Chris Stapleton Delivers Flawless Rendition Of Willie Nelson’s 1981 Hit, “Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground”

Nailed it. Yesterday, Chris Stapleton appeared as a guest on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show , where he discussed his friendship with Willie Nelson , learning to play guitar, and of course, his iconic Super Bowl performance last year. And possibly my favorite part of all, he delivered a flawless cover of Willie's "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground," which looked completely effortless and sounded perfectly simple and a little bit bluesy, in typical Stapleton fashion. Of course, Willie originally wrote the song for his starring role as a country singer in the 1980 film Honeysuckle Rose, but the true inspiration behind it remains pretty vague and unclear. Some fans believe that because of the word "angel" in the title, Willie wrote it about his friend, Hells Angels biker Charlie Magoo, though Willie has never confirmed or denied that. Willie has also hinted in the past that it's actually about his ex-wife, Connie Koepke. And during live performances, he occasionally dedicates this song to his son Billy, the third child from his first marriage to Martha Matthews, who committed suicide in 1991. Bob Dylan, Cross Canadian Ragweed and Alison Krauss have all covered the song over the years too, and according to Willie himself, it was written to be general and ambiguous, which has allowed fans to apply it to their own personal situations: "It's a pretty general theme that can be taken and applied to a lot of different situations. A lot of people have taken it and applied it to their own situation. You could relate it to someone who has died, love affairs or whatever... It has a lot of different meanings to a lot of different people who have no idea why I wrote that song." There are very few people who can cover Willie Nelson and come this close to doing him justice, but obviously Chris is at the very top of that list. He's performed and recorded incredible covers of other Willie classics before like "Always on My Mind" and "Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning," which are truly timeless works of art. He doesn't miss, and this is simply another flawless performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi67uzJtK4Y And how about this 1984 performance, which features recently released vintage footage from Willie's live album Willie Nelson Live At Budokan . What I would give to go back to this moment and see it live in person: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSOaqS2HL-s&t=1s And the movie scene from Honeysuckle Rose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DKKh5icgI8