Chris Stapleton's iconic "Traveller" turns 10
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Chris Stapleton, center, his wife Morgane Stapleton and Justin Timberlake at the CMA Awards in 2015. Photo: Taylor Hill/Getty Images
Some country music albums are so vital, so unforgettable, so iconic, that everyone should gather around the proverbial table and sing happy birthday to commemorate their release.
- Chris Stapleton's "Traveller," which hit the shelves 10 years ago this week, is one of those albums worthy of reflection and celebration.
Why it matters: "Traveller" exceeded all expectations. It became a landmark, game-changing album for country music, and a colossal commercial success for his label Mercury, which is an imprint of Universal Music Group.
The intrigue: Stapleton created "Traveller" at a time when hip-hop-infused bro country was the flavor of the moment. Artists like Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line and Sam Hunt led the way.
- "Traveller" focused on Stapleton's soulful vocals, traditional instrumentation and simple production by producer Dave Cobb.
- To promote the album, Universal decided to take an unconventional approach, relying on word-of-mouth marketing.
Flashback: Cindy Mabe, then-president of UMG Nashville, laid out the label's plans to The Tennessean on the eve of the album's release in 2015.
- "Normally we'd service music to radio six months prior to releasing an album, but we believe with Chris that if we build organically and show the mainstream outlets how his music is connecting, we will continue to garner bigger partners and the word of mouth will snowball into a massive album," she said.
- The label believed that the more people who simply heard Stapleton sing the songs "Traveller," the better the album would sell. Indeed: Though the album's release was met with good reviews, it wasn't until months later that Stapleton caught lightning in a bottle when he performed the single "Tennessee Whiskey" with Justin Timberlake at the CMA Awards.
- That performance may be the most unforgettable in modern country music history. Artists like Luke Combs and Cody Johnson have followed in Stapleton's footsteps, and the genre has largely lurched away from the bro country sounds of a decade ago.
What he said: At 37 years old, Stapleton was a grizzled veteran of Nashville's country music industry by the time "Traveller" came to be. At the time, the Vanderbilt dropout had carved out a workmanlike career that included songwriting for other artists and fronting the bluegrass band the SteelDrivers.
- The release of his first solo album had been delayed for years.
- "There's songs that are the 23-year-old me on this record, the 28-year-old me playing in bands, the 30-year-old who just got married," Stapleton told The Tennessean 10 years ago. "There's the 37-year-old with two kids and in-laws living close by, and my mother living down the street.
- "There's all those things on this record, and all those stages of my musical life are on this record. In a lot of ways, it's a little overwhelming and frightening to have that much of yourself laid out to the world."
By the numbers: The album's sales numbers are staggering. Two weeks after the CMA performance, "Traveller" reentered the Billboard 200 all-genre chart at No. 1.
- It's the first country album to spend over 500 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart.
- Its global sales eclipsed 11 million albums sold, and it has been streamed over 11 billion times.
What's next: The label is releasing 10th anniversary vinyl variants of the album this summer.