Chris Stapleton broke big in 2015.
Did you feel pressure to match that success?CHRIS STAPLETON: For about 10 seconds.
If you think about what everyone else will think, you forget to just make music.
Credit: Getty Andy Barron
I didnt have any expectations withTravellerI dont think anybody did.
Thats how I prefer the process to be.
You worked once more with producer Dave Cobb.
If it aint broke…Im a little superstitious!
Youre releasing two LPs in 2017.From A Room: Volume 2is coming later this year.
How much material did you write?All of these songs actually precede the last record.
Some of them are 10 or 12 years old.
Theres literally no new songs on this record!
[Laughs] We gave ourselves two months to record.
So we called up the label and said, Weve got to put out two records this year.
Some days you just dont get it; you eat too much pizza or something.
Thats where the magic lives.
You cover Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning, which Willie Nelson made famous in 1982.
Why is that song special for you?I listened to that song when I was a kid.
I hope Im not the last person to record it!
Its worth cutting again and again.
If you want an instruction manual on how to write a song, listen to that one.
[Laughs]
Your wife, Morgane, is in your band.
What do your children think of having a rock-star mom and dad?Theyre very unaffected by it.
Im still just Dad and shes still just Mom and [performing] is our job.
They dont know that everybody doesnt go and play in front of thousands of people every night.
Of those thousands, have any been surprising celebrity fans?
[Kiss] Gene Simmons showed up at a show one time!
It was the oddest thing.
He was side-stage at a festival in New York, I think.
I was like, Hey, Gene Simmons, whats up?
[Laughs] Bradley Cooper came to a show….
I hope I dont sound like Im name-dropping.
But speaking of name-dropping, youretouring with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakersthis summer.
Are you pumped?The 17-year-old me is going to be freaking outand probably the 39-year-old me!
[Laughs] Hes a hero.
I used to spend my money on going to Tom Petty concerts.
And now youre getting paid to go!Yeah, how about that!
Its a win-win for me.
From A Room: Volume 1is streaming above.
