Before he was a country music superstar that has nearly every artist on the planet begging to work with him,
Chris Stapleton was just a pen for hire in Nashville. Most mainstream country songs are written in scheduled sessions where songwriters get together, share their ideas, and do their best to crank out some hit songs. Sometimes the artist who will be performing the song partakes, and I do feel that's coming back into style a bit, but often the biggest names in the industry sit down every once in a while to review a list of demos and decide which ones they want to put on their upcoming album. But Stapleton is different. This man is a prolific writer, being at least a co-writer on nearly every single song he's ever released, and the ones he didn't write often happen to be covers. Before he burst into the spotlight with his forever underrated debut single
"What Are You Listening Too?" and monster debut album
Traveller , Stapleton was just one of many professional songwriters in Music City. Okay, saying he was just one of them undersells his abilities (as we're all well aware). He wrote a ton of killer songs for other artists, including Luke Bryan's "Drink A Beer", Kenny Chesney's "Never Wanted Nothing More", and Josh Turner's "Your Man". You can check out this
list of 30 songs written by Stapleton to find some other great ones. Despite his songwriting prowess, Stapleton is not afraid to open up his work to others for a little help. Of the 62 songs he's released on his own (meaning ones that are solely his and not features or duets on other's projects) only 9 are solo-writes. The ultra-majority of tracks were penned by Stapleton and one other person and a few featured a couple of names. So which of Stapleton's songs were written only by him? Let's take a look.
Traveller - Traveller (2015)
Easily the most successful of his solo-writes. The title track to the debut album that in no uncertain terms changed mainstream country music for the better will go down as one of the more important songs in genre history, if for no other reason than it signaled better times ahead. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kBnFgLP8po
Daddy Doesn't Pray Anymore - Traveller (2015)
If you feel like being sad, this is the song for you. Chris wrote it about his own father, and though it was a moment towards the end of his life that inspired the song, he didn't begin performing it until after his passing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjJUSkSGj0o
The Devil Named Music - Traveller (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgebTpkCb_g
When I'm With You - Starting Over (2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dE9-8a_eYA
Hillybilly Blood - Starting Over (2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzqskyzdWJw
Maggie's Song - Starting Over (2020)
Easily one of Chris Stapleton's most gut-wrenching songs... I know some dog owners who won't even listen to it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ3J9YnXmUI&pp=ygUebWFnZ2llJ3Mgc29uZyBjaHJpcyBzdGFwbGV0b24g
Think I'm In Love With You - Higher (2023)
Chris and Dua Lipa teamed up for a version of this one at the 2024 ACM Awards, which is not something I would have expected but just goes to show how much Chris is respected by people far and wide in the music industry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFyCSDzn2Q0
Higher - Higher (2023)
Chris actually wrote this song over 20 years ago and told
The Today Show it was part of his first demo session in Nashville:
"The title track “Higher” is what 22… 23 years old. That song was on the first demo session I ever did when I moved to town (Nashville) as a songwriter. I wrote that song by myself, and it’s been hanging around ever since." When asked why he took so long to release it, Chris said:
I think I was probably afraid of it for a long time. My wife would always push for that song and be like, ‘You should try that.’ I was always like, ‘Eh, I don’t know if I have it right now, I don’t know if I have that anymore.'" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-khlXg-0ohM
Mountains Of My Mind - Higher (2023)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgjlLHQ0Azg
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