Chris Stapleton has seen his share of broken halos, according to the opening line of his hit, “Broken Halos.” It’s a song about broken hearts, but not the typical ones you hear about in a love song. “Broken Halos” focuses on hearts broken by loved ones who’ve passed on, a feeling Stapleton captured beautifully through song. Despite its somber nature, “Broken Halos” served as a career high point for the country superstar.
Videos by American Songwriter
Meaning Behind the Song
“Broken Halos” was co-written by Stapleton and Mike Henderson and released as the second single off Stapleton’s Grammy Award-winning album, From A Room: Volume 1. The song made its unofficial debut when Stapleton performed it at Dolly Parton’s 2016 benefit concert, Smoky Mountains Rise, for the devastating wildfires in her hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee.
He then performed it again at the 2017 Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, an annual event that brings together country radio industry personnel. Stapleton took to the stage at the Ryman Auditorium during the UMG luncheon where he introduced the song as one that was written years before its release in honor of his late friend, Mike.
“This is a sort of new song. It’s an old song for me,” he explained. “It’s a song about people who have passed away before their time. I recorded this on the day a friend of mine passed away from pancreatic cancer. He was the same age as me. We played little league together. He was 38 years old. This is for my buddy, Mike.”
[RELATED: Chris Stapleton Announces New Album ‘Higher’]
Inspiration for the song’s title came from a quote in Keith Richards’ memoir, Life, that Henderson was reading at the time. “There was a line that he was talking about friends that he had lost over time that had gone on before their time, for various reasons, and he referred to them as broken halos, and so he thought that was worth a song,” Stapleton explained on The Howard Stern Show, confirming the host’s analysis that the song is, “About friends who have died are all broken halos, like the halos of an angel.”
The song took on new meaning when Stapleton dedicated it to the victims of the mass shooting at Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas in 2017 that claimed the lives of 60 country music fans and injured hundreds of others.
“Broken Halos” became Stapleton’s first No. 1 song as an artist when it topped the Billboard Country Airplay chart. It won Best Country Song at the 2018 Grammy Awards and won Single of the Year and Song of the Year at the 2018 CMA Awards.
Photo: Andy Barron / EBM PR
