Chris Stapleton – Starting Over (2020)

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Starting Over is the fourth studio album by American musician Chris Stapleton. The album was released on November 13, 2020, by Mercury Nashville. At the 64th Grammy Awards it won the award for Best Country Album.

The singer-songwriter’s fourth recording project consists of fourteen tracks produced with Dave Cobb, and features writing by John Fogerty, Mike Henderson, Mike Campbell, Susanna Clarke and Guy Clark. Interviewed by Vulture Magazine, Stapleton said: “There’s a lot on this record that I’m finding out, as I’m starting to talk about it a bit, was very reactionary and in the moment. On previous records, there was songwriting that probably took place in a working songwriter vacuum, that sat around for a number of years and found a purpose when it was time to make a record. […] This project is much more about my current day-to-day life.”

As an album title, Starting Over can’t help but carry connotations of an artistic rebirth, but three or four albums into his solo stardom, Chris Stapleton is in no position to rip it up and start again. Stapleton found his footing with 2015’s Traveller and he’s spent the years since digging deeper into his burnished groove, tying the binds between classic country, classic rock, and classic soul even tighter.
A new beginning isn’t in the cards for a singer/songwriter who has styled himself as an old-fashioned troubadour, an outlaw with a heart of gold singing sweet love songs as often as he kicks up dust. He’s a traveler on a long road, not quite forging into undiscovered country as much as finding fresh routes through familiar terrain.
Working once again with producer Dave Cobb, Stapleton underscores rootsy continuity not just with his own catalog, but with his idols. He takes the time to salute the pioneers who came before him by covering two Guy Clark songs here (“Worry B Gone,” “Old Friends”), along with a deep John Fogerty solo cut that pairs quite nicely with the swampy choogle of the original “Devil Always Made Me Think Twice.”
The biggest nod to the past arrives through a couple of key members of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers joining the fold: Benmont Tench is on eight of the album’s 14 songs, while Mike Campbell co-wrote two of the record’s highlights, the funky vamp “Watch You Burn” and the rampaging “Arkansas.”
The former Heartbreakers are excellent foils for Stapleton and they also emphasize that he’s a bit like Petty in how he revives sounds of the past for the present and in how he turns out reliably sturdy albums.
Stapleton could use a bit of Petty’s flair — there’s not a lot of humor here, nor are there any flirtations with modern sounds — but his straight-ahead style nevertheless satisfies on Starting Over. [Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine]

Track listing

Starting Over – 4:00
Devil Always Made Me Think Twice – 3:51
Cold – 5:09
When I’m with You – 3:43
Arkansas – 2:58
Joy of My Life (John Fogerty) – 4:34
Hillbilly Blood – 4:05
Maggie’s Song – 3:31
Whiskey Sunrise – 3:22
Worry B Gone – 3:15
Old Friends – 4:01
Watch You Burn – 4:03
You Should Probably Leave – 3:33
Nashville, TN – 3:35

All tracks are produced by Dave Cobb and Chris Stapleton.

Personnel

Chris Stapleton − lead vocals (all tracks), background vocals (tracks 5, 7, 10), acoustic guitar (tracks 1–3, 6–8, 10, 11, 14), electric guitar (tracks 2–7, 9–13), mandolin (track 2), octophone (track 7), string arrangements (track 3)
Dave Cobb − acoustic guitar (all tracks except 10 and 14), percussion (track 5), string arrangements (track 3)
J.T. Cure − bass guitar (all tracks except 14), upright bass (track 14)
Derek Mixon − drums (all tracks), percussion (track 5), tambourine (track 3)
Morgane Stapleton − background vocals (tracks 1, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14), tambourine (tracks 2, 5, 10, 13)

Additional Personnel

Benmont Tench − Hammond B-3 organ (tracks 1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, 14), piano (tracks 3, 8, 11), upright piano (track 5), Wurlitzer (tracks 1, 8)
Mike Campbell − electric guitar (tracks 5, 12)
Paul Franklin − pedal steel guitar (tracks 10, 14)
Stephen Lamb − copyist (track 3)
String section (track 3)
- David Angell − violin
- Jenny Bifano − violin
- David Davidson − violin
- Conni Ellisor − violin
- Alicia Engstrom − violin
- Mary Kathryn Vanosdale − violin
- Karyn Winkleman − violin
- Kevin Bates − cello
- Austin Hoke − cello
- Carole Rabinowitz − cello
- Sari Reist − cello
- Kris Wilkinson − viola, string arrangements
Choir (track 12)
- Traneshia Chiles
- Tamika Harris
- Jordan Holland
- Lauren McClinton
- Marqo Patton
- Lenesha Randolph
- Shannon Sanders
- Melody Sheppard