Super Bowl 2023 National Anthem Singer: Who Is Chris Stapleton?

The 2023 Super Bowl will feature country singer Chris Stapleton as the national anthem singer, but many viewers might not be familiar with the award-winning artist. If he looks familiar, that’s probably because you’ve definitely seen him somewhere before, such as the musical guest on SNL or any one of the late-night talk shows on currently. Before belting out “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the biggest football game of the year, Stapleton enjoyed a prestigious rise to a high-profile music career.

The Lexington, Kentucky, native first got his start in the early 2000s, after moving to Nashville to become a songwriter. In 2007, he joined the bluegrass band the SteelDrivers, serving as their lead vocalist through their debut self-titled album in 2008, as well as its 2010 follow-up, Reckless. After exiting the group, Stapleton founded a short-lived southern rock band called the Jompson Brothers and later sat out on a solo career in 2013 after signing to Mercury Nashville.

To date, Stapleton has released four studio albums: Traveller (2015), From A Room: Volume 1 (2017), From A Room: Volume 2 (2017), and Starting Over (2020). The most recent album had been finished ahead of the coronavirus pandemic but was delayed due to Stapleton’s inability to tour on the album. The first three singles for Starting Over were the title track, “Starting Over,” “Cold” and “Arkansas.” 

There is also a track titled “Watch You Burn,” which Stapleton wrote about the 2017 mass shooting at the Route 91 Festival, which took place near the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. While speaking to Wide Open Country, Stapleton called the song “therapeutic,” and added, “It’s a powerful number to me that conveys the sentiment, hey let’s cut the evil s— out… it’s a plea in some ways.”

Stapleton also spoke about getting back to touring, which, at the time, he hoped would happen soon, as it’s something he feels like he might do for the rest of his life. “We all hope for that Willie Nelson career where we’re, you know, 85 or 86, and we can go play as much as or as little as we want to,” he said. “I think if I am able to walk out on stage and hold a guitar when I’m 85, I think that’s probably gonna happen.”