Although we’ve reviewed plenty of his songwriting hits, this is our first visit to the rodeo with this CMA-coronated performer.

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Thomas Inskeep: Confession: I consider myself a pretty big country fan, but I hadn’t heard Chris Stapleton until his star-making performance on the CMA Awards with Justin Timberlake. Honestly, when I heard all the hype earlier this year from people who don’t normally like country music, I assumed he was this year’s Sturgill Simpson. I shouldn’t have worried. Stapleton has already written hits for others that I’ve liked quite a bit, from Darius Rucker to Thomas Rhett. One of the few songs on Stapleton’s solo debut Traveller that he didn’t write is a cover of George Jones’ 1983 #2 hit “Tennessee Whiskey,” but Stapleton completely reworks the song from the inside out, turning it into a gut wrencher, more Southern soul than country. And somehow — let’s chalk it up to sheer talent — he also makes the song sexy (let’s face it, the Possum wasn’t known for sexy songs.) There’s more where this came from, but this might be the highlight of Traveller.
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Megan Harrington: Stapleton’s numerous CMA wins suggest that country’s academy is through with feting the chart topping party boys. That, to the relief of many watching the genre lose its perceived rigidity, classic and authentic country music returned to its rightful place atop the heap. But the current Billboard 200 tells a different story. Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, and Eric Church — all long reigning superstars — remain undisputed hitmakers. Stapleton, due entirely to his fame making awards grab, joins them, but for half a year exponentially fewer country music fans cared about Traveller. “Tennessee Whiskey” is a hearty ballad, sung sonorously and decorated with guitar playing that unfurls in lusty plumes of smoke. Is “Tennessee Whiskey”‘s sentimentally distinct from “Love You Like That“? No, but it is more boring. 
[6]

Alfred Soto: The CMA winner bored me in May with his inflexible inhabiting of blues country tropes, and “Tennessee Whiskey” still sounds like a mannered exercise, each melisma sung with deadly conviction. On the evidence I prefer him when he writes for Luke Bryan.
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Sonia Yang: The tempo is maddeningly slower than what I expected, the wait between snare hits agonizing. Intentional or not, it captures the distorted sense of time after getting sloshed on the titular drink. I prefer his voice to David Allen Coe’s, though.
[4]

Edward Okulicz: The chorus codes more soul than country to me, and it’s also the best bit. I’m perfectly fine with the song, but in a genre like country which is having its own internal authenticity debate, throwing laurels at this feels like a statement of intent more than a statement of merit. I’d rather drink bourbon in Kentucky with Dierks Bentley though.
[6]

Anthony Easton: The precision, nostalgia, perfection, and settled quality of his voice almost as boring as a chorus of the same metaphors in the same dull package — proof that knowing how to play or being authentic  is much less interesting than anything else you can do on the stage at the CMAs. 
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