Chris Stapleton has another trophy to add to his massive collection. The reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year is the latest recipient of the ACM Triple Crown Award at the ACM Honors, given to an artist who has received the New Artist, Artist and Entertainer of the Year trophy.
Marty Stuart praised Stapleton when presenting him with the trophy.
“His sound is so unique and so far ahead of the curve… His fanbase stretches across all genres of music,” Stuart boasted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNvXMIDQmOA
Stapleton acknowledged those who have been with him since the beginning of his career, including his own family.
“I’m so grateful to everybody who has supported me over the years,” Stapleton said from the stage. “I gotta thank my wife, Morgane, who’s not here with us tonight, and all my kids at home, who give up so much of their time, our energy and our presence, to let us do this thing. It’s a wonderful and rare thing to get to do something that you love so much for a living.
“This is unbelievable that I continue to get to do this, and I’m so grateful to all of the country music fans, and all of the fans,” he continued. “Anybody that ever comes to a show, or hears something and tells somebody about us. That’s what’s made this happen. So thank you, everybody. We really appreciate this, and I’ll cherish it.”
Stapleton was also honored with a performance of his hit single, “Cold,” by the War and Treaty.
Stapleton just announced his new album, Higher, out on November 10. The record includes his current single, “White Horse,” which is already in the Top 25.
“’White Horse’ was a song that I wrote with my friend, Dan Wilson,” Stapleton told his record label. “We were out in Los Angeles, it was about I think probably late 2012, early 2013, and there was a movie called The Lone Ranger that was coming out. I walked in the room to write with Dan at his house, and he said, ‘Hey, they’re looking for songs for this Lone Ranger movie.’ I said, ‘Cool. Let’s write something. What do you know about it?’ He goes, ‘Well, we don’t really know anything.’ I was like, ‘Well, let’s just make a song that might sound like that.’
“And so, that’s kind of where that came from, and we got to talking about how it would be cool to have a kind of rock-driven-western-themed song,” he continues. “That’s where the song came from, and we kind of built it around a guitar riff, really.”
Stapleton’s fanbase is about to extend even further. The Kentucky native is joined by Snoop Dogg for their take on Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight,” the new anthem for Monday Night Football on ESPN. He just announced he would be joining George Strait for more stadium tour dates in 2024. Find music and tour dates at ChrisStapleton.com.
Photo Credit: Getty Images for ACM Honors