Chris Stapleton has written plenty of his own hits over the years, including “Broken Halos,” “Nobody to Blame,” “You Should Probably Leave” and more, but he’s also written songs that became hits for other writers as well. We take a look at the stories behind ten of the songs written by Stapleton.
1. “Your Man,” Josh Turner
“Your Man” was the title track of Turner’s sophomore album, and his first No.1 hit. Written by Stapleton along with Jace Everett and Chris DuBois, Turner decided to record it for himself after hearing it just one time.
“From the first time I heard [the song],” Turner said of the song (via CMT). “I knew there was something special about it. I didn’t know what it was.”
Special, indeed. The song won both Stapleton and DuBois an ASCAP trophy, and became Stapleton’s first No. 1 hit as a writer.
2. “Love’s Gonna Make It Alright,” George Strait
Stapleton might be joining Strait on the road this summer, but their relationship actually goes back a long time. Stapleton co-wrote “Love’s Gonna Make It Alright” with Al Anderson for Strait’s 2011 Here for a Good Time album. Stapleton also provides background vocals for the song as well.
Strait co-wrote several of the songs on Here for a Good Time, but had no qualms about cutting songs by other writers as well, especially one as well-crafted as “Love’s Gonna Make It Alright.”
“You know, I’ve always thought that whether I’m writing or not, I’ve gotta pick the best songs, whether or not they’re mine,” Strait said when the record was released. “I’m not gonna sing ’em just because I wrote ’em. I’ve gotta find the best songs to make the best record I can. I think all of these songs deserve to be on the record.”
3. “Whiskey and You,” Tim McGraw
Stapleton included “Whiskey and You” on his debut Traveller album, but it was actually first recorded years before that. McGraw included the song, written by Stapleton and Lee Thomas Miller, on his 2007 Let It Go album.
“I always thought it was one of the better songs I had been a part of so I decided to play it out,” Stapleton said of the song (via Whiskey Riff). “Over time it became a song that I was rarely allowed to leave the stage without singing. We went through several versions of recording this song until I finally decided it was best to present it in its original form: me, a guitar and one microphone.”
4. “Come Back Song,” Darius Rucker
Rucker co-wrote this song with Stapleton and Casey Beathard, for his 2010 Charleston, SC 1966 album.
“I’d written like 70-something songs, and this was the last writing session of the whole record,” Rucker told The Boot. “I had written with Casey and Chris before, and I knew they were great writers. It was the end of the day, and everybody was tired when we got there. I was probably four or five minutes late. When I got there, they started with this little melody that they liked. I remember when they played it for me, they were like, ‘Darius probably is not going to like that.’ I was like, ‘I love that!” [laughs] … It was a pretty smooth writing session in general.
“I like writing with Casey and Chris,” he continued. “Chris has got those R&B melodies that are always so cool. It was one of those songs that really wasn’t hard to write. We enjoyed it, and it was smooth sailing all the way.”
5. “Either Way,” Lee Ann Womack
Stapleton wrote “Either Way” with Tim James and Kendell Marvel, and was first recorded by Womack for her 2008 Call Me Crazy record, with Stapleton also providing his signature background vocals for the track.
“It seemed really tragic and sad, so we tried to do that to the best of our ability, but also to put truth in it and honesty in it,” Stapleton said (via Songfacts). “And when you can do that, then truth and honesty are going to find somebody inside a song.”
Stapleton also included “Call Me Crazy” on his 2017 From a Room: Volume 1 album as well.
6. “Drink a Beer,” Luke Bryan
Stapleton wrote “Drink a Beer” with Jim Beavers, for Bryan’s fourth studio album, Crash My Party, released in 2013.
“Jim Beavers walked into the writing room that day with basically the entire chorus of the song,” Stapleton told The Boot. “It was probably my idea to make it a little bit darker, because the title, ‘Drink a Beer,’ might have made you believe that it’s something lighter, and it was probably my idea to make it about someone who passed away.
“I kind of helped [Beavers] cross the finish line on it, and then we really didn’t think much more about it,” he continued. “I think we thought it was a pretty good song. But then Luke took it, and it really brought weight to it when Luke did it because of his family situation. So, once again, it was one of those things where the right artist and the right song turned into something special.”
7. “I’m Sorry,” Blake Shelton with Martina McBride
Stapleton penned “I’m Sorry” with DuBois and Ashley Gorley. The song, which features McBride on the track, appears on Shelton’s sixth studio album, Red River Blue. He later admitted he wanted to record the song sooner, but was unsure of his own abilities
“We were pitched the song a couple albums ago, but the only reason I haven’t cut it is a fear of whether I could perform that vocal or not,” he said at the time. “It’s a hard song to sing. Once we got in there and cut it, I realized I can be comfortable with this.”
8. “Say Something,” Justin Timberlake
Stapleton not only wrote “Say Something” with Timberlake, and a few other writers, but he sang on the song as well — an invitation that surprised Stapleton the most.
“I really just went out to Los Angeles to write songs with him,” Stapleton said (via Billboard). “It’s a very fluid process with him, there’s a lot going on. That was one of those things where there wasn’t necessarily a plan. He was like ‘All right, you hop in there and take a verse,’ and I’m like, ‘You want me to do what?’ … It came out great. I had a blast with him, he’s a great creative force and one of those guys that if you get a chance to work with him, you should.”
9. “Crash and Burn” Thomas Rhett
“Crash and Burn,” out in 2015, was the debut single from Rhett’s sophomore Tangled Up album. One of only a few songs on the record that Rhett didn’t write, he knew from the very first listen tha tit was one he wanted to include on his second record.
“The first time I heard this song, I immediately loved the paradox of how happy it sounds even though the lyrics are about a guy who loses out in love,” Rhett said (via Roughstock). “It’s also definitely one of the most vocally challenging songs I’ve ever recorded. But, for the new album, I really wanted to try new things, to stretch myself and explore that side of my sound.”
10. “Never Wanted Nothing More,” Kenny Chesney
Stapleton penned “Never Wanted Nothing More” with Ronnie Bowman, for Chesney’s 2007 Just Who I Am: Pirates and Poets album. The song became, at the time, the fastest-rising single of Chesney’s career, hitting No.1 only eight weeks after it was released.
“That song is pretty much everything I grew up on,” said Chesney (via Country Standard Time). “You’ve got your bluegrass running all through it, and your Southern rock underneath…It’s not something you could’ve just come up with, but it’s a pretty tough combination to beat.”
