Traveller (Chris Stapleton album)
Traveller | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | May 5, 2015 | |||
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Length | 63:04 | |||
Label | Mercury Nashville | |||
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Chris Stapleton chronology | ||||
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Singles from Traveller | ||||
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Traveller is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton. The album was produced by Dave Cobb and Stapleton, and was released on May 5, 2015, through Mercury Nashville.
Described by music publications as an old-school country, Southern rock record, Traveller received critical acclaim and earned Stapleton several awards. It was named Album of the Year at the 2015 Country Music Association Awards. Furthermore, it received a nomination at the 58th Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and a win for Best Country Album. The song "Traveller" also won Best Country Solo Performance. At the 2016 Academy of Country Music Awards it won Album of the Year, with the song "Nobody to Blame" also winning Song of the Year. It won the Billboard Music Award for Top Country Album in 2016 and 2017.
Traveller reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart after the 2015 Country Music Association Awards, during which Stapleton and Justin Timberlake performed a well-received duet. The album has been certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and has sold over 2.6 million copies in the United States by November 2019.[2] It was eventually ranked by Billboard as the bestselling country album of the 2010s.[3] It generated three singles: "Traveller", "Nobody to Blame", and "Parachute". "Nobody to Blame" reached the top 10 on the Country Airplay chart.[4] The album track "Fire Away" was accompanied by a music video.[5] Though not released as a radio single, album track "Tennessee Whiskey" garnered popularity following its performance at the aforementioned CMA awards, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and number 20 on the Hot 100.[6][7]
Music and composition
[edit]I lost my dad in October 2013 and did a little bit of soul-searching. My wife was kind enough to buy me an old Jeep. We flew out to Phoenix and drove it all the way back to Nashville through the desert. I thought a lot about music and my dad, and the things that he would have liked that I should be doing. Out of that, I actually wrote the song 'Traveller' driving down Interstate 40 through New Mexico. That became the cornerstone for the record and wound up being the title track.
— Stapleton speaking about his inspiration for the album during an interview with Billboard[8]
The album is an old-school country record mixed with Southern rock. Tracks on the album features electric guitar, mandolin, and acoustic guitar. "The Devil Named Music" exclaims the hard life on the road, while "Might As Well Get Stoned" features resignation lyrics.[9] Musically, "Sometimes I Cry" is a blues song,[9] "Nobody to Blame" a mid-tempo country rock track,[10] and "Fire Away" features a beat in a classic soul-ballad time signature.[11] "Daddy Doesn't Pray Anymore" shrouds reflections about his father in the language of religious backsliding and was previously covered by Julie Roberts in 2013.[12] In an interview for Rolling Stone, Stapleton commented "If somebody tells me it sounds dated, I'd say that's great, as long as the date is 1978. My favorite things are from then."[9]
Stapleton wrote or co-wrote all but two of the album's 14 tracks. The album features a blues-influenced cover of David Allan Coe's single "Tennessee Whiskey", and Charlie Daniels' "Was It 26", written by Don Sampson.[9]
Recording
[edit]Producer Dave Cobb originally intended to record the album at Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville, but it was already booked. Cobb had read reports of the impending demolition of the historic RCA Studio A building and its Grand Victor Sound studios, and decided to record Stapleton's debut studio album there, before the building and its recording studios were gone forever.[13]
Commercial performance
[edit]The album debuted on the Top Country Albums chart at number two, and the Billboard 200 at number 14, selling 27,000 copies in the week ending May 10.[14]
Six months after the album was released, Chris Stapleton and Justin Timberlake performed "Tennessee Whiskey" at the 2015 Country Music Association Awards where Traveller won Album of the Year.[15] Following the performance, sales for the album increased 6,000%[16] and it re-entered the Billboard 200 at number one after being absent from the chart since September, with 177,000 equivalent album units (153,000 in pure album sales). According to Billboard, the surge in sales is owed to how a mass audience discovered Stapleton on the November 4 CMA Awards broadcast. Traveller is also the first debut country album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 in over four years, with Clear as Day (2011) by Scotty McCreery being the last.[17] It became the first album to reenter the chart at number one. It remained at number one for a second week with 124,000 album-equivalent units, including 97,000 pure album sales.[18] The album track "Tennessee Whiskey" topped the Hot Country Songs chart,[19] and reached the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The album sold 685,000 copies in the United States in 2015.[20] In February 2016, Traveller was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and double platinum in September.[21] It became the fourth best-selling album of 2016 in the nation, and the top selling country album, with 1.04 million copies sold that year.[20] The album surpassed the 2 million sales mark in the US in July 2017,[22] and it was the second best-selling country album of 2017 (after Stapleton's second album From A Room: Volume 1.[23] It hold the records for the most weeks atop the Americana/Folk Albums chart (81 in total as of August 2019).[24] It topped the Billboard Year-End Top Country Albums chart in 2016 and 2017.[25][26] It was certified quadruple platinum on July 24, 2019 for 4 million units in sales and streams.[21] As of March 2020, the album has accrued 4.3 million units in the country in total,[27] with 2.6 million copies in traditional album sales.[2]
Critical reception
[edit]Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 85/100[28] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AbsolutePunk | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Billboard | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Digital Journal | A[31] |
Exclaim! | 9/10[32] |
NPR | (Favorable)[33] |
The Daily Telegraph | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Wall Street Journal | (Favorable)[35] |
Traveller received critical acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, the album has received an average score of 85, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 6 reviews.[28] In a review for Billboard, editor Caitlin White gave the album four-out-of-five stars, describing Traveller as a "solemn album, the work of a man gripped by life's impermanence", noting "undercurrents of regret, loss and resignation" in songs like "Daddy Doesn't Pray Anymore", "Nobody to Blame" and "Devil Named Music". About the record's sound direction, she commented "Stapleton's songs are both rhythmic and nuanced, perhaps a by-product of years spent writing for others. They feature a cast of characters that remain likable even as they rush headlong into pursuit of ruin, fortune or chance." White concluded "it's a triumphant debut, encapsulating the grit of life, turning it into a hell of a journey."[12] In Los Angeles Times, Randy Lewis wrote "Stapleton's trenchant pen combines with his soul-drenched rasp of a voice for a moving exploration of the panoply of emotions in the human experience."[36]
Critics from Rolling Stone opined Traveller "encapsulates everything that makes him one of the most powerful and unique voices in country music today: gravelly, soulful and full of songs that ring like instant classics without ever resting too deeply in the past."[37] In their year-end summary they stated "every track goes straight for the emotional jugular and give a glimpse inside a wildly introspective mind."[38] Editor Owen R. Smith from The Seattle Times noted the instruments mandolin, banjo, pedal steel guitar "are all given room to shine, even when Stapleton dips his toe into some menacing country rock in "Nobody to Blame" or electrified bluesy swagger in "Might As Well Get Stoned.""[10]
Accolades
[edit]Publication | List | Rank | Ref. |
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American Songwriter | Top 50 Albums of 2015 | 1
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Billboard | 25 Best Albums of 2015 | 13
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Brooklyn Magazine | The Best of 2015 | no order
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The 20 Best Country Albums of 2015 | 2
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Entertainment Weekly | The 40 Best Albums of 2015 | 7
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NPR | 50 Favorite Albums of 2015 | no order
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Rolling Stone | 50 Best Albums of 2015 | 21
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40 Best Country Albums of 2015 | 3
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Stereogum | The 50 Best Albums of 2015 | 43
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Awards
[edit]Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | Country Music Association Awards | Album of the Year | Won | [47] |
2016 | Grammy Awards | Album of the Year | Nominated | [48] |
Best Country Album | Won | |||
Academy of Country Music Awards | Album of the Year | [49] | ||
Billboard Music Awards | Top Country Album | [50] | ||
American Country Countdown Awards | Album of the Year | [51] | ||
Americana Music Honors & Awards | Album of the Year | Nominated | [52] | |
American Music Awards | Favorite Country Album | [53] | ||
2017 | iHeartRadio Music Awards | Country Album of the Year | Won | [54] |
Billboard Music Awards | Top Country Album | [55] |
Track listing
[edit]All tracks are produced by Dave Cobb and Chris Stapleton.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Traveller" | Chris Stapleton | 3:42 |
2. | "Fire Away" |
| 4:04 |
3. | "Tennessee Whiskey" | 4:53 | |
4. | "Parachute" |
| 4:13 |
5. | "Whiskey and You" |
| 3:56 |
6. | "Nobody to Blame" |
| 4:04 |
7. | "More of You" |
| 4:37 |
8. | "When the Stars Come Out" |
| 4:16 |
9. | "Daddy Doesn't Pray Anymore" | Stapleton | 4:09 |
10. | "Might as Well Get Stoned" |
| 4:37 |
11. | "Was It 26" | Don Sampson | 4:49 |
12. | "The Devil Named Music" | Stapleton | 6:07 |
13. | "Outlaw State of Mind" |
| 5:37 |
14. | "Sometimes I Cry" |
| 4:00 |
Total length: | 63:29 |
Personnel
[edit]Credits for Traveller adapted from AllMusic.[56]
Musicians
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Technical personnel
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Chart performance
[edit]
Weekly charts[edit]
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Year-end charts[edit]
Decade-end charts[edit]
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Certifications
[edit]Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA)[86] | Gold | 35,000‡ |
Canada (Music Canada)[87] | Gold | 40,000^ |
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[88] | Gold | 10,000‡ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[89] | Gold | 100,000‡ |
United States (RIAA)[21] | 6× Platinum | 6,000,000[27] |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Release history
[edit]Region | Date | Edition(s) | Format(s) | Label | Ref. |
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Various | May 5, 2015 | Standard | Mercury Nashville | [90] | |
United Kingdom | March 4, 2016 | Vinyl | Decca | [91] | |
United States | May 26, 2015 | Mercury Nashville | [92] |
References
[edit]- ^ "Country Aircheck Issue 495" (PDF). Country Aircheck. April 18, 2016. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
- ^ a b Bjorke, Matt (March 10, 2020). "Top 10 Country Albums Pure Sales Chart: March 9, 2020". RoughStock. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ "Top Country Albums - Decade-End". Billboard.
- ^ Greenwald, Morgan (March 26, 2016). "13 Things to Know About the Billboard Charts This Week: Chris Stapleton Scores First Top 10 Hit & More". Billboard. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
- ^ Freeman, Jon (February 29, 2016). "See Chris Stapleton's Harrowing 'Fire Away' Video". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
- ^ Asker, Jim (November 10, 2015). "Chris Stapleton Travels to Top of Country Charts Without Strong Support From Radio". Billboard.
- ^ "Billboard Hot 100: November 28, 2015". Billboard.
- ^ Dauphin, Chuck (April 30, 2015). "Chris Stapleton's Debut Album 'Traveller' Inspired by 'Soul-Searching' Road Trip". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
- ^ a b c d "Chris Stapleton on Why Stunning New Album 'Traveller' Isn't for Kids". Rolling Stone. May 7, 2015. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
- ^ a b Smit, Owen R. (March 23, 2017). "Chris Stapleton brings back introspective, old-school country music". The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 15, 2017.
- ^ Leight, Elias (May 6, 2016). "Chris Stapleton Shows His Inner Stax Soul Man at Album Release Party In New York: Live Review". Billboard. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
- ^ a b c White, Caitlin (May 12, 2015). "Country Songwriter Chris Stapleton Copes With Loss on Triumphant Solo Debut: Album Review". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
- ^ Gold, Adam (8 February 2018). "Three Years After Being Saved, Studio A Still Makes an Impact". Nashville Scene. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
- ^ Keith Caulfield and Gary Trust (May 14, 2015). "Chris Stapleton Starts With Best Sales for a New Country Artist in 2015". Billboard.
- ^ Marissa R. Moss (November 4, 2015). "See Chris Stapleton and Justin Timberlake's Stunning CMA Awards Duet". Rolling Stone.
- ^ "2015 Nielsen Music U.S. Report" (PDF). Nielsen. January 6, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
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- ^ Caulfield, Keith (November 15, 2015). "Chris Stapleton Spends Second Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
- ^ Asker, Jim (November 10, 2015). "Chris Stapleton Travels to Top of Country Charts Without Strong Support From Radio". Billboard. Retrieved April 15, 2017.
- ^ a b Grein, Paul (December 20, 2016). "The Top-Selling Albums of 2016". Yahoo Music!.
- ^ a b c "American album certifications – Chris Stapleton – Traveller". Recording Industry Association of America.
- ^ Caulfield, Keith (July 14, 2017). "Billboard 200 Chart Moves: Chris Stapleton's 'Traveller' Surpasses 2 Million in U.S. Sales". Billboard.
- ^ Rau, Nate (January 4, 2018). "Revealed: Country music's most listened to artists in 2017". Tennessean. USA Today.
- ^ Asker, Jim (March 20, 2018). "Chris Stapleton Claims First Country Airplay Leader With 'Broken Halos'". Billboard. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
- ^ a b "Billboard Top Country Albums- Year-end Chart". Billboard. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
- ^ a b "Billboard Top Country Albums- Year-end Chart". Billboard. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
- ^ a b Bjorke, Matt (March 9, 2020). "Country Music's Most-Consumed Albums Chart: March 9, 2020". Roughstock. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ a b "Critic Reviews for Traveller". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
- ^ Manning, Craig. "Chris Stapleton - Traveller - Album Review". AbsolutePunk. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Traveller - Chris Stapleton — Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
- ^ Papadatos, Markos (November 8, 2015). "Review: Chris Stapleton spell-binding on 'Traveller' studio album". Digital Journal. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
- ^ Henderson, Stuart (May 5, 2015). "Chris Stapleton - Traveller". Exclaim!. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
- ^ Powers, Ann (26 April 2015). "Review: Chris Stapleton, 'Traveller'". NPR. NPR. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- ^ Chilton, Martin (11 August 2015). "Best Country Music Albums of 2015". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
- ^ Fusilli Jim (4 May 2015). "'Traveller' by Chris Stapleton Review". Wall Street Journal. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- ^ Lewis, Randy (December 11, 2015). "Best of 2015: 10 great albums in 2015 include works by Chris Stapleton, Rhiannon Giddens, Los Lobos and more". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 15, 2017.
- ^ "Who Is Chris Stapleton: 5 Things You Need to Know About the CMA King". Rolling Stone. November 5, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2017.
- ^ a b "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Rolling Stone. December 1, 2015. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
- ^ "American Songwriter's Top 50 Albums of 2015: Presented by D'Addario". American Songwriter. November 23, 2015. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
- ^ "Billboard.com's 25 Best Albums of 2015: Critics' Picks". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. December 15, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
- ^ White, Caitlin (December 1, 2015). "The Best of 2015: A Look Back at the Best Albums of the Year". Brooklyn Magazine. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
- ^ White, Caitlin (December 2, 2015). "The 20 Best Country Albums Of 2015". Brooklyn Magazine. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
- ^ "The 40 Best Albums of 2015". Entertainment Weekly. December 9, 2015. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
- ^ "NPR Music's 50 Favorite Albums Of 2015". NPR. December 7, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
- ^ "40 Best Country Albums of 2015". Rolling Stone. December 7, 2015. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
- ^ "The 50 Best Albums Of 2015". Stereogum. December 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
- ^ Watts, Cindy (4 November 2015). "CMA Awards: Stapleton, Little Big Town are winners". The Tennessean. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
- ^ "Grammys: Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, the Weeknd Lead Nominations". Rolling Stone. December 7, 2015. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
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- ^ Billboard Staff (May 22, 2016). "Billboard Music Awards 2016: Complete Winners List". Billboard. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
- ^ Billboard Staff (May 1, 2016). "American Country Countdown Awards 2016: See the Winners List". Billboard. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
- ^ "Americana Honors & Awards Nominees Announced". The Americana Music Association. May 11, 2016.
- ^ "AMAs 2016: See the Full List of Winners". Billboard. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
- ^ Thorpe, Isha (March 5, 2017). "Here's The Complete List Of #iHeartAwards Winners". iHeartRadio. Archived from the original on April 9, 2017. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
- ^ "Here Is the Complete List of Winners From the 2017 Billboard Music Awards". Billboard. May 21, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
- ^ "Traveller on AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
- ^ "Australiancharts.com – Chris Stapleton – Traveller". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
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- ^ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
- ^ "Charts.nz – Chris Stapleton – Traveller". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
- ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
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- ^ "Top Canadian Albums". Billboard. 2 January 2013.
- ^ "Billboard 200 - Year-end Chart". Billboard. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
- ^ "Top Canadian Albums – Year-End 2017". Billboard. 2 January 2013. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
- ^ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2017". Billboard. 2 January 2013. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
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- ^ "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2021". Billboard. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ^ "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2021". Billboard. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
- ^ "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2022". Billboard. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
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External links
[edit]- Traveller at Discogs (list of releases)
- "Fire Away" on YouTube