The great Chris Stapleton… an award-winning country music icon, the best voice in the universe, a master songwriter, and… certified pyro fan.
Fresh off a handful Grammy nominations last week, Chris Stapleton is kicking off this Monday morning with a teaser for his latest music video, “White Horse,” which will feature Oscar-nominated actor, Josh Brolin, among others. Of course, Chris and Josh seem to have struck up a friendship this year after they joined forced for a Billboard exposé on Chris. Chris gave Josh a tour of his studio space for the article, showed him his vault of guitars, and more, but now, they’re taking it to the next level with a music video collab.
In the teaser, Josh tells the camera that his favorite part of the upcoming music video, which is set for release on November 12th, is the part where they got to blow up a car. Yeah, you heard that right… blow up a car.
He says:
“One particular scene? We blew up a car. Being out in the desert and then blowing up a car with these two actors looking like they do… it’s just one of those things.”
And while Josh was pumped to participate, Chris was even more ecstatic… he got to push the button on the explosives:
“Can I blow this stuff up?”
Yup, you sure can…
Chris later explained that while these are professional explosive technicians working on scene, he was surprised at how basic the recipe for a controlled explosions was. It was exactly the kind of thing a few rednecks might whip up in their garage:
“They were total pros, they know how to direct things, but this is like hillbilly s***. I talked to the guys and they were like ‘yeah, were just gonna put some diesel fuel here, mixed with a gallon of gasoline,’… it’s just like, ‘ok, here we go.'”
These are the things they don’t tell you about before you become famous, right? Yeah, you’ll get the money, the fame, the girls, etc…. but you’ll also get to blow up cars for a music video if you want to, and that’s all any dude can ask for, right?
Check it out:
Chris Stapleton’s Most Prized Possession
Earlier this year, Billboard sent actor Josh Brolin to Nashville to spend some time at Stapleton HQ to chat, play music, and shoot the s*** with Chris and Morgane Stapleton. Stapleton HQ is a massive warehouse and musical emporium showcasing all the albums, honors, and instruments that Stapleton has collected over the years. The room even has a fully functional disco floor, and all in all, it looks like an immaculate space to create, hang out, or jam.
However, out of all the relics found in this phenomenal space, some items hold more sentimental value than others.
“There are lots of things that mean things to me in here, instrument-wise. There’s a guitar that I wrote most of my songs on.”
Chris Stapleton tells Brolin as he takes him into his guitar storage room, lined wall to wall with guitars in hard shell cases.
“Let me make sure it’s in here. It’s in this giant case.”
Out of the case, Stapleton pulls out a beat-up ‘50s acoustic Gibson LG-2 steel-string guitar; he says he picked it up for just $380.
“This is the guitar that I bought when I moved to town, when I moved to Nashville. This thing. And so, if I had to walk out of here with one thing… it would be this. All the other stuff, I would be sad about a lot of it, but whatever I’ve done, whatever I’ve made, whatever I turned into has pretty much been built on this thing.
I would say 90% of the things I’ve ever written in my life were written on this guitar. It’s not precious in a collector way to anybody because I mean, it was in a flood at some point, there’s mud inside it. You know, somebody used it as a canoe paddle, or there’s a million crack repairs. Yeah, if I were going to walk out of here with one thing, if you want to know what’s the most important thing, it’s probably this.”
@billboard @Chris Stapleton shows #JoshBrolin his most prized possession: “If I had to walk out of here with one thing, it would be this.” 🎸 Watch the full video, as Billboard’s latest cover star takes Brolin inside his private world, now. #chrisstapleton #countrymusic #warehouse #tour #nashville #traveller #billboard ♬ original sound – billboard
Stapleton and that guitar have created many memories together, strumming the chords to many of his hit songs. That’s a pretty cool piece of music history. Stapleton’s Gibson LG-2 might not have survived a house fire like Willie Nelson’s “Trigger,” but given the stories Stapleton shares, it has survived; his guitar is a “Trigger” of his own. Billboard did a stellar job with this interview; it’s organic, flows smoothly, and delves into the life and career of one of the best musicians of our generation.
Chris Stapleton is a talent unlike others.
