Tuesday 21 June 2016

Country music superstar Chris Stapleton wins Breakthrough Video Of The Year at CMT Music Awards




Chris Stapleton's follows Top Country Album award win at Billboard Music Awards with a win for his thought provoking video for Fire Away at CMT Music Awards.

Go behind the scenes of the video:


Kentucky-born singer-songwriter and producer Chris Stapleton, one of Nashville’s most revered songwriters who's debut album Traveller has sold over a million copies in the US, is cleaning up at many award ceremonies this summer after his win at the Billboard Music and CMT Awards plus nominations for the prestigious AMA Awards. Stapleton, won the coveted Breakthrough Video of the Year for his moving promo clip ‘Fire Away’. Even more poignant is the fact the video was raising awareness for the US mental health campaign: Change Direction which featured actors Ben Foster and Margarita Levieva, depicting the tale of a man losing his wife to suicide. The Campaign to Change Direction is a national initiative designed to change the culture of mental health in America. The Campaign encourages us all to learn and share the Five signs of emotional suffering: change in personality, agitation, withdrawal, decline in personal care and hopelessness. Watch the powerful video here: www.changedirection.org/chris-stapleton.

Chris has also released a behind the scenes video about the film, which discusses his and director Tim Mattia's vision for the video, with contributions from actors Ben Foster and Margarita Levieva, and the president of charity: Change Direction, Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen. Chris, who came up with the idea when asked by his record label for his first music video, shares: "the song is about loving someone unconditionally, through not so easy times and the concept of the video came to me as the hardest possible space to love somebody. I've also been a huge fan of Ben's for a long time and he was kind enough to take a phone call, and it all grew from there."

Stapleton also received several nods from the Americana Music Association who alongside Lucinda Williams nominated Chris in this year's Album and Artist of the Year categories - the awards, held in the legendary Ryman Auditorium on September 21 form part of the AMA Festival conference one of the most significant music events in Nashville's music calendar.

With these awards closely followed by UK country fans, Stapleton's UK profile will continue to grow and grow. Stapleton made his mark on the UK earlier this year, after popular demand saw the country star perform at UK country events such as Country To Country Festival at the 02 arena in March of this year and release his album in the UK which caught the attention of UK publications such as The Guardian, Telegraph and Line Of Best Fit. Speaking about his recent UK single release of Tennessee Whiskey which caught the attention of tastemakers such as Fader Magazine, Stapleton stated: "I’m excited how Tennessee Whisky goes down in the UK, I know folks in the UK are getting into country music now - so I’m really interested to hear what they think of it."

No doubt UK fans and media a-like will be closely following the career of country music’s latest superstar, Chris Stapleton. A former truck driver and son of a Kentucky coal miner, Chris made a name for himself in Nashville as a successful country songwriter, penning hits for high profile artists such as Luke Bryan, Lee Ann Womack and Tim McGraw, writing for Adele who described Chris's voice as "just incredible, it’s like caramel "and fronting the critically acclaimed US country outfit - Steel Drivers. However it wasn't until the release of his debut solo album Traveller that the wider world was treated to Chris' powerhouse vocals and standout songwriting. Following the stratospheric launch of his album at the CMA's last year, where he performed with Justin Timberlake and won - new artist of the year, album of the year and male vocalist of the year with the attention causing a 6000% sales increase of Traveller).

Chris is now considered one of the most promising country artists of our time, with support from US critics, fans and fellow artists, the album has received “Best of 2015″ attention at publications as diverse as Rolling Stone, American Songwriter, NPR Music, Entertainment Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, Stereogum, Taste of Country and Noisey.

Chris is currently on a nationwide tour of the US including appearances at Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits Festival. He’s premiered a new honky tonk inspired track ‘Hard Living’ as part of his set and a fan captured the song at one of his shows which you can watch here:

No comments: