Chris Stapleton on New Music: ‘There Probably Won’t Be an Album This Year’

Chris Stapleton has received plenty of accolades for his last two EPS: From a Room, Volume 1 and From a Room, Volume 2. The latter, which was released at the end of 2017, just picked up an ACM Awards nomination, for Album of the Year. From a Room: Volume 1 also won a Grammy for Best Country Album, and From a Room: Volume 2 picked up a Grammy nomination as well (with the trophy going to Kacey Musgraves for Golden Hour).

In other words, Stapleton knows how to make a record, but he also refuses to be rushed into the process, which is why he says fans will have to wait a while before they get new music from him.

“We don’t have anything new necessarily in the can,” Stapleton told Billboard. “We’ve done a little bit of experimenting, but we don’t have anything concrete. There probably won’t be [an album] this year. There will be a record in the future. I don’t know how near or how distant that future will be.”

Stapleton’s refusal to give in to the industry standard of continuing to churn out new music might seem brave on the outside, but for Stapleton, it’s the only way, at least for him.

“Like everything else, I will make the record when it’s exactly the right time to make the record and it feels like the right thing to do,” insisted the singer. “Nobody’s pushing me on it at the moment, and if they did, I probably wouldn’t respond very well to it anyway because I think music should be made when you feel like making music and not the other way around.”

Stapleton and Morgane are eagerly awaiting the arrival of their fifth child later this year. Stapleton will also continue his All-American Road Show Tour in 2019, where eventually his entire family will once again join him on the road.

“When the twins were born [last March], we took about six months where they stayed home and they traveled some with us on the back end,” Stapleton revealed. “We haven’t fully figured all that out because the big kids are 8 and 9 and they’re road dogs and they’re pretty resilient. Shoot, they’re better on the road than I am. We home-school and they’ve been to, I don’t know how many presidential museums and national monuments, Mount Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone.

“They get to see this stuff that I only got to read about,” he continued. “I know there will be a point when they’re teenagers or pre-teenagers where they go, ‘If I have to get on that bus one more time I’m going to kill my dad,’ but we’ll figure all that out when it’s time. Hopefully it will make them well-rounded human beings eventually.”

Stapleton is tied with Dan + Shay for the most ACM nods, with six total. Stapleton is also nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year. The 2019 ACM Awards will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 7, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

Photo Credit: Getty images/ CBS Photo Archive