Chris Stapleton – Traveller

“On his debut solo album, Traveller, Chris Stapleton has the double axels and triple jumps down, but he delivers each with a remarkable lack of showiness, so that each one feels like much more than an exercise. Partly mostly, maybe this is because of his voice, which became one of Nashville’s most beloved in the years he spent leading the bluegrass-based SteelDrivers and singing on albums by everyone from Dierks Bentley to Angaleena Presley to Vince Gill. Stapleton, who was raised in Kentucky, sings with the power of a classic Southern rocker, but modulates his rawness with a great sense of soul phrasing and a seasoned balladeer’s ability to scale down.”