From A Room: Volume 1
From A Room: Volume 1[a] is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton, released on May 5, 2017 through Mercury Nashville. Primarily a country, blues, and roots rock record, it was produced by Dave Cobb and Stapleton.
From A Room: Volume 1
Upon its release, the album received critical acclaim. Commercially, it debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart and number two on the US Billboard 200; in the latter Stapleton scored his best sales week so far. It topped the US Country Albums chart for several weeks.[1] In May 2018, the album was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It won the award for Album of the Year at the 51st Country Music Association Awards, and Best Country Album at the 60th Grammy Awards. The song "Either Way" was released as the album's first single,[2] followed by "Broken Halos".[3] They won the Grammy Award for Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song, respectively.[4] "Broken Halos" reached the top of the Country Airplay chart.[5]
Background and release[edit]
From A Room: Volume 1 is Stapleton's second studio album, following his solo debut with Traveller, which earned him several accolades at the Academy of Country Music, Country Music Association, and Grammy Awards, and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The release was confirmed to be followed by Volume 2 later that year.[6][7]
The album takes its name from Nashville's RCA Studio A, where it was recorded during the winter of 2016–17. Volume 1 marks the second collaboration between Stapleton and producer Dave Cobb. Prior to the album announcement, Stapleton had premiered several tracks during lives performances.[8] He premiered the album track "Second One to Know" at the 52nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on April 2, 2017.[9]
The album tracks "Broken Halos", "Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning" and "Second One to Know" were released as promotional singles ahead of the album release.[10][11][12] Subsequently, the album was released on May 5, 2017 to music stores and streaming services.[13] "Either Way" was serviced to country radio stations on May 8, 2017 as the first single off the album.[2][14] Stapleton performed the track "I Was Wrong" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[15] The same month, he embarked on his All-American Road Show Tour.[16]
Music and themes[edit]
From A Room: Volume 1 focuses on country, blues and roots rock.[17][18] The songs on the project were written years before his first studio album. The opening track "Broken Halos", written by Stapleton and Mike Henderson, was defined by music publications as a multi-genre song, including mid-tempo country rock, folk rock and Southern gospel.[17][19] Lyrically, on the song Stapleton meditates on the wounds people suffer and the road toward healing that they travel.[20]
The album features eight songs co-written by Stapleton and collaborators, as well as a rendition of "Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning", written by Gary P. Nunn and Donna Sioux Farar and original recorded by Willie Nelson.[14] Stapleton recorded the song as an outlaw country guitar ballad,[21] punctuated by harmonies from his wife Morgane in the background, and accompanied by Mickey Raphael playing the harmonica.[17]
The third album track "Second One to Know" is a country and blues rock song with rock and roll influences,[12][22] featuring electric guitar riffs.[21] In "Up to No Good Livin'", which features pedal steel guitar, the narrator, known as "the Picasso of painting the town" because of his lifestyle, worries that he may never be able to convince his lady that he has left his "wild days" behind.[23] "Either Way", written by Stapleton, Tim James and Kendall Marvel, is as a solo acoustic ballad about the end of a relationship,[9] telling the painful tale of a marriage nearing its end.[24] A CMT editor opined the country blues track "Them Stems" is an answer to Traveller's "Might as Well Get Stoned" as is about "a stoner with a dire need to restock his marijuana stash."[9] "I Was Wrong" is rooted in electric blues and Southern soul, featuring a guitar solo by Stapleton. "Without Your Love" finds the singer unable to erase the memory of an ex-partner, musically it "recalls a brooding alt-rock ballad" according to a Paste editor.[23] Lyrically, "Death Row" contains themes of a prisoner's final thoughts, featuring cyclical guitar patterns, sparse percussion and repetitive bass – that "hints at the monotony of a life spent behind bars," according to a Rolling Stone reviewer.[17]
Commercial performance[edit]
From A Room: Volume 1 debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 with 219,000 album-equivalent units, of which 202,000 were pure album sales, Stapleton's highest first week sales. The album also debuted at number one on the Top Album Sales chart. It had the largest sales week for a country album in more than a year-and-a-half; the last country artist to sell more in a week was Luke Bryan with Kill the Lights (2015).[54] With 658,000 copies sold in the US throughout 2017 (800,000 album-equivalent units), From A Room: Volume 1 was the country's sixth highest-selling album of the year, and the best-selling country album.[55][56] It has sold 942,600 copies in the US as of October 2019.[57]
In Canada, it debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart.[58] It was certified Platinum in the US and Gold in Canada.[59][60] Volume 1 is the best-selling country album of 2017.[61]