Chris Stapleton - "Traveller"

[liza]

This album is so refreshing. Love it!

[Deleted]

Now that I'm finished with my exam I finally had a chance to listen to this album today! What a breath of fresh air, you want a REAL example of EVOLUTION in COUNTRY music? Look no further than a guy like Chris, his voice is dynamite and his songwriting is in a class of its own. 14 songs and there isn't a single bad song on it, and really there's only like one song that I'd consider "average" but it's still a fantastic song. My favorites upon first listen are probably "Traveller", "Sometimes I Cry", "Outlaw State Of Mind", "Was It 26", "The Devil Named Music", "Parachute", "When The Stars Come Out", "Nobody To Blame"......ok I'll stop... but seriously, if you like classic country or are just sick of the mainstream then this album is definitely for you. I don't know for sure if it is my album of the year but it might be, right up there with William Clark Green and Steve Earle.

[Uncle Lumpy]

May 6, 2015 14:45:12 GMT -5 trebor said:

Don't know how to put this for fear of being publicly hung: why is this described in here as "traditional", I feel this as Southern Rock or Alternative/Independent.

For me , its a pretty traditional country record. It takes a few blues detours & there is a little bit of southern rock sprinklings here & there , but at its core this is a fairly traditional record. No matter the category it really is a great album , and its refreshing to see it get so much love on Pulse as I'm usually on the outside looking in at these threads thinking "I don't get it". Has anyone seen any sales guessitmates released for this?

[trebor]

May 7, 2015 7:49:02 GMT -5 Uncle Lumpy said:

May 6, 2015 14:45:12 GMT -5 trebor said:

Don't know how to put this for fear of being publicly hung: why is this described in here as "traditional", I feel this as Southern Rock or Alternative/Independent.

For me , its a pretty traditional country record. It takes a few blues detours & there is a little bit of southern rock sprinklings here & there , but at its core this is a fairly traditional record.

Thank you Uncle Lumpy.
I was just asking because IMO there's too little country instrumentation to call it traditional core country (I mean I wouldn't have; but I'm sill learning! LOL :)).
Nonetheless, still enjoying it.
Congrats at grabbing that digipack for $10! :) 

[sabre14]

Chris Stapleton had a great "Highway Hang Time"with Buzz Brainard on The Highway this week. He talked about the album and music in general,but my favorite part was when he talked about how he came to write "Daddy Doesn't Pray Anymore." He said that his dad would always pray before eating dinner but one night he just didn't do it for some reason. Chris said that always struck him because he never missed a prayer after that as well. Then he waiting to go out one night with his now wife and she said "why don't you write a song while you're waiting". He remembered the idea he got from his father and wrote the song in about 10 minutes, start to finish.

This was after he talked about his father recently passing away.

Overall some of the most enjoyable radio I've ever experienced. As great as his music is, he sounds like an even better person, which is saying something.

[kim8]

Nice article here:

www.rollingstone.com/music/features/chris-stapleton-on-why-stunning-new-album-traveller-isnt-for-kids-20150507

[rsmatto]

May 7, 2015 13:44:22 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Chris Stapleton had a great "Highway Hang Time"with Buzz Brainard on The Highway this week. He talked about the album and music in general,but my favorite part was when he talked about how he came to write "Daddy Doesn't Pray Anymore." He said that his dad would always pray before eating dinner but one night he just didn't do it for some reason. Chris said that always struck him because he never missed a prayer after that as well. Then he waiting to go out one night with his now wife and she said "why don't you write a song while you're waiting". He remembered the idea he got from his father and wrote the song in about 10 minutes, start to finish.

This was after he talked about his father recently passing away.

Overall some of the most enjoyable radio I've ever experienced. As great as his music is, he sounds like an even better person, which is saying something.

He really, really is. He sent a coupe hand-signed thank you notes to everyone who has supported him thus far, from the people at his label to media tastemakers. I also have a pretty damn cool photo of him singing "Sometimes I Cry" that's now hanging on my wall in a great frame. It was taken by Becky Fluke and signed by both her and Chris.

Everything he does is about human connection and with class.

[Deleted]

HITS is projecting Chris' album to debut with 20-23k in first-week sales. That's pretty good, especially given that he doesn't have a radio hit. Just imagine how much more it would sell if he did have a radio hit...I guarantee you he'd leave artists like Tyler Farr, Dustin Lynch, Frankie Ballard, Canaan Smith, Gloriana, Parmalee, Chase Bryant, etc. in the dust. Granted, artists like Canaan and Chase haven't yet released their debut albums, but I'm confident that, if the playing field were level and they each had a hit, Stapleton would out-sell them easily.

Heck, Traveller is headed for way better first-week sales than we saw for the most recent albums from Jerrod Niemann and The Swon Brothers.

This should debut at #2 on Top Country Albums, trailing only ZBB's Jekyll + Hyde.

[sabre14]

Already posted this in the main forum but here's a link to a great article about how Universal took it's word of mouth approach to market Chris' Traveller album.

Tennessean

[sabre14]

Always nice getting a plug from the biggest artist in the genre with his 4.2 million followers. :)

[Daryl the Beryl]

If not for TEA, he would have been in top 10 :(

[trebor]

"More Of You" is just being played on the radio right now! (R.F.A. Radio Free Americana)
It's beautiful!  :)

[codyj100]

I cannot find the physical copy of the album, ANYWHERE! I looked at Walmart the day it came out, and again yesterday. I cannot find it. Every time I go to buy it off of Amazon, it says "Out Of Stock." Today it says "ships within 9-13 days." What??! I refuse to buy such a traditional album in digital (yes it may have southern rock and blues like tendencies but as Uncle Lumpy said, it's pretty traditional). I want the CD. The vinyl would be nice, but too expensive for me right now. Target says "out of stock" online, and the nearest one is across town. Argh! 

[onebuffalo]

#2 country, #14 top 200 CD with 27,000 sold. Congratulations, Chris Stapleton!

[onebuffalo]

May 13, 2015 12:59:28 GMT -5 onebuffalo said:

#2 country, #14 top 200 CD with 27,000 sold. Congratulations, Chris Stapleton!

Got the top 200 ranking in for you. Not a bad debut there, either.

#6 selling country CD in Canada.

Nice article about Chris Stapleton in Billboard:

www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6561560/chris-stapleton-best-sales-new-country-artist

[McCreerian]

Just got around to listening to this and kicking myself for not doing so already! I've said before that most of Country music today probably has George Jones 30 feet down by now from spinning in his grave so much. Now I'm saying damn I wish George Jones had lived to hear this album! If radio would give this guy a #1 single then it'd earn back some of the respect I've lost for it over the last 5 years. I don't expect that to happen and that's why I listen to albums like this and refuse to turn on my local radio stations anymore. Incredible!

[Daryl the Beryl]

I see its chart run being similar to that of Sturgill Simpson's "Metamodern Sounds in Country Music"

[Deleted]

Wow! It's looking like Chris will have an incredible hold in week #2 album sales. Here's the HITS forecast:

*Pitch Perfect 2 (UMe) 60-65k sales, 70-75k SPS
Mumford & Sons (Glassnote) 45-49k, 62-66k
*Incubus (Island) 34-38k, 35-39k
Josh Groban (Reprise) 32-36k, 34-38k
Now 54 (NOW) 31-35k, 31-35k
Zac Brown Band (Southern Ground/Varvatos/BMLG/Republic) 30-34k, 40-44k
Fifty Shades of Grey (Republic) 25-29k, 47-51k
Sam Smith (Capitol) 20-23k, 35-39k
*Snoop Dogg (iamOTHER/Columbia) 20-23k, 23-26k
Taylor Swift (Big Machine) 17-20k, 29-32k
Chris Stapleton (Mercury Nashville) 15-18k, 17-20k
Alabama Shakes (ATO) 14-17k, 17-20k
Ed Sheeran (Atlantic) 13-16k, 28-31k
Sam Hunt (MCA Nashville) 12-15k, 23-27k
Meghan Trainor (Epic) 12-15k, 28-31k

*Debuts

--

Chris sold 27,000 last week...most albums decrease by about 70% (give or take a bit) in week 2, but this is not a very big decrease at all for Chris. Looks like word-of-mouth is already kicking in, and Traveller is already on pace to out-sell a lot of recent albums from newer "radio" acts.

[Uncle Lumpy]

^Those sales do my heart good! I'd love to see more artists find success without being anchored to what is defined as country on mainstream radio.

[Deleted]

May 14, 2015 18:33:11 GMT -5 Daryl the Beryl said:

I see its chart run being similar to that of Sturgill Simpson's "Metamodern Sounds in Country Music"

Honestly it feels like a mix of that and Jamey Johnson's "That Lonesome Song". Glad to see Chris is still doing well

[codyj100]

I finally found a physical copy of this album over the weekend. I really do love this. There is not a single song that I do not like. Love the title track, "Parachute" and "When The Stars Come Out." Chris really delivers a strong debut. It is unfortunate that an album like this, traditional and a little southern rock, cannot garner support from radio. Chris has so much talent. Great record. 

[Deleted]

Was just looking through the mid-week Billboard update (since it always contains the Top Country Albums chart), and I noticed that Traveller bulleted in sales in its 4th week on the chart, moving 12-11. Unless an album is put on sale (or if it's a holiday, etc), it's pretty rare for it to show a bullet. Albums always debut, and then they generally decrease week after week.

The only other albums with bullets are Sam Hunt's Montevallo at #4 (one of the hottest-sellers right now), Little Big Town's Pain Killer at #5 ("Girl Crush" has done wonders for this album's sales), Jason Aldean's Old Boots, New Dirt at #7, Chase Rice's Ignite The Night (sale-priced) at #16, and Kenny Chesney's The Big Revival at #22 (thinking this one was probably sale-priced as well). And I guess there was the new album from the Lacs that debuted at #3 (14,000 sold), so of course that one had a bullet.

In week 4, Stapleton out-sold Kelsea Ballerini (week 2) and Tyler Farr (week 5).

Considering he's gotten virtually no airplay, Chris is doing extremely well.

[Andy]

This is a great record. Album of the year contender for sure.

[Spacey_Kacey]

While this album is several notches above the mainstream releases, I don't know how much it will hold up for me. "Daddy Doesn't Pray Anymore" is simple yet perfect - likely the best track and the title track will be in my Playlist as well, but I was thoroughly unimpressed by the covers. I often wish for artists to cover songs they wrote themselves, but I couldn't get into those at all despite his obviously superb voice. It seems like they were forced to fit in.

I'd put this in the same tier as John Moreland and Dwight Yoakam releases. Solid - but I really hope there are albums released later that will top this.

[Andy]

Jun 6, 2015 8:43:03 GMT -5 Spacey_Kacey said:

While this album is several notches above the mainstream releases, I don't know how much it will hold up for me. "Daddy Doesn't Pray Anymore" is simple yet perfect - likely the best track and the title track will be in my Playlist as well, but I was thoroughly unimpressed by the covers. I often wish for artists to cover songs they wrote themselves, but I couldn't get into those at all despite his obviously superb voice. It seems like they were forced to fit in.

I'd put this in the same tier as John Moreland and Dwight Yoakam releases. Solid - but I really hope there are albums released later that will top this.

I think I like this album more than you do, but I agree that it isn't perfect. A few of the tracks struck me as just okay, and a lot of them go on a bit too long. The bluesy cover of "Tennessee Whiskey", while tasteful and well-done, isn't really my cup of tea, and while "Whiskey and You" is a great song, I've already heard Tim McGraw's and Jason Eady's versions, so it was kinda like "oh, this song again" at this point.

I think this is an amazing 45 minute album turned into a really good 63 minute album. As it stands, I'd give this album a grade of A-. An album of the year contender for me, but I would predict a finish somewhere in the top 10 is more likely than it taking the number one spot.

[Deleted]

Jun 6, 2015 21:35:06 GMT -5 Andy said:

Jun 6, 2015 8:43:03 GMT -5 Spacey_Kacey said:

While this album is several notches above the mainstream releases, I don't know how much it will hold up for me. "Daddy Doesn't Pray Anymore" is simple yet perfect - likely the best track and the title track will be in my Playlist as well, but I was thoroughly unimpressed by the covers. I often wish for artists to cover songs they wrote themselves, but I couldn't get into those at all despite his obviously superb voice. It seems like they were forced to fit in.

I'd put this in the same tier as John Moreland and Dwight Yoakam releases. Solid - but I really hope there are albums released later that will top this.

I think I like this album more than you do, but I agree that it isn't perfect. A few of the tracks struck me as just okay, and a lot of them go on a bit too long. The bluesy cover of "Tennessee Whiskey", while tasteful and well-done, isn't really my cup of tea, and while "Whiskey and You" is a great song, I've already heard Tim McGraw's and Jason Eady's versions, so it was kinda like "oh, this song again" at this point.

I think this is an amazing 45 minute album turned into a really good 63 minute album. As it stands, I'd give this album a grade of A-. An album of the year contender for me, but I would predict a finish somewhere in the top 10 is more likely than it taking the number one spot.

Yeah, Tennessee Whiskey was one that I didn't care for initially, but it grew on me immensely, and I feel like Stapleton's version of Whiskey and You is by far the best version of the three. But I see why people would be annoyed with its appearance. Honestly, the only track I didn't like was "More Of You". I personally put two other albums above "Traveller" but it is very very solid.

[bamafan2102]

Album of the year....not even close.

My favorite song is Fire Away although the whole album is fantastic. His wife's voice and his are a match made in heaven.

[Daryl the Beryl]

Well, I gave the album a second listen, and it's even better than the first. Congrats on the CMA wins.

My favorites are the title track, Parachute, Nobody to Blame, The Devil Named Music and Outlaw State of Mind.

All the tracks from the album are in the top 300 on iTunes, except "Devil".

[onebuffalo]

Covered Chris Stapleton in a column of mine:

5. STAPLETON TRAVELS TO #2: Chris Stapleton debuts at #2 on the country albums chart with Traveller. 27,000 copies were sold last week.

[kim8]

145 K in sales according to hitsdaily double. That is freakin awesome! Go Chris. Less than 2 days of sales too. Craziness.