Chris Stapleton Makes Music to Keep Playing Music

Chris Stapleton has put out not one, but two records in the last seven months, both From a Room: Volume 1 in May, followed by From a Room: Volume 2 earlier this month.

The reigning CMA Male Vocalist of the Year says the idea for churning out two projects back-to-back came from him, not his record label, Universal Music Group.

"I didn't feel any pressure," he told Sounds Like Nashville. "My goal with Traveller, I had hoped to possibly sell 50,000 records. I was going to make this record, and I was going to go out there and play music because that's what I know how to do. Obviously, it did a little bit better than that. This time around, I tried to raise that to a degree."

Traveller, Stapleton's freshman record, became a multiplatinum, number one album, helping launch Stapleton into one of the most-successful artists in country music, selling out many of his venues on his recent All-American Road Show Tour. But for Stapleton, he's less concerned with the size of the crowd than that he gets to keep doing what he loves.

"If that's 20,000 records or 50,000 records, or getting to play a room for 300 people or 20,000 people, that's the dream," he adds. "I'm still making a living playing music."

While there's plenty going well in Stapleton's life, including the upcoming arrival of twins with his wife, Morgane, and his 2018 concert date with the Eagles, the 39-year-old says he is still drawn to sad, heartbreak tunes.

"I think I like sad songs because when you sing sad songs or heartbreak songs, everybody has been there at one point or another and it makes everybody feel less alone if they are in that space," he shares. "A lot of these songs are older songs and some of them are covers. There's a lot more to sing about in that space. I feel like those songs have more power than happy songs."

All of Stapleton's albums are available for purchase on Amazon and iTunes.