Chris Stapleton’s Rollicking And Powerful ‘Road Show’ Makes A Stop In The Big Apple

For two nights, New York City was briefly transformed into Music City U.S.A., when country singer-guitarist Chris Stapleton brought his ongoing All-American Road Show tour to Madison Square Garden showing once again what a generational talent he is.

On Saturday, the second of a two-night sold-out stand at the Garden, Stapleton and his superb band performed an exhaustive set of favorites from his catalog. That included a good portion of songs from his 2015 breakthrough debut album Traveller, which recently marked its 10th anniversary. The current tour comes on the heels of Stapleton, a recipient of multiple awards, being named Male Artist of the Year at the 60th Annual ACM Awards for the fifth time this past May.

What makes Stapleton’s music so unique and compelling is that while he is country in the traditional sense, the musician also incorporates other influences such as blues, heartland rock, Southern rock and soul, all of which conjures legends such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton and Otis Redding. Additionally, his hard-bitten yet tender lyrics are quite relatable in the everyman vein of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seger in addition to paying homage to the outlaw greats such as Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.

The diverse nature of Stapleton’s country sound was evident at Saturday’s show, which kicked off with the rock-soul hybrid “Bad as I Used to Be,” his latest single that appears on the F1 movie soundtrack. Afterwards, it was one powerful performance after another during the two-hour set that varied between outlaw-styled rockers (“Devil Always Made Think Twice,” “Hard Livin’” and “Midnight Train to Memphis”) and soulful ballads (among them “It Takes a Woman” and “What Am I Gonna Do,” both off his last studio album, 2023’s Higher).

Stapleton and the band were superb throughout the night, and the guitarist blew everybody away with his instrumental prowess, especially on “I Was Wrong” and the gut-wrenching “Cold,” and during his solo spotlight, where it was just him and his six-string on “Maggie’s Song” and “Barely Alive.” His gritty, soulful vocals sent chills, particularly on the blues ballad “Sometimes I Cry.” That quality in his distinctive singing made his songs, especially about heartbreak and love gone awry, so resonant and authentic.

New York City is not generally known as a hub for country music. But the faithful in their cowboy hats were full force that Saturday night at the Garden (at times, they were singing the words to certain songs), while Stapleton effortlessly had the packed crowd under his spell.

Chris Stapleton’s All-American Road Show continues through October.

Setlist:

Bad As I Used To Be

Midnight Train to Memphis

Arkansas

What Am I Gonna Do

Worry B Gone

Devil Always Made Me Think Twice

Millionaire

Parachute

It Takes a Woman

Think I’m in Love With You

Maggie’s Song

Barely Alive

I Was Wrong

White Horse

Cold

Starting Over

Crosswind

Hard Livin’

You Should Probably Leave

Might as Well Get Stoned

Sometimes I Cry

Fire Away

Broken Halos

Tennessee Whiskey

Encore:

Nobody to Blame

You Are My Sunshine

Outlaw State of Mind