Chris Stapleton’s no-frills set delights fans in Nashville

At times, Chris Stapleton’s concert on the All-American Road Show Tour is reminiscent of a campfire. At other times, it feels like watching a garage band.

Spacious venues like the Bridgestone Arena aren’t always the best choice for pieces from his repertoire, but even when important lyrics get lost in the attic on songs like “Cold” and “Fire Away,” he still manages to convey unparalleled emotion. Add in a world-class band, and it seems pretty easy to wow a sold-out show.

Friday night’s (August 9) show in Nashville stayed true to the setlist he wrote for most of this summer’s tour. There were a few deviations — “Worry B Gone” was added and “I Was Wrong” was dropped during the first half of the two-hour show — but as far as his hits went, the hitmaker delivered what fans wanted.

Since his breakthrough in 2015, surprisingly little has changed for the 46-year-old, except that the number of viewers has increased. He contradicts the principle that consistent success means regression.

A Chris Stapleton show is a couples show. You bring your wife or boyfriend, and when songs like his current single “Think I’m In Love With You” start, you join hands or arms and sway to the beat. Purists might choose “Joy of My Life,” “What Are You Listening To” and a daring cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” as highlights.

Fans will remember who they sang “Tennessee Whiskey” with and what was on their minds when they sang “Fire Away.” Long breaks between songs give the set a certain looseness that is rarely found. “An Evening With Chris Stapleton” would also be a good title for this tour, although songs like “Arkansas” and “Parachute” cause a bit of a ruckus.

The intimate nature of his music falters a little when it blares through a hockey arena. “Second One to Know” is an example of this. The driving, punky rock song sounds like something you should really hear on a smoky club stage. From several hundred meters away, this impulse evaporates.

Fans know not to expect a spectacle on the All-American Road Show Tour. His stage literally rolls out after performances by Nicki Lane and Marty Stuart. A wooden backdrop, disco ball and heavy curtains provide a ’70s lounge look for his band to work under. There’s no video package, elaborate light show or fog to create theatrics.

When you can sing like Stapleton, you don’t need these excuses, and vocally he was at his best during the first of two back-to-back shows in Nashville. This isn’t the kind of performance that makes you wonder what he’ll do on the next tour, because it’s likely to be very similar.

If you are here for the first time and just love a night of pure country music, you will get your money’s worth here.

Billy Dukes is senior editor and executive producer of video content at Taste of Country. He specializes in country music interviews, trend analysis and the secret history of country music. Billy also reports Yellowstone, 1923 and related television programs by the Dutton Rules Podcast. To date, he has written more than 13,000 articles for Taste of Country and produced over 3,000 videos for the Taste of Country YouTube channel.