By the 2023 release of Higher, Chris Stapleton had somehow become one of the major stars of country music, with crossover star power, to the point that it is a point of obscure history to some that there remains an amazing bluegrass group called The Steeldrivers that found a Stapleton-esque singer to replace him when he left. His solo releases have moved incrementally, avoiding every cliche that the Nashville machine uses as per the Dale Watson song. Yet Stapleton only rarely touches upon his prior bluegrass roots. Part Southern rock, part Southern R&B in the Dan Penn tradition, and just filtered through enough twang that by the weird classification system of genres, he gets called country because any country means all country. Why? Mostly, the I-hate-country audience just rejects the genre, so any detection of twang or slightly nasal singing means 100% country as a genre. Then here comes another album like Higher. Stapleton’s performances sometimes even have string sections, so we get weird, R&B tunes with a string section, like Think I’m In Love With You, barely a hint of anything conventionally country, followed by the kind of tune that any of the outlaw crowd would be proud to write and record, yet that would be equally at home in Laurel Canyon decades earlier. Around the edges, artists willing to scrape out a touring living can hope to find an audience while maintaining artistic integrity and playing whatever they choose. Even the best will barely get by. Somehow, the dice rolled in Stapleton’s favor, and enough of an audience just break into tears when they hear him sing so much as two notes that he can play whatever he wants. Any audience, any style. There is an interview of Frank Zappa in which he spoke of Prince, and said that the important thing about Prince was that the producers and labels were not interfering and trying to force him to do something different. One would not want to live in a world without Purple Rain, as an example of a unifying album that followed a distinctive artist’s vision. Consider, then, some of the rockers on Higher, like White Horse. The producer-led approach would demand bringing in a guitar-slinging hotshot, of which Nashville has more per capita than probably any other city in the world. Stapleton can play, but is he a Danny Gatton-level virtuoso of country guitar? Could a producer have brought in Vince Gill or some other headliner, just for the star power, or even just one of the multitudes of session players who can outplay Gill? (And yes, Vince Gill really is that good when it comes to instrumental work, whatever one thinks of his commercial output, which is honestly a little saccharine.) Yes, a producer could have, and would have. But instead, Stapleton plays, and while he doesn’t play blazing solos even at the Isbell standard, which is still absurdly high, the result is an album that just feels right, which means a unified whole. At this point, no producer would dare meddle with Chris Stapleton. That is as it should be.

Chris Stapleton is Wonderful, I love his Voice and style

It was a gift for my Wife, even though we both are fans. It has some great songs on it.

I love this album. Every song is amazing. It plays well on my record player.

Great album, no delivery issues. I am not a fan of streaming, so I still like to own a CD or vinyl.

The only Chris Stapleton cd I didn't have and it's got some of his best music. Love this guy's stuff! White Horse won song of the year last night at CMA's.

The CD case was cracked and splintered but the CD itself was in great condition

Bought this as a gift for my sister and she loves it.

Excellent CD, beautiful music in a balanced collection. Perfect.

No hay mucho que decir Stapleton es garantía de buenas letras y buena música; Tengo todos los CDs 👌🏽

Best country singer

Une pure merveille, totalement addictif tant au niveau des prouesses vocales que musicales. À consommer sans modération !!

Otro fantástico disco más para añadir a su impoluta, hasta ahora, discografía. Sigue la línea de su anterior trabajo "Starting Over". Muy recomendable si te mola lo que hace Chris.