ALBUM REVIEW: Chris Stapleton Balances Adventure With Tried-and-True on ‘Higher’

With his fifth studio LP, Higher, Chris Stapleton, assisted by co-producers Dave Cobb and Morgane Stapleton, forges another set of meticulously crafted, adeptly instrumented, and accessible songs. While the Kentucky-born artist continues to mine and rebrand various templates, his voice is undeniably and invariably country, whether he’s invoking Saturday night or Sunday morning.

“What am I gonna drink / when I don’t have to think / about what I’m gonna do / without you?” he pleads on the opening track, his wordplay recalling the booze-stoked despair and wit of George Jones, Merle Haggard, and Jamey Johnson, among others. With “South Dakota,” Stapleton offers a bleak account of time spent in the Midwest (“Nights are long as the day is cold / …  staring down the devil but I’m scared to death”), his voice accented by a funky guitar riff. An extended guitar solo midway through gives the track a bluesy jam vibe.

“Trust” brings to mind Bruce Springsteen had he been born 30 years later and raised in The Bluegrass State on a steady diet of Willie Nelson. “Trust in me / like I trust in you,” Stapleton sings, pivoting in a buoyant direction. “It Takes a Woman” similarly addresses the potentials of commitment and enduring love. “When I get lost / you know right where to find me,” Stapleton declares, lauding his partner’s sensitivity. He sells the tune as a country anthem; its fluid melody and universal romanticism, however, could easily translate to any number of genres.

“Think I’m in Love With You” epitomizes a fertile confluence of country, blues, and soul, Stapleton embracing the dynamics of restraint and release, tension and catharsis. As the track progresses, synths and strings form a backdrop that could work well in an R&B context. “White Horse,” meanwhile, launches with crunchy riffs that would get a thumbs-up from Jimmy Page as much as The Allman Brothers. Stapleton’s delivery is alternately soft and vociferous.

“I have nothing if I don’t have you,” Stapleton moans on “The Day I Die,” lamenting the end of a relationship. His melodic progression and soundscape reference both Hollywood and Muscle Shoals; his voice, on the other hand, is unequivocally old-timey Nashville. He closes Higher with “Mountains of My Mind,” his voice world-weary, raw, gravelly. “Somewhere salvation is waiting down the road,” he proclaims, embodying hope as much as faith, longing as much as acceptance, and determination as much as surrender.

Stapleton is at once adventurous and a proponent of the tried and true. With Higher, he navigates an array of intriguing sonics. As with previous outings, though, it’s his voice — equal parts straight bourbon, aloe balm, Marlboro smoke, and Tupelo honey — that stands out and carries the day. You might call it irresistible, signature, even as it conjures the ghosts of country music’s great progenitors.

Chris Stapleton’s Higher is out Nov. 10 on Mercury Nashville.