Born April 15, 1978, in Lexington, Kentucky, Chris Stapleton moved to Nashville in 2001 and became a behind-the-scenes songwriter for more than a decade. Throughout the early 2000s and into the 2010s, Stapleton was writing songs for everyone from Luke Bryan (“Drink a Beer”), Kenny Chesney (“Never Wanted Nothing More”), and Blake Shelton (“Draggin’ the River”), among many others.
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Stapleton released his first single “What Are You Listening To?” in 2013, and by the time he was 37, had his No. 1 debut, Traveller, which won two Grammys for Best Country Album and Best Country Solo Performance, along with an ACM for Album of the Year and three CMA awards for Album of the Year, New Artist of the Year, and Male Vocalist of the Year.
Within five years, and through his fourth album, Starting Over, released in 2020, Stapleton has earned eight Grammys, 15 CMAs, and 10 ACM awards.
American Songwriter recently featured six songs Stapleton wrote for other artists. Here’s a look at five more songs he wrote outside of his own songbook.
1. “Talk is Cheap,” Alan Jackson (2012)
Written by Chris Stapleton, Morgane Stapleton, Guy Clark
On Alan Jackson‘s 17th album, Thirty Miles West, Stapleton co-wrote two tracks, including the opening “Gonna Come Back as a Country Song” and “Talk is Cheap.” The album, named after a portion of the Dixie Highway near Jackson’s hometown of Newnan, Georgia, went to No. 1 on the country chart and No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
Talk about life, talk about death
Talk about catching every breath
Talk about when, and talk about why
Talk about do, and talk about don’t
Talk about will and talk about won’t
Talk about the sweet by and by
Well, talk is cheap and times are wasting
Get busy living or at least die trying
Wine is for tasting, roads for taking
Talk is cheap and times are wasting
2. “Hell Bent on a Heartache,” Guy Clark (2013)
Written by Chris Stapleton, Morgane Stapleton, Guy Clark
My Favorite Picture of You is the 14th and final album released by Guy Clark before his death in 2016 and features a song he co-wrote with Stapleton and his wife Morgane. The title track of the album was dedicated to Clark’s wife Susanna, who died in 2012, and the album also won a Grammy for Best Folk Album.
And I’m hell bent on a heartache
I should know better
But I guess I don’t
I keep on learning the hard way
Every time I turn around
I make the same mistake
‘Cause I’m hell bent on a heartache
Hell bent on a heartache
Seems I’m always getting burned
Just you wait until the table is turned
Love’s a gamble
Love’s a curse
Love’s a bitch
But it could be worse
3. “Say Something,” Justin Timberlake (2018)
Written by Chris Stapleton, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Floyd Nathaniel Hills, Larrance Levar Dopson
In 2018, Stapleton co-wrote three songs for Justin Timberlake‘s fifth album, Man of the Woods—”The Hard Stuff,” “Morning Light,” featuring Alicia Keys, and “Say Something.” The latter track, which also features Stapleton, peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
“I really just went out to Los Angeles to write songs with him,” said Stapleton. “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.”
Stapleton and Timberlake first collaborated in 2015 at the CMA Awards for a performance of “Drink You Away” and “Tennessee Whiskey.”
Everybody says, “say something”
Say something, say something
Then say something, say something, then say something
I don’t wanna get caught up in the rhythm of it
But I can’t help myself, no, I can’t help myself, no, no
Caught up in the middle of it
No, I can’t help myself, no, I can’t help myself, no, no, no
Caught up in the rhythm of it
Maybe I’m looking for something I can’t have
4. “Blow,” Ed Sheeran, featuring Chris Stapleton and Bruno Mars (2019)
Written by Chris Stapleton, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Brody Brown, Frank Rogers, J.T. Cure, Bard McNamee, Gregory McKee
The closing track on Ed Sheeran‘s fourth album, No. 6 Collaborations Project, “Blow” was co-written with several writers, including Stapleton and Bruno Mars, who also produced the track and plays guitar and drums on the song about a woman who makes him weak at the knees. Mars also directed the music video, which was shot at The Viper Room in Los Angeles.
“I feel like when people saw Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars, they were like, ‘Oh, that’ll sound a certain way,'” said Sheeran in 2023 of the trio’s collaboration. “It was so not that. At some point, someone will come across it, and it will be put in a superhero movie or something.”
I’m feelin’ like a bullet jumpin’ out a gun
I’m feelin’ like a winner, I feel like the one
You’re doing somethin’ to me, you’re doing somethin’ strange
Well, jump back, talk to me, woman
You make me wanna make a baby, baby
Supernatural woman, supernatural freak
Don’t know what you’re doin’, got me feelin’ weak
Oh, I wanna call you fever, baby, you can set a fire on me
Hot damn, pop it like a pistol, mama
You got me down on my knees, begging please
5. “Our Song,” Willie Nelson (2020)
Written by Chris Stapleton
First Rose of Spring, Willie Nelson‘s 70th album, features two songs co-written by Nelson and producer Buddy Cannon, along with a track penned by Toby Keith (“Don’t Let the Old In”) and one by Stapleton called “Our Song.” Stapleton and Rodney Crowell also co-wrote the ballad “I’ll Love You Till the Day I Die” for Nelson’s 2022 album A Beautiful Time.
“I can easily say Willie Nelson is one of my biggest musical influences,” said Stapleton. “It just doesn’t get any better than hearing him sing a song I wrote.”
I don’t know if heaven’s real
But that’s how you’ve made me feel
You make it all alright
When everything’s wrong
And this is our song
In these miles we have traveled
You’ve watched me come unraveled
And you put me back together again
And when darkness would come around
You kept my feet there on the ground
And you held me like a lover and a friend
Photo: Adam Hagy / Getty Images for ABA
