Quotes from Chris Stapleton

I want the dude in the top row to feel like he's down there on the front row in a club.

I was a car salesman, if you can believe it.

I don't ever view myself as a straight country act, and I don't think the straight country acts view me as a straight country act, either - but I certainly belong to them.

I walked into a demo session one time, and a guy said, 'I'm thinking kind of like a Trace Adkins thing.' And I looked him right in the eye and said, 'Man, you've got the wrong guy. I'm gonna have to fire myself. You've got to hire somebody else.'

For me, the more time you can take and the more care you can take with songs, the better off you're going to be.

The show isn't about screens, and we don't have any video content or lasers or things blowing up. I want people to come to our show to listen. I want the show to be the music.

I never was a liner note junkie. I didn't know who produced records or there was such a thing as a straight songwriter. I always assumed that everybody that was singing a song wrote it or made it up.

As long as people are buying music, it's good for everybody.

If there's one kind of music that makes somebody happy, how is that a bad thing? And if there's another kind that makes somebody else happy, how is that a bad thing? I don't get why anybody cares about what they don't like so much.

I like all kinds of music. But I would rather people stop caring about lines.

It is a really interesting to hear yourself on the radio. I've gotten to hear myself in different capacities. I've heard myself on Sirius XM on the bluegrass channels, and on WSM and other places.

Anytime that another artist or a critic that is well-respected says something nice about you, you're always thankful and hope that you can live up to that.

I'm not a hustler. I don't pitch songs. I don't ask people to write with me. It's not what I do.

If I'm feeling like rock, we'll do some of that, and if I'm feeling some other way, we might do some of that. So, that's typically how I record and write and play music and anything else.

Among my dad's generation, when you gave another man a pocketknife as a gift, it was a show of respect. I'll still give someone the knife out of my pocket.

Everybody's got a story on their beards. I guess it's just a way of finding common ground with people you otherwise might not know.

It's a unique thing, and it's probably the thing I love most about songs and music - their ability to connect in a human way.

I like more of the club mentality, where we're playing, and if we feel like we want to play a cover, we'll switch to that.

I don't think country music needs saving from anything.

If I have a talent, it lies in the creative process.

I'm not going to ask musicians to sit there and pretend to play. It feels insulting to the musicians to me.

I'm not reinventing the wheel here. I'm not Chuck Berry or Bill Monroe. Guys like that are from outer space.

Country music is one of those places where we support each other and prop each other up.

I had a beard way before it was fashionable.