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By his own admission, Chris Stapleton may not be the most technical of guitarists, but the Grammy-winning musician has cultivated a sound of his own. Stapleton attributes his unmistakable tone to a powerful combo: his guitar of choice, a Fender Jazzmaster, and a 1962 Fender amplifier that he delicately carries from one show to the next, always hoping he will not exhausted.
This week, Stapleton made sure he would never lose that warm sound when he and the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation launched their own line of iconic amps: the Fender '62 Princeton Chris Stapleton Edition. The singer-songwriter introduced the company's first flagship amp with a country music artist – at an intimate Nashville gig at RCA Studio A, where Stapleton composed his three solo albums with the producer Dave Cobb.
Although he has lent his name to the project, Stapleton does not intend to make any money. He donated all his royalties to his charity with his wife Morgane, the Outlaw State of Kind fund. As he said Rolling stone and reiterated at a round table with representatives of Cobb and Fender, Ben Blanc-Dumont and Shane Nicholas, he joined the company simply because he wanted another62. "I wanted to force them to build something they had not built for 60 years. Very quickly, he went from "We can build this" to "Can we build and sell them?" I said, "Of course you can – as long as I have some," says Stapleton, who jokingly said that he could also collaborate with the company on a guitar. signature.
As he prepares for another summer of his All-American Road Show tour, we talked to Stapleton about his amp, the possibility of creating new music and how he found himself singing "9 to 5 "for Dolly Parton.
This partnership started when you asked Fender for a replacement amp?
Yeah. They have a bespoke shop and those brown-skinned Princetons of the early '60s have become my thing I use. Before that, I had to travel the Earth and find others that worked well enough to make them usable. These are fairly robust instruments, but you know, there is always a transformer going out. It's a bit of a mistake.
There is some concern out there that you can be left without your platform.
Until mid-year of this year, when [Fender] m has brought the final version of this [new] that's what I was playing hoping that none of them fell … I always bought old ones and hoped they would resist. When I had this one, I sat there at [Los Angeles] Forum and [compared] at Soundcheck, they replied, "We're using the new one tonight." And that's what I used all the rest of the year. I am so happy to have it. This is remarkable. The new is better than 95% of the old ones I bought.
What defines your sound in this amp?
It's a great amp, no matter the size of the room, and it works just as well in a stadium as in a club. It's a dummy proof – just a volume and a tone. One hundred buttons will not be useful if nothing sounds good. You can find something you like just by turning a few buttons.
You play mainly a Fender Jazzmaster. Why this guitar?
The first one I bought dates back to the mid-2000s, a reissue of a 62, oddly enough. I made a rock record with this guitar [with the Jompson Brothers]. I like his size. The one I bought was turquoise ocean. It was not a color that I had looked at and said, "Oh man, I need this surf guitar!" But I played it and, as with a car, you can blend in: it's my guitar. That's how it happened. … It is very comforting to know what your rig is and you will not have to go wrong.
It's the attention to detail that distinguishes your amplifier line. Like the canvas blanket made by outdoor equipment company Filson.
It was something I had imagined and I think everyone thought that maybe I was a little weird to ask. At the time, when they manufactured amps, they asked the luggage companies to cover them. The luggage company Victoria. When I was growing up, my dad was a bird hunter and he used things from Filson. I've adopted a taste for these because they last a long time. The things that work are what I'm looking for on the road. Previously, I was responsible for packing the truck and you wanted to save space, and putting everything in a high-road case was not always an option.
"Everyone could be sick of me – I could be sick of myself."
When you write, do you take an acoustic or electric?
Mainly acoustic. But I will write in electric. Or a kazoo if the spirit leads. I do not have prejudices about what to write.
Have you written?
A little here and there. Not a lot. Some with other people for other projects and doing guest spots. You will hear me and see me appear here and there this year. It depends largely on other people's deadlines.
Do you work on a new album?
We did some experiments, but we have not yet plunged into this experience. And probably not this year. Everyone could get tired of me – I could get tired of myself. We will take a break for a minute.
The All-American Road Show is back in color this summer with some interesting guests, like the Marcus King Band.
I did not know Dave had made his last record[[[[Carolina Confessions]. Dave did not stop saying that you should take him on the road. He is a monster and a singer. This is one of my new favorite talents.
What do you listen to each other these days?
We have 10-month-old twins and one on the way, and one of my twins loves salsa and the other is the Cox family, an easy going bluegrbad. Who knew? It's the great thing to have 10 months, you do not know what you should like or not, you just like it.
How did you end up singing "9 to 5" during Dolly Parton's tribute to MusiCares during Grammy Week?
We had asked to make a different song, and they said that they did not do it. As it came back to me, I asked, "What's left?" By an anomaly, nobody chose "9 to 5". It's a really cool cool song. I never heard a man sing it and Dolly either. It was such a commercial success that sometimes we can rule out huge commercial successes like being un poetic or something of the sort? It's a shame. It's so rooted in your head that it has always been there, but it's also a great job.
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