Chris Stapleton’s SNL Appearance Scores 2-Year Ratings High & One High-Profile Endorsement
Chris Stapleton got another crack at a national audience on Saturday, January 16th when he took the Saturday Night Live stage, but after the NFL matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals ran 45 minutes later than normal, some were worried Stapleton’s opportunity would be scuttled. However according to television ratings, the opposite was the case. The drama-filled Packers/Cardinals game got folks tuning in, and they stuck around for the SNL episode hosted by Star Wars actor Adam Driver.
According to THR, the Saturday Night Live broadcast pulled the best ratings in two years among adults 18 to 49—one of the most coveted media demographics. It scored 3.0 rating and 15 share. Donald Trump’s appearance on SNL in November actually did better overall numbers, but not as good as the Stapleton/Driver episode among the key demo.
One person who stayed up late to to watch Chris Stapleton was the cantankerous, and curmudgeon-at-large music critic and pontificator Bob Lefsetz. Known for being able to find the wrong in anything and reducing the most crowning achievements to crumbles, Lefsetz was downright smitten with Stapleton’s SNL performance.
“This is not SNL, but something blasted in from a prior generation, when the music was paramount and image was secondary, when carrying a few extra pounds was not anathema, when how you played was a demonstration of your expertise and value, not how many likes and views you’d accumulated,” Lefsetz said. “This hearkens back to an era so long gone that I don’t think anybody watching the show understood what they were seeing, but they GOT IT!”
READ & Watch: Chris Stapleton on Saturday Night Live
Lefsetz later went on to remark on Chris Stapleton’s album, Traveller.
“‘Traveller’ is subtle and dare I say it”¦at first not great. It’s good. But today that’s not good enough, when we’re surrounded by the history of recorded music. And then you let it play and the album takes a left turn, just when you feel superior to the critics you become riveted, the deeper you go the more passion and desperation that is evidenced, and you’re closed … And if you listen to the second half of ‘Traveller’ you won’t be able to stop. And if you allow yourself to extricate yourself from the rat race and let it all wash over you”¦ You’ll have hope.”
Though Stapleton still has to be considered a dark horse for February’s Grammy Awards, he’s racked up more high-profile appearances and endorsements during the voting period than the other nominees for Album of the Year. Along with his continued success with sales numbers, his moniker of the “Adele of Country Music” for his remarkable rise is beginning to stick.
Chris Stapleton is currently project to have the #1 album in country yet again next week.
January 20, 2016 @ 9:49 am
Hey trig, sorry for the first comment to be off topic, but I got a little problem
An ad is covering up the search bar, so I can’t search any articles, I don’t know if it’s just my phone or what, but could you see if you could look into please?
January 20, 2016 @ 10:21 am
Thanks for the heads up Hawkeye, we’ll look into it. I’m not seeing that issue but we are doing some back end work on the site so things may look strange on and off.
January 20, 2016 @ 9:53 am
I heard someone in the dorm next door to mine blasting Traveller. It felt good knowing that my age group is starting to catch on to good music.
January 20, 2016 @ 10:51 am
Howard Stern (a notorious hater of country) was talking about Chris today and singing his praises.
January 20, 2016 @ 11:09 am
See, this is the kind of capturing of the zeitgeist that precedes the launching of a bona fide superstar. I don’t know that any of us can predict where this all might peak.
January 20, 2016 @ 11:37 am
Well, according to Luke Bryan he’ll be “in the ditch strung out on drugs.”
HA!
January 20, 2016 @ 12:23 pm
And when all is said and done in a few yrs. Luke Bryan will be off dancing in a cornfield all by himself….lol.
January 20, 2016 @ 2:08 pm
Hopefully, its less than a few years. A few weeks would be much better.
January 20, 2016 @ 3:30 pm
I’m hoping for another fall off the stage myself.Maybe he’ll forget how to get back up there.A guy can only hope.
January 20, 2016 @ 5:40 pm
‘……dancing in a cornfield ….” ”¦.lol….lol
January 20, 2016 @ 11:49 am
First Questlove, now Lefsetz.
Much of me can’t help but conclude the reason many high-profiled hard-to-please critics and personalities are expressing shock in a most positive way to Stapleton’s abilities………….boils back down to the longtime disconnect many had with American heartland music and assuming it was all like how heartland culture is relentlessly made a caricature of and stereotyped. Many thought what Tom Petty and countless others thought: assuming not just in the mainstream but overall, it was bad rock with a fiddle.
So, when they see someone primarily branded as country obviously deviating radically from their perceptions of the musical stereotypes as a whole……………..it elicits genuine shockwaves. It’s sad that’s the case when considering the bigger picture and the fact so much other outstanding heartland music has been all around them the entire time, but a very understandable reaction all the same.
As elated as I am for Stapleton of course, I certainly hope this sort of musical religious moment ALSO inspires the likes of Questlove, Lefsetz and Stern to seek out related artists and, in the process, open their eyes to the broader reality of country and roots music. There may be no guarantee they’d also like, say, Jason Isbell…………but at the very least the curtain of “Party Down South” perceptions will be raised and they’ll see our musical community is much more spacious, diverse and intelligent than had long been given credit for.
January 20, 2016 @ 12:30 pm
Be still my peripatetic heart. I agree. I give credit also to the CMA and Grammy voters for helping artists like Chris Stapleton have opportunities to be noticed by such people.
January 20, 2016 @ 1:36 pm
Well, Tom Petty said that because he likes country music, and counts it as an influence.
He was sad about it having become bad rock with a fiddle.
January 20, 2016 @ 3:05 pm
it’s not even bad rock with a fiddle, it’s becoming worse than the Bee Gees (I actually don’t find most of their songs bad these days especially after hearing Bruce Springsteen actually do a very good cover of one of their songs)
January 20, 2016 @ 4:51 pm
You summed it up, Nadia. Well said.
I’ve found the phenomenon you described to be very real. Although it’s kind of uncool these days to stereotype people or to be close-minded when it comes to music, there’s a sizable chunk of people who basically think all of country music is garbage and that the most crude stereotypes about the genre are literally true, and are surprised when they hear something that contradicts that perception. It’s frustrating.
Speaking of high profile endorsements, a couple days ago I noticed that the comedian Marc Maron sent out a series of gushing tweets about Sturgill Simpson. Apparently, he had kind of late reaction to Metamodern Sounds and really loved it. I know that guy’s podcast is very popular and influential, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he invited Sturgill on the show at some point. I believe he had Isbell on previously.
https://twitter.com/marcmaron/status/688552915397525506
January 21, 2016 @ 1:03 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnD2O7RsqcY
And then there’s Anthony Fantano: who is among the music critics I most respect, yet one of my few most pointed criticisms of him has been his closed-minded attitude to country music over these many years to the extent he won’t even bother allowing country albums to cross his radar.
Yet, he happened upon Whitey Morgan and the 78’s “Sonic Ranch” about seven months after its initial release………………….and gave it a solid (if not outstanding) review.
I’d like to think the overall positive experience he got out of “Sonic Ranch” will inspire Fantano to re-evaluate his relationship with country music at a broader scale. I’m by no means suggesting he review the likes of Sam Hunt and Kelsea Ballerini, but considering how nuanced and intelligent his commentary on numerous genres of music has proven to be, it’s sadly undercut by his longtime dismissal of most heartland music as perhaps philistine in his view. Here’s hoping “Sonic Ranch” has resulted in him turning a corner.
January 22, 2016 @ 11:46 am
Applejack,
Isbell performing “Elephant” on Maron’s podcast is what got me hooked on Isbell. Great point!
January 20, 2016 @ 1:09 pm
Good Lord I just feel astounded by the kind of impact Stapleton is making.
January 20, 2016 @ 1:16 pm
I DVR’d SNL on Saturday, and missed most of it, unfortunately. The Patriots game caused the news to run into a good portion of the beginning of SNL – so I only caught his later performance.
January 20, 2016 @ 1:29 pm
Amazingly high praise from Lefsetz indeed!
Great writer, always an interesting read. The one constant he harps on regardless of subject is “quality wins out”. No different in this piece.
Thx.
January 20, 2016 @ 3:10 pm
Does it bother anyone else that the article about Dierks stupid ass shit song is getting comments at approximately four times the rate this page is? Seriously, if people cared as much about this as they did about inconsequential stupid shit we would be so much better off.
January 20, 2016 @ 3:15 pm
That also happens with likes and shares on Facebook. That’s why most Facebook users think that all I do is trash pop country and never support anything real. It’s because Facebook’s algorithm only shows them popular posts. That said, comments aren’t always indicative of interest. Sometimes it’s just indicative that there’s something worth discussing.
January 20, 2016 @ 3:47 pm
I care a lot more about the great music coming out of Stapleton than the crap music coming out of Dierks. But this is not only the 781st article on Stapleton (ok, that’s a high estimate) recently, it’s actually the second on this particular performance. (The first got more comments than the Dierks piece has.) While we haven’t heard anything on Dierks in a while, and he’s generally a person of interest around here as far as mainstream goes.
I will not argue for a second that the mainstream articles, especially those dissing the mainstream, get more comments (including from me.) I just feel like your comparison here was off base.
January 20, 2016 @ 3:53 pm
Glad it gave Stapleton more exposure so the masses don’t think that Luke/Shelton are what country music is about. Also crazy fun to see Morgane, Dave Cobb and company up on stage w/ Chris!
January 20, 2016 @ 5:00 pm
By the way, although it obviously didn’t have quite the same impact, I thought Margo Price’s performance on TV last night was strong. It’s nice to have some country music singers who can actually, really sing!
January 20, 2016 @ 6:33 pm
That Lefetz reviewer critic guy sounds like a real asshole. Reminds me of a commercial from a few years back, where this old stuffy guy is staring at a painting of a bunch of triangles. He goes on about it being “bold” and all these other “let it wash over you” artsy fartsy type comments. Then some cat in blue jeans walks up and says “nachos!”, and leaves with artsy fartsy’s old lady. It’s country music you old Lefetz critic coot. A solid album from one of our best. Now put your fedora on and go work for a living.
January 21, 2016 @ 1:11 am
You may recall that he got into a well-publicized feud with Taylor Swift about her music, and the wild speculation that her song “Mean” was specifically about Lefsetz.
Regardless of your overall opinion of Taylor Swift (she’s someone I not so much love than I highly respect, and think she has released plenty of solid songs particularly with her third album “Speak Now”, but has since regressed in quality)……………..I sure hope “Mean” was aimed directly at Lefsetz. He deserved it.
January 20, 2016 @ 7:38 pm
Off Topic, but last night The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’s musical guest was Margo Price, someone who has been mentioned a couple of times on this blog. Her network TV debut – and she hit it out of the park! Her album is coming out soon. Again this is great stuff to see on networkTV.
Colbert has to some degree taken some of the showcasing of new artists that his predecessor had. For example in only his 2nd week of the show in mid September, he had Chris Stapleton, a couple of months before his CMA
January 21, 2016 @ 12:28 am
At least Luke, Dierks and Blake had the good sense to record Stapleton songs and Luke showcased him several times which pushed recognition his way even before the Traveler album came out. There was never any lack of respect for Chris within his fellow artists community. I think the publishing machines wanted to keep Stapleton writing good songs for more “Marketable” artists. Same thing happened to Jeffrey Steele. The good music is still there for anyone who wishes to simply look no further than the Americana artists and Bluegrass. Stapleton’s Bluegrass recordings are as good as or better than Traveler. Jason Isbell is a phenomenal talent as is Sturgill Simpson. Tedeski Trucks Band, Nathaniel Rateliff, Turnpike Troubadours, The Black Lillies – The Hillbenders – St. Paul and the Broken Bones – I could go on and on at the talent charting as Americana. Who needs radio and the garbage passing itself off as music on the Country charts.
January 21, 2016 @ 7:50 am
Sadly, he’ll be dancing all the way to the bank. Being a whore pays.
January 21, 2016 @ 3:49 pm
This last comment was supposed to be a response to the comment way above about Luke Bryan dancing in a cornfield. It was certainly not meant about Stapleton who has been one of my recent favorites.
January 21, 2016 @ 9:19 pm
Screw all of the talk that I’ve read on the Stapleton threads from SNL! Parachute is a GREAT song. What was the last country song that we’ve had in that key? Of all the BS we’ve heard out of Nashville, we’ve had a few artist break out. Now, everybody wants to critique them like wine snobs. This song isn’t “lyrically strong”! Blah blah blah. We’ve had Luke Bryan and the like for YEARS. Now everybody is breaking down “Parachute” like a KFC chicken breast?? Parachute is great! I’m sensing the same vibe I get from 20somethings talking about indie music. It’s a great tune – even if it were an instrumental. THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO BE PICKY. It was this song that blew people away. Great sound, great key, no country stereotypes – it’s bringing outsiders into the fold and puts more pressure on Nashville. Don’t give me the snobby critic BS.
January 22, 2016 @ 11:23 am
It is refreshing to see a talented artist like Chris Stapleton who has paid his dues, deliver a fantastic record and follow it up with live performances that garner support across multiple demographic groups and leaves the most jaded critic impressed. I also enjoy that he is an intelligent adult who genuinely loves his wife who he performs with. I hope the record industry will seek for more talented adult artists that create Country Music that has depth and soul like Chris Stapleton.