Chris Stapleton’s All-American Road Show Was an Incredible Night For Music

A near-capacity Globe Life Field crowd was treated to a spectacle of a show Saturday night when Chris Stapleton’s All-American Road Show blasted into Arlington. Stapleton’s tour features different prime-time artists in each city, but North Texas’ treat of a lineup – Stapleton, Marcus King and Tedeschi Trucks Band – was arguably the best one of the tour. (Some may argue that the Seatle date lineup of Willie Nelson and Sheryl Crow topped this one, and that would only add to a fun debate.)

Other notable acts on the tour include George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Grace Potter, and Little Big Town. The Dallas concert, in essence, comprises three headliners – but Stapleton was still far and away the main attraction.

Marcus King kicked things off and exceeded the hype that surrounds him. His voice dripped with soul, and his guitar playing was simply excellent. His band’s horn section lifted the music to another level: King succeeded in bringing the veritable feel of a honky-tonk joint while elevating the sound to stadium-worthy.

The singer invited Dallas’ own Mickey Raphael to join him for a few songs on harmonica. Raphael is touring with Stapleton, and this was just one of many sit-ins during the evening. King also welcomed his wife Briley King to sing. This kicked off a unique family theme as all the bands included married couples performing together.

On any other night, it would have been a mistake to have King open a show, but this was no ordinary night and the other acts unquestionably rose to meet the high bar set by King. 

Tedeschi Trucks Band was next, and was the first of two married couples to perform on stage. TTB did not let the energy drop for a beat when they came out, guitars shredding, as Susan Tedeschi ripped the first solos on “Anyhow.” She and husband Derek Trucks traded solos back and forth. Tedeschi and Trucks possibly make up the best guitar-playing couple in the music industry; Trucks is known as one of the greatest slide guitar players in the world, and that was full display on the song “Here My Dear.”

The band split their set evenly between covers and originals including “Sugaree” by Jerry Garcia and “Just Won’t Burn,” which is technically a cover as it was written by Tedeschi before the formation of TTB. The band’s rich, full sound blending blues with Southern rock was the perfect segue between King’s raw energy and Stapleton’s measured performance. It was clear based on the amount of TTB T-shirts that many fans were here to see them.

These days, three huge acts like this would likely be found only at a festival taking place over a few days, so getting to catch them all in one night was a rare treat.

When it was finally time for Chris Stapleton’s set, the audience ratcheted the energy a notch higher as he and his band hit the stage. The band came out guns-a-blazing with “White Horse,” which won Stapleton a Grammy this year to go along with his nine others.

Stapleton has been a part of so many hits, it seemed like all the songs he played were classics. The family affair theme continued as Stapleton’s wife Morgane sang perfectly complementary harmonies. There is, no doubt, something “extra” about married couples singing harmonies together.

This portion of the show went on well over two and a half hours, as King joined Stapleton with a face-melting duet of Tom Petty’s  “I Should Have Known.” Stapleton’s friends Susan and Derek joined him on “I Was Wrong,” which made for a special moment in the set.

It’s par for the course for Stapleton to collaborate, which has been a cornerstone of his career. He’s collaborated with many top artists in varied genres, including Taylor Swift, George Strait, Justin Timberlake and Pink. He even worked with Snoop Dogg and Cindy Blackman Santana for the opening theme song for Monday Night Football.

Another highlight was the end of the song “Fire Away,” when the audience members were encouraged to get out their phones for a mass unison sing-along. No songs held a candle to “Tennessee Whiskey,” though, which really brought the house down right before the encores.

Stapleton gave the fans what they wanted: a chunky 26-song set with mass sing-alongs and multiple tears of joy. He proved to be a rare icon, as one of the most successful writers and artists of the last decade. His stillness on Saturday made the performance that much more elegant, and his Arlington concert was just further evidence that he will, invariably, put on one hell of a show. Fans who were at Globe Life Field this weekend will be talking about it for years to come.