Concise country rock and southern soul and without much glorification.
When Chris Stapleton performed his interpretation of the saloon standard “Tennessee Whiskey” with Justin Timberlake at the 2015 Country Music Awards, it was not only a genre-historical collaboration, but also the perfect starting point for the late solo career of the hitherto predominantly songwriter active artist.
For his fifth album, the forty-something is relying on the family collaboration of Roots regular producer (and guitarist) Dave Cobb as well as the sound understanding and background singing talent of his wife Morgane. The majority of the 14 new songs, which are authentically situated between firewater excuses, emotional rodeo and trucker hat ethos, are laid back, minimized and often pleasantly soulful. Stapleton’s variably rough and supple voice, which lies between baritone and tenor, is able to soar to heights reminiscent of Aaron Neville in the course of some small coloratura.
But there are also opposite poles like the bone-dry rocker “White Horse,” which was originally inspired by the 2013 “Lone Ranger” remake (and also musically poaches more into Jon Bon Jovi’s “Young Guns”/BLAZE OF GLORY territory), or the Springsteen-esque “The Bottom “turned out excellently. And when Stapleton intones the catchy title line “Mountains Of My Mind” at the end, accompanied solely by guitar, one would like to understand this as an invitation to hike.