Pouring his heart out Nashville singer-songwriter delivers cupful of country with a straight shot of soul By: Alan Small Posted: 10:54 PM CDT Wednesday, Apr. 3, 2024 Last Modified: 2:29 PM CDT Thursday, Apr. 4, 2024 Updates

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If Beyoncé can make the switch to country, then Chris Stapleton can become a soul singer.

It’s hardly a stretch for the Nashville superstar; he proved Wednesday night at the Canada Life Centre that he can wander from from country to blues to soul and back to country, sometimes within the same song.

He brings truckloads of emotion and vocal range to his heartfelt sound, and whether you want to call it country or western or whatever, it separates him from the monotone, pickup-driving pack that dominates country-music radio and arena shows.

The old musical rules that pigeonholed artists into genres, whether they agreed to it or not, have been cast aside to collect dust with rotary telephones, 8-track tapes and wooden hockey sticks.

Music has become a big tent, to borrow a political cliché, and Stapleton is one of a growing number of country artists finding plenty of room for his honest tunes, however he chooses to present them.

Luke Combs covered Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car last year and was gracious enough to welcome her to share his Grammy Awards spotlight in February.

Stapleton himself joined in the crossover fun, teaming up with rapper Snoop Dogg and drummer Cindy Blackman Santana to cover Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight for ESPN’s NFL telecasts last season.

There are more than 11,000 reasons Stapleton is among the most bankable touring artists around.

He was able to attract that many people to fill Canada Life Centre at the drop of his well-worn cowboy hat, and they loved every second of his performance, such as when he poured his heart out during Wednesday’s openers White Horse, from his 2023 album Higher, and Parachute, the song of romantic devotion that helped launch his career in 2015.

A six-piece band backed Stapleton, who performed in front of a light-filled stage with a large horizontal screen; by modern arena standards, it was a minimalist production.

He doesn’t need all that country-politan glitz. He lets his thoughtful songs, such as Crosswinds, a trucker’s tale that dispenses with the romance of the road, speak for him.

“Those who’ve been to our shows before know I don’t do a lot of talkin’. Makes more room for songs,” he told the crowd.

Stapleton sings in a higher key than many male country singers, and that helps him rise above the din of his well-schooled band.

When he performed solo with an acoustic guitar, as he did during a three-song set midway through his set that included the weeper What Are You Listening To?, he created something special in a hockey rink: intimacy.

Stapleton’s main set wound up with a bang, with Traveller, a song Stapleton said was the first of his he heard on the radio, and Fire Away, which wound up with a giant sing-along that had the fans showing the flashlights on the cellphones rather than pointing their camera lenses at Stapleton.

He did play a rousing version of Broken Halos and then used Tennessee Whiskey — his biggest song is actually a cover, irony for a top songwriter — to introduce his band as if they were lyrics in the song. Among them was harmonica great Mickey Raphael, a longtime presence alongside Willie Nelson, guesting with Stapleton’s crew.

Raphael blew the harp hard in the encore, Nick Cave’s An Outlaw State of Mind, which ended with a fiery jam and Stapleton leaving his guitar on the stage floor feedbacking like it was Jimi Hendrix’s axe.

There was little country pretense whatsoever when the War and Treaty, the husband-and-wife duo of Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter, preceded Stapleton to the stage Wednesday night.

The couple from Nashville, via rural Michigan, has found success in the world of Americana, another big-tent, non-category category, where their superb vocals and the emotional heft of their material is embraced by fans and critics alike.

The War and Treaty’s blend of rock, funk and gospel turned the downtown arena into a revival hour; they were especially powerful in Hey Driver, a collaboration with Zach Bryan, another country artist who colours outside the lines.

They’ll be back in Winnipeg in July for the Winnipeg Folk Festival, for those those who demand more than the 45 minutes the Trotters were able to offer in Wednesday’s jam-packed program.

Seattle’s Allen Stone kicked off the three-hour plus soul-country revue with 30 minutes of southern rock with dashes of R&B. He revved up the proceedings with the up-tempo Celebrate Tonight, and proved later on in his 30-minute set he can slow down the funk, with the steamy ballad Consider Me.

Alan.Small@winnipegfreepress.com

X: @AlanDSmall