville, IN—Ruoff Music Center**
August 8—Phoenix, AZ—Desert Diamond Arena‡‡
August 15—Salt Lake City, UT—Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre*
August 22—Denver, CO—Ball Arena**
October 10—Hollywood, FL—Hard Rock Live
*with special guest Marcus King
†with special guest Nikki Lane
‡with special guest Brittney Spencer
+with special guest Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs
^with special guest Maggie Rose
#with special guest The War & Treaty
~with special guest Grace Potter
**with special guest Allen Stone
‡‡with special guest Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives
