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Singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton lives up to the hype

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Chris Stapleton plays the Joint.
Erik Kabik/Kabik Photo Group

Three and a half stars

CHRIS STAPLETON The Joint, April 15.

Just two weeks earlier, Chris Stapleton had delivered the standout set at the ACM Party for a Cause Festival on the Strip, and he’d be playing a few hours away for the next three weekends in a row at the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals in Southern California, but the unlikely rising country star still had no trouble selling out the Joint on Friday night. The capacity crowd was more diverse than the mainstream country fans who packed Party for a Cause or the hipsters who descend on Coachella, but whatever their background, everyone seemed to know the words to Stapleton hits like “Nobody to Blame” and “Traveller,” and the audience even erupted into a spontaneous rendition of “Happy Birthday” when Stapleton acknowledged that it was indeed his birthday.

Stapleton performed with just a bassist and a drummer as his backing band, along with his wife Morgane on harmony vocals during select songs. The sound was full and rich even with that minimal setup, and Stapleton wailed on the guitar during an extended outro on “Outlaw State of Mind” and a shuffling blues version of Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels.” The crowd cheered loudly for Stapleton’s musical prowess, but they also chattered so extensively that they nearly drowned out more subdued songs like “More of You” and the lovely closer “Whiskey and You,” which Stapleton played solo.

Stapleton ran through nearly all of his Grammy-winning debut solo album, and reached back to his days in bluegrass band the SteelDrivers for a far grittier version of their “Midnight Train to Memphis.” The biggest disappointment was that the set didn’t last longer, with Stapleton ending the single-song encore a little more than an hour after first taking the stage. Judging by how in-demand he is, though, fans should have another chance to see him pretty soon.

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