Chris Stapleton wins ACM entertainer of the year: Review of his Stagecoach set

When I first saw Chris Stapleton perform his brand of a more alternative and rock version of country music at the Stagecoach country music festival in 2016, I never imagined he’d be headlining the festival.

He’s among the outliers of country music such as Jason Isbell and Lukas Nelson: he doesn’t fit in with the mainstream country pop artists in Nashville, he had his breakthrough success in his late-30s, and his early hit “Tennessee Whiskey” was originally recorded in 1981 by controversial country singer David Allan Coe.

Watching him headline on Sunday night not only spoke to the importance of the Stagecoach country music festival in making successful careers, but also made for an inspiring underdog story.

Stapleton's 90-minute performance was just as good as I expected it to be and a celebration of his continued success since 2015. Clad in his standard black western shirt and feathered cowboy hat, the set started without any flashy video production, just Stapleton in red light in full view and focused on playing music. He opened with "Nobody to Blame" and toward the beginning of the set he took a brief moment to turn on the house lights to get a look at the crowd and said, “There sure are a lot of you out there. We’re going to play as much music as we can in the time we have, so I’m not going to do a lot of talking.”

Stapleton’s wife and backing vocalist, Morgane, joined him front and center to deliver the Kevin Welch song, “Millionaire.” Aside from the power of his guitar solos, he was able to hold the opening vocal note of “Hard Livin” for several seconds.

For those who have ever yelled “Freebird” at a performer, yell it at Stapleton at your own risk, because he delivers. Well, least the first part of the song before he switched to “The Devil Named Music.”

Stapleton had a big weekend, also appearing Saturday at the Hollywood Bowl during the two-day celebration of Willie Nelson's 90th birthday and performed soulful versions of "Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning" and "Always on My Mind."

Seven years later, it still feels surreal to watch Stapleton close out the final night of Stagecoach with an actual concert, playing a more inviting, stripped down offering of rock-meets-country to appease all audiences.

In the current state of the music industry, especially country music, where headlining sets are filled with pyrotechnics, extensive video production and sometimes a special guest, Stapleton held on to the crowd that braved triple-digits throughout the weekend with nothing but music.

Desert Sun reporter Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Chris Stapleton wins ACM entertainer of the year: Review of his Stagecoach set