Chris Stapleton recently dropped two new songs from his new album Starting Over coming out on November 13. He released the title track as well as the song "Arkansas."

Bobby Bones brought on Stapleton to talk about the new music, and also share in his love for the song written about his home state. When Bones shared that he cried listening to his song "Arkansas," Stapleton laughed because it wasn't the response he expected to hear from fans about the song. He shared that it's just a fun song about driving fast through the Ozark mountains. He added that Arkansas is a beautiful state. The song came out of a recent road trip he had when he drove through Arkansas. He went to pick up a car that he bought instead of getting it shipped to him. He picked it up in Oklahoma City and drove it back down to Nashville going through Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Memphis, TN.

Stapleton confessed that he's a big "road trip with no purpose" person at heart. He likes to listen to music during his drives, his favorite record always is also the same record he listens to on the road, Tom Petty's Wildflowers. Though he shared that he really enjoys silence, because he has enough noise in his head that the silence sometimes feels more appropriate for him. Not only are road trips important, Stapleton also shared that car listening to a song is super important to him. He believes if a song sounds good when you're driving or riding in the car, it's a good indicator of a song's potential. That's how he decided on his new song and title track "Starting Over."

As for songs that have moved him like "Arkansas" moved Bones, Stapleton shared that the only song he remembers being difficult to write and perform was his song "Maggie's Song" on his new album. It's about his dog that passed away, and he wrote the song the day after she died.

Stapleton also added some more details about his new album, he shared that he delivered his new album to his music industry individuals in person by leaving his record on their cars at their houses. He likes doing things in person much better than email, and he wants people to have physical copies of the album so they can listen in the car. On his chosen life of simplicity, Stapleton added that he doesn't have Instagram on his phone. He confessed he takes some horrible selfies and doesn't have any skills in that area, so people on his team take care of his social media accounts with his approval of things.

Bobby Bones

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