Chris Stapleton called into The Bobby Bones Show today (July 21) to announce his new album, what his new song “White Horse” is about and explain the story behind the viral ACM photo of him cleaning up after the show.
Stapleton’s new single “White Horse” is out today. He co-wrote the song with Dan Wilson and it was written for the Disney movie The Lone Ranger, back in 2012. Stapleton was in L.A. when he got a call from Wilson telling him they were looking for songs to use in the movie. They had no idea what the movie was about, but they got together and wrote it hoping it would be useful for it. It ended up just being a song that Stapleton liked a lot. You can probably find a YouTube video of him singing it at some of his shows from over the years because he always thought it would be a song he would record with his band, but then it stopped getting attention. He let it age for a while until it felt like the right time to release it. They finally recorded a strong version of it and decided it would be the first single from his forthcoming album.
Higher, the fifth studio album from Stapleton, will be out November 10th. Sometimes he writes a song that he loves, but it isn’t the right time or album to put it out, so he holds on to it for years. The oldest song on his new record is from the first demo session he ever did when he came to Nashville in 2001. He waited so long for the release of that song because he never felt it fit any of his projects well. It’s a song his wife has always loved, but he admits it’s a very difficult song to sing so he’s always been hesitant to record it.
When he’s making a record, he gets very meticulous and deep with every song that is recorded. He said they’ve listened to this record so many times that by the time it’s released they won’t want to hear it anymore. Stapleton said Higher is a really strong record they’ve worked on a lot and he’s extremely proud of it. He said some of the songs on it are also different from anything he’s ever recorded before and called it “on the edge of things they’ve done in the past,” so he’s excited to see how the fans will react.
Stapleton is currently doing six stadium shows with George Strait. He goes on before Strait and still gives it all during his set. When he gets off stage, he enjoys being a fan and watching Strait’s set and has learned a lot watching him perform.
Stapleton is the most recent ACM Entertainer of The Year winner, and after his big win, a picture of him with a leaf blower cleaning the confetti went viral. He said what really happened was when they were walking out, they passed the guys cleaning with their blowers, and he told one of them it would be funny if he could grab one and help. They were kind enough to let him do a little bit of posing and make it look like he was cleaning up, and they got a kick out of it too. It was a nice, spontaneous moment that they had fun with and then continued to leave.