Chris Stapleton‘s Higher album is out. The 14-track record, which includes his current single, “White Horse,” is Stapleton’s first new album in three years, since Starting Over came out in 2020.
“Whenever we’re releasing new music, we don’t have a specific ritual really, but I think there’s a little bit of apprehension, a little bit of excitement mixed together wondering how fans will react, really,” Stapleton tells his record label. “I think that’s the main thing going on in our heads when we put something out is we hope whatever we’ve done will be something that people will gravitate to and enjoy.”
Stapleton wrote “Higher” at the start of his career, never imagining that it would be an album’s title track, more than two decades later.
“’Higher’ is a song that’s been around a long, long time,” Stapleon shares. “I wrote it in 2001 in the first few months of being a professional songwriter here in Nashville, and it was on the first demo session that I ever did here in Nashville. So, for it to come around 22 years later and wind up being the title track of an album is a pretty unique thing to me.”
It’s been a big week for Stapleton. In addition to releasing his fifth studio album, Stapleton also continued his reign as the CMA Male Vocalist of the Year, an award he has won a total of seven times, including for the last three years in a row.
“These things are always fantastic to win, but when you get nominated or invited to these parties, in my estimation, you’ve already won, and you’ve already gotten to be far beyond anything anybody who’s a musician could ever dream of getting to do,” Stapleton said of the honor. “And we get to do that every day. We get to live it every day. As far as thinking about going into anything, I’m always genuinely surprised to win anything, and I’m always grateful for it.”
Stapleton has extended his All-American Road Show Tour into 2024. He will also continue touring with George Strait, on their stadium tour next year. See a track list for Higher below, and find all of Stapleton’s music and upcoming shows, and pre-order Higher, at ChrisStapleton.com.
Higher Track List:
1. What Am I Gonna Do
2. South Dakota
3. Trust
4. It Takes A Woman
5. The Fire
6. Think I’m In Love With You
7. Loving You On My Mind
8. White Horse
9. Higher
10. The Bottom
11. The Day I Die
12. Crosswind
13. Weight Of Your World
14. Mountains On My Mind
