Anticipation is building around Chris Stapleton‘s fifth album, Higher, out November 10. The project is the follow-up to the singer’s explosive fourth release, Starting Over, which won three Grammy Awards for Best Country Album, Best Country Solo Performance for “You Should Probably Leave,” and Best Country Song for “Cold.”
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Produced by Stapleton, his wife Morgane, and longtime collaborator Dave Cobb, and recorded at RCA Studio A in Nashville, Higher may just mark the next point of elevation in the country artist’s career. There’s not much known about the 14-track album, but here are four facts about Higher, so far.
[RELATED: Chris Stapleton Announces New Album ‘Higher’]
1. The Band
Along with Stapleton on vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide electric guitar, Higher also features Morgane on background vocals, synthesizer, and tambourine. Cobb is featured on acoustic and eclectic guitar while J.T. Cure is on bass. Paul Franklin is on pedal steel while Derek Mixon serves as drummer and Lee Pardini joins in on organ and piano.
2. No Collaboration, No Covers
Though Stapleton has had a number of collaborations over the years — Justin Timberlake, Carly Pearce, Santana, Ed Sheeran, and Adele, among others — he insists there are no collaborations or covers on Higher. In the past, he has also covered a few songs on his projects including Guy Clark’s “Worry By Gone,” George Jones’ hit “Tennessee Whiskey,” and Pops Staples’ “Friendship.”
“There’s no collaborations on the record,” said Stapleton. “My wife [Morgane] is my eternal collaborator, so she’s on there singing with us as usual.”
[RELATED: 5 Songs You Didn’t Know Chris Stapleton Wrote for Other Artists]
3. “White Horse” and ‘The Lone Ranger’
Not to be confused with Taylor Swift’s 2008 song, Stapleton’s lead single “White Horse” was co-written with Semisonic’s Dan Wilson. The song was originally written a decade earlier for the 2013 The Lone Ranger film starring Johnny Depp.
“I walked in the room to write with Dan at his house, and he said, ‘Hey they’re looking for a song for this Lone Ranger movie,” said Stapleton.
Though, there wasn’t much revealed about the film, Stapleton improvised and came up with a song fitting of a Western flick. “We got to talking about how it would be cool to have a kind of rock-drive Western-themed song,” continued Stapleton, “and that’s kind of where the song came from, and we built it around a guitar riff.”
Stapleton added that his favorite lyric in “White Horse,” is My mind is like a cloud of dust.
“That’s probably the thing in the song that feels the most personal to me, just because that’s a constant battle with me,” said Stapleton of the line, “just racing thoughts and a mind that wanders a bit.”
4. The 14 Tracks
Throughout the 14 songs, Higher crosses genres and navigates ideas and truths about life and death, love, and everything in between.
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 Of My Mind”
Photo: Becky Fluke / Courtesy of Sacks & Co.
