Imagine being the one who turned
Chris Stapleton down... Today, Chris 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. But he also discussed his time before becoming a hit singer and songwriter, before he even lived in Nashville, when he would still drive down from Kentucky here and there to try to make connections with other artists and writers. In fact, more than once, Chris made the four hour drive to Music City to play at the historic Nashville venue The Bluebird Cafe, which is a small and intimate cafe and music venue in the Green Hills area. It’s a staple in the local community, which hosts regular writers rounds and has featured performances from artists like Garth Brooks, Keith Urban, Kris Kristofferson, Faith Hill, Vince Gill, Taylor Swift and many more since it opened in 1982. Chris recalled signing up for an open mic slot there, not getting an opportunity, coming back after they offered to let him play the next week and pretty much wasting his time... though I guess if you look at it a certain way, it was a learning experience and not a total bust in the long run:
"Well the Bluebird's kind of an entity in Nashville, it's a thing. I wasn't living in town at the time, and they had an open mic night that you could come to as a songwriter, it was kind of a way to get your foot in the door a little bit, because songwriters would hang out there. Sometimes people would be looking for talent in there, things like that. And so I drove three and a half hours, four hours, whatever it was down to put my name in the hat. You know, they're supposed to let you get up, but if you don't get up, they give you a special golden ticket or something and the next open mic night you get to do it. But I came back the next week and also didn't get to do it, and so I kind of gave up on doing the open mic night after that." Obviously, trying to make it in the music business is extremely difficult, but Chris says it annoyed him more that they broke the unofficial accord more than it did that he didn't get to play:
"I have a rule following bone in my head where like, this was the deal. We made this deal, and now you're breaking the deal. It bothered me more that they broke the deal, that they broke the accord, than actually not getting to play. Because in my mind, I had driven four hours both times to go do that." Clearly, it worked out for him in the long run, though Chris agreed with Stern in that it was good for him to have that sort of rejection, which only fueled his fire, so to speak:
"I think everybody needs some of that, I think it's healthy. It motivates in ways that just like, okay, I still believe in what I'm doing. I'll show you." And show them he certainly did... Here's the full clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2jXYa01JT8
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