Chris Stapleton, and the Incredible Run of “Tennessee Whiskey”
You now can argue that one of the biggest songs in country music in the last decade was originally written and released nearly 40 years ago, and this time around, wasn’t even released as a single. Of course we’re talking about “Tennessee Whiskey,” and the soulful version of the song released on the debut album by Chris Stapleton called Traveller. Penned by Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove, it was first released by David Allan Coe in 1981, and first became a hit for George Jones on the Hot Country Songs chart in 1983.
Chris Stapleton’s version of the the song isn’t a spring chicken either. Originally released with Traveller now over four years ago (May 5th, 2015), it came to prominence (along with Chris Stapleton) when he performed the song with Justin Timberlake on the CMA awards in early November of that year. Simply on the strength of that performance, it eventually landed at #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, despite Stapleton’s label Mercury Nashville refusing to release it as a single.
Even after releasing subsequent singles from now three separate albums, “Tennessee Whiskey” still remains Chris Stapleton’s best performing song at the moment, and one of the most beloved and well-recognized songs in all of country music currently. On July 31st, the RIAA certified the song both 5-times and 6-times platinum, now making what was already a country standard one of the biggest songs in country music history, especially when combining its current performance with the sales and chart success of previous versions. The song has become so big, a Broadway play is in production called Tennessee Whiskey: The Musical about the life of co-writer Dean Dillon.
Along with the new certifications for “Tennessee Whiskey,” Chris Stapleton’s song “Broken Halos” was just certified 2X platinum, and “Millionaire” written by Kevin Welch was certified platinum as well. Stapleton’s Traveller album has now spent over 200 weeks on the Billboard Country Albums chart, currently sitting at #5 despite being over 4 years old, and was just certified quadruple platinum on July 24th.
Though some purists still love to bellyache about how Chris Stapleton’s version of “Tennessee Whiskey” is more soul than country, it’s hard to not sit back and applaud how a country music standard has become one of the biggest songs in country in the last decade or more, and still is showing no signs of losing steam.
August 4, 2019 @ 11:51 am
Love Chris Stapleton hope he release another album soon. That album in my opinion is his best. I remember last year in class I had to do a lip sync for a public speaking project. I did “Nobody to Blame” it was great, I’m my opinion anyway.
August 4, 2019 @ 11:53 am
It’s his “Enter Sandman” or “Freebird” or “Copperhead Road,” at this point. A great rendition of a good song, but I don’t care of I ever hear it again, even though it’s essentially become a social life inevitability.
August 4, 2019 @ 12:31 pm
You said it. I was burned out on this song in the 80’s and that hasn’t changed in the decades since no matter who sings it.
August 4, 2019 @ 12:07 pm
Its a great lyric and a great melody sung by a great singer. Its just great!
August 4, 2019 @ 1:58 pm
You mean his rendition (rip-off) of an Etta James classic? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f1XAOkOFxec
August 5, 2019 @ 10:43 pm
in many cases , its not the relate-ability of the lyric that people resonate with . its not the song that is touching people . its the soul of the artists’ performances .
you hear it , you feel it and you respond to it because you can’t help yourself . this kind of connection with a listener is becoming more and more rare because A:, for the mostpart , ‘pop’ mainstream radio doesn’t play REAL soul singers…they play little girls and little boys -both country AND other genres … and B: there are so few GREAT musical ARTISTS around -v ocalists whose voices are otherworldly gifts which stand alone in that ability to move us emotionally.
August 6, 2019 @ 7:33 am
Right on the money, Albert. In this case, it’s the singer not the song , as Mick and Keith once wrote. The song is quite good but it’s not Kristofferson good. On another not good for the songwriters. Talk about an unexpected bounty. There is a great Dean Dillon video biography out there if anyone is interested. He had it very tough growing up and he deserves all that’s coming to him. Great for Linda Hargrove too as these must be lean years for writers who can actually write great songs.
August 6, 2019 @ 6:25 pm
I never would have guessed that I was over 25 years ahead of the curve when I joined the Dean Dillon fan club. 🙂
If Kevin Welch and Mike Henderson had fan clubs and I had known about those, I would have joined them, too.
February 15, 2020 @ 8:49 am
Yes ! It’s a TOTAL RIP OFF! Did he at least give any credit to Etta James and how he completely stole it?? And it doesn’t even sound remotely like the original tune that Coe sang!
December 14, 2021 @ 12:30 pm
Yeah not sure why Etta James’ estate or “I’d Rather Go Blind” writers are not going after Stapleton. Marvin Gaye estate went after Pharell/Robin Thicke and Ed Sheeran & those songs don’t sound that close to Gaye’s as much as Stapleton’s sound to James’.
August 4, 2019 @ 2:02 pm
That song and the Traveler album are all country standards at this point! Yes burn out has set in on the song for me as well but when it comes on my speakers and headsets at work or wherever, i rarely ever hit the skip button. Just smooth easy listening, better this song than some others i can think of…..cough cough.
August 4, 2019 @ 2:54 pm
That song is objectively not a country song. It’s an R&B / soul song through and through. The rest of the album is also more blues / blues rock than anything else. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s certainly odd to call anything Stapleton has ever done a “country standard”.
August 4, 2019 @ 6:20 pm
You hit the nail on the head. Stapleton himself is as country as the sun setting on ag land, but most of his solo music is as country as a parking meter.
July 16, 2021 @ 2:25 pm
What Chris NEED TO DO is PAY THE MS. ETTA JAMES ESTATE “COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENTS $$$$$” for BRAZENLY STEALING her music from HER ORIGINAL SONG “ I’d rather go blind” and TACKING in on Tennessee Whiskey!!!! WTF do u ppl STILL continually STEAL from Black ppl & Claim that shit as yours??!!!! DO THE RIGHT DAMN THING CHRIS..,PAY UP
August 4, 2019 @ 9:15 pm
Howl-la-looya! Not a big fan, but I don’t dislike the dude’s sound, but if you stuck him in a pasture, he’d probably try to milk a bull… DAC did THE country version of that song!
August 7, 2019 @ 3:51 pm
It’s a country standard because if you play in a country cover band, you play Tennessee Whiskey.
August 4, 2019 @ 2:29 pm
“The song has become so big, a Broadway play is in production called Tennessee Whiskey”
Laughable.
August 4, 2019 @ 9:58 pm
Tennessee Whisky is a song that my young neice (11) and I sing together, along with Chris Stapleton as the song plays on youtube of course. Nice tune!
August 5, 2019 @ 4:29 am
Cornman,
There is a documentary on Dean Dillon called Tennessee Whiskey, it’s available on Amazon and well worth watching. Dillon has written a huge amount of songs that became hits for George Strait. Most of the documentary focuses on his interesting life as a songwriter and relationships with people like Gary Stewart, Hank Cochran , George, Pam Tillis, Toby Keith and others. Dillon is a phenomenal songwriter, one of the greats. His life has been anything but rosy , he’s a real character. My point is, there’s a lot more to him than the Whiskey song. In fact that is only briefly mentioned at the end of the documentary. I think most SCM regulars would enjoy it.
August 5, 2019 @ 9:46 am
I watched a long concert of his on YouTube and like him a lot. I have acquaintances in the world of musical theater, on my wife’s side. They listen to nothing, and I mean nothing, but musicals, so they are starved for subject matter and total whores when it comes to grabbing whatever topic might produce the next Wicked or Hamilton or whatever. I hope Dillon is amused and makes money off it, but it’s a weird world I want no part of. The only thing I’d go see is a musical scored by Tyler Childers about a boy who tries to rescue his town from a clan of selfish giants.
August 4, 2019 @ 2:40 pm
“Tennessee Whiskey”?…….eagerly awaiting Moonpies review????
August 4, 2019 @ 6:52 pm
I know right. I keep checking and seeing nee articles but no Moonpies review.
I’m assuming it’s because he’s trying to figure out how to give it 3 guns and announce that it has already won album of the year.
August 5, 2019 @ 12:51 am
A Moonpies review is forthcoming. I got the album when everybody else did … and right as I had arrived to cover a four day festival, that ironically, the Moonpies played twice. I don’t post knee jerk reactions on records. When it’s ready, it will be posted.
August 5, 2019 @ 5:46 am
Easy trigger calm your tits. We’re just excited that’s all. Take your time. It’s not everyday a modern country masterpiece is dropped in our laps unexpectedly.
August 4, 2019 @ 3:31 pm
Its soul/blues music. The only reason why people think its country is because he wears a cowboy hat…
August 4, 2019 @ 8:32 pm
Well if George Jones did it it must have been enough country for him
August 4, 2019 @ 11:49 pm
Don’t forget his fake assed duster coat. That thing, that he likely had his record label handlers source from Etsy, is the real kicker. I am still FLOORED that nobody, including Trigger, has addressed his blatant Etta James ripoff. It’s literally the most unbelievable thing that this site and it’s readers’ ridiculous mis classification of Stapleton as anything even close to “country” has come up with to date.
August 5, 2019 @ 7:09 am
Hi Billy! The history of blues in song is an interesting subject. Blues has a pretty simple structure and uses a few basic beats and chord progressions. These become the basis for thousands of songs. I listen to a fair amount of blues and let me tell you, the number of songs that are essentially Boom, Boom, Boom by John Lee Hooker with different lyrics would blow your mind. It’s everyday, all day. Same chords, same little lead lick, same beat. Nobody’s calling foul, this is the nature of blues. In rock and roll there is Chuck berry’s 12 bar blues progression that you hear in probably millions of songs, even his guitar licks have been used in probably every other rock and roll song. Hey Bo Diddley by Bo Diddley has been the basis for so many songs, the same beat, chords, tempo, all of it, to the point that when you hear it, most folks say Bo Diddley beat! Etta’s blues progression is a standard blues. It continues to be used in blues, she didn’t invent it. Nobody’s calling this a ripoff who seriously understands music. Dean Dillon’s song was put overtop a standard blues progression and played at a similar tempo to Etta’s song. Not a crime. Does it sound similar? Yep. Nobody’s gonna sue anybody on this. That’s the nature of blues, they all copy each other’s chords, licks, riffs, and tempos. That’s the beauty of blues, learn the basics and you can play a thousand songs immediately. For real.
As for blues in country, well, Travis Tritt dabbles in it a bit and there have been others. Stapleton isn’t the first, and won’t be the last.
August 5, 2019 @ 8:05 am
A couple of other thoughts on blues in country. Hank Jr, Charlie Daniels and Willie Nelson all play blues in every single live performance they do. And Bob Wills did Milk cow Blues, he was a fan, and that Jimmie Rodgers fellow, known as an early father of country music did a lot of blues. Ernest Tubb did blues in his early years….hmmm….
August 5, 2019 @ 12:07 pm
Agreed that there are only so many notes in the alphabet, and when you get into a genre and style, it’s even fewer. BUT, Stapleton’s version of Tennessee Whiskey follows the Etta James song very closely…..and the real kicker is that he even uses the same vocal inflections. This is by far the clearest cut case of stealing a song that I have ever seen, and courts have ruled in favor of orginal recordings in cases that are much less clear cut. Would be fine if it was just a b-side, but this is his biggest song and I’m shocked that he hasn’t been sued over it.
December 18, 2020 @ 10:33 pm
Nice try. Stapleton should pay through the nose for this. Lesser comparibles were proven in court. Hopefully the Etta James posthumous group does something. Etta James’ version is endlessly better too.
August 4, 2019 @ 3:37 pm
International perspective: This song is huge around the world amongst people who ‘detest’ country music. Most of my friends who are into indie/soul/bluesy/folk music hate what they perceive as “country music” with a passion (such as Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson). But they love this song. When I told them it is seen as “country” in the US, they did not believe me – at all. This song can be heard on pop radio stations in many countries outside the US on a regular basis. And the Traveller album was heavily advertised during peak hour on mainstream TV channels and radio stations. Stapleton also appears to be well respected by pop singers who like to collab with country singers who are not too “redneck-twangy”. My prediction is another worldwide pop hit for him with either Timberlake or Pink or Ed Sheeran or Bruno Mars or Sheryl Crow.
August 4, 2019 @ 4:37 pm
Crow and Isbell coming up the charts…
August 6, 2019 @ 11:04 am
Why are you losers spending all this time over analyzing a good song by a good musician with an awesome voice? Just enjoy it or don’t and move on. Stapleton is country and blues and soul and just deal with it. Get a life.
August 4, 2019 @ 4:11 pm
I like Chris Stapleton, and Traveller has some terrific songs on it. But even so (I’ll probably catch hell for this), does anyone else think he’s kind of the Mariah Carey of country music? I mean the vocals being a little too acrobatic. . .
August 4, 2019 @ 4:35 pm
Whiskey Ruver t is by far more country than anything that has been released in a long time. What is called country now ain’t no where near being true country. It’s hard to tell one performer from another and the music all pretty much sounds the same. It’s really sad what has happened to country music.
August 4, 2019 @ 4:35 pm
When I hear a band playing it in a bar and I’m 2 or 3 Tennessee Whiskey’s in it doesn’t bother me. I sing along like everyone else in the bar. There’s a lot worse songs Country cover bands can and do play I can assure you.
August 4, 2019 @ 4:36 pm
Prefer Parachute to TW but it’s a hell of an overall record
August 4, 2019 @ 4:41 pm
Yes, his voice is soulful, but he is, without a doubt pure country. He can literally sing ANYTHING! I’m a HUGE fan of all his work!!
August 4, 2019 @ 5:17 pm
I loved the David Allan Coe version for two decades. It is really something for a new version to be able to supplant it in my mind, and Stapleton’s version has.
August 4, 2019 @ 6:14 pm
A couple of the comments have already touched on the topic of whether it is really country and I think it absolutely stretches the boundary of country in the same way most of the other recent “smash” hits have (just in a different and better direction). The only proof you need of this is to go to youtube and see how many people (especially reactors) love this song and Stapleton in general yet do not care for or listen to other country songs. Stapleton’s sound is different than most of country and is attracting a different audience (and wider audience) than most of country. That, plus the same kind of favorable streaming playlist inclusion that has been noted with other top songs, is what is driving this song’s success.
August 4, 2019 @ 6:22 pm
Man some of you all couldn’t be happy no matter what. I mean are we really splitting hairs on this one? It’s way more country than 90% of stuff that gets played on mainstream radio and on top of that has been a gateway for people (including some of my friends) to find Childers, Sturgill, Isbell, etc. So yeah I’m happy for this and yeah I get it, it has become like another “wagon wheel” where every band plays a version of it but I’ll that bad with the overall good this has done.
August 4, 2019 @ 7:20 pm
Chris Stapleton is the best act I have ever seen live, and I’ve seen hundreds, including the various overhyped, trash talking, gutter trash indie acts who say “f**k” three times per sentence or sing bluegrass songs about masturbating.
August 4, 2019 @ 6:41 pm
I love this song my favorite one, but I love his songs!!
August 4, 2019 @ 7:29 pm
I like Chris Stapleton’s music but country is no where near what COUNTRY MUSIC was I use to Sat with my dad and listen to HANK WILLIAMS , JOHNNY CASH, LORETTA LYNN, GEORGE JONES PATSY CLINE CHARLIE PRIDE now that was COUNTRY MUSIC. So when you really want to hear COUNTRY MUSIC listen to them and you have it.
August 4, 2019 @ 7:36 pm
Allow me to make a comment anout collaborations with non-country artists. For the life of me, and especially the awards shows, why is it when a pop or rock artist collaborates with a country artist, the song has to fit THEIR genre and not country?
Seems that is usually how it goes. With Stapleton & Timberlake, I think it splits the difference fairly well.
It would be great to see/hear a collaboration where the visiting genre artists complies with country. There are a few examples but not near enough.
No wonder Alan Jackson walks out. It’s not because there is a collaboration. It’s because when there is one, it’s usually not a country version.
August 5, 2019 @ 10:41 am
Due to the mainstream market’s perspective and the genre’s own inferiority complex, the idea is that the pop stars are doing country a favor by showing up … rather than vice versa. And so, they’re obviously going to get the opportunity to do the performance their way.
The Timberlake performance worked precisely because he didn’t do that. You can say that some of his specific vocal quirks weren’t “country,” but he ultimately went there and sang “Tennessee Whiskey” the way Chris Stapleton, the resident country artist, did on the record. And rather than having Stapleton perform “Mirrors” or “SexyBack,” they performed the somewhat country-leaning “Drink You Away.”
The result was a performance that played to both artists’ strengths AND sent the message that Stapleton was a big enough deal for this pop superstar to come and support. That’s why it was such a gamechanger.
August 5, 2019 @ 4:55 am
Brilliant version. Unfortunately as the masses latched on to it, it seemed to take on a fad identity. Bar bands across the country now have singers trying to mimic Stapleton’s tasteful (and unique) over singing of the word “warm”. It has joined the ranks of FreeBird and Wagon Wheel.
August 5, 2019 @ 7:03 am
I’ve never listened to the dern thing all the way through. I can’t stand the 30 or so I have heard.
It’s not C(c)ountry. The fact that has been so successful is more evidence that C(c)ountry is gone forever.
The modern “Country” fan: “Man I love Tennessee Whiskey.”
Me: “Yeah, it’s one of the best singles George Jones released, post-prime”
The modern “Country” fan: “Who’s George Jones?”
August 5, 2019 @ 8:45 am
*30 seconds*
August 5, 2019 @ 7:09 am
Nothing better than Chris STAPLETON..
Love “Tennesse Whiskey..
TRAVELLER..
NIGHT TRAIN TO MEMPHIS
WE LISTEN TO
CAPITAL Country 96.1 Fm in St. MICHAEL’S As
Thanks Chris!!!
August 5, 2019 @ 8:46 am
Chris Stapleton is basically R&B Travis Tritt and that is just fine.
August 5, 2019 @ 11:08 am
Well I’m just a girl who loves all music .It doesn’t matter to me who wrote it. It doesnt matter how its classified. Why do we have to stereotype the music anyway. If you LOVE music then what does it matter where or who sings it as long as it makes you feel good inside. I Love Chris Stapleton until I heard that song I didnt know who he was ,but I’ll tell ya this after i heard him sing with that voice of his , I went on you tube and downloaded every song that I could find with him singing. I love his voice and I love the fact that his wife is right there with him in his journeys. I even downloaded music from when he was with the Jompson Brothers. With that being said …does it matter really what type music it is as long as it makes you feel good shouldn’t that be all we need…Chris you can do no wrong in my book ..stay strong take care of those babies and that wife of yours and know you got someone that loves you and your family here in Alabama.
August 5, 2019 @ 11:32 am
Agree totally.
August 5, 2019 @ 1:18 pm
SORRY GEORGE JONES FANS! I’M 62 RAISED ON ALL OF THE “LEGENDS” BUT CHRIS STAPLETON NOW OWNS “TENNESSEE WHISKEY”!!!!!!!!!!! PERIOD.
August 5, 2019 @ 4:14 pm
Impressive, to own a cliché.
August 5, 2019 @ 6:37 pm
I don’t understand the Stapleton hate. He’s not “pure country” Not sure anyone has been since the Hank/Ernest Tubb’s ear of Country Music. He puts out good music that does blur the genre lines between blues, soul, country and rock. He features lots of different country artist among some other genres on his tours. Hell, Robby Turner is playing Lap Steel on his current tour that guy has played and recorded with everyone from Waylon to Dylan. I think Stapleton has done more to help kick down the door down for a lot of the underground scene than anyone going and has remained very humble about it.
March 1, 2021 @ 7:15 pm
please all listen to “I’d rather go blind” by Etta James if you like this song… give credit where credit is due. There is almost nothing original about this recording. Lyrics from one song and instrumental from another. Only difference is no one is crediting Etta James.