photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images Entertanment
photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images Entertanment
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Today we feature an artist who may just be the most successful songwriter of the current era of country music, who, in the last year has proven he can hold his own as a performer. And with 3 CMA Awards and 2 Grammy Awards, he has proven he can hold some big honors too.

A year ago, if someone would have said the name Chris Stapleton to you, chances are, you would have replied, "who?" Most people wouldn't have recognized a songwriter who had won ASCAP's award for most performed songs every year from 2006 to 2012. A Songwriter who has written hits for Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan, George Strait, Darius Rucker, Trace Adkins and Josh Turner, and for pop star Adele.

photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images Entertainment
photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images Entertainment
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Not bad for the son of a coal miner and a health department worker from Staffordsville, KY. Stapleton attended college at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, pursuing a degree in engineering, but left school when the call of music caught his heart. He returned home after leaving Vandy, but came back to Nashville in 2001 after signing a publishing deal with Seal Gayle Music.

After finding success as a songwriter, Stapleton joined the bluegrass group The Steeldrivers. With Stapleton as their frontman, the group released two albums which each peaked at #2 on the Bluegrass albums chart. Stapleton left The Steeldrivers in 2010 to form the southern rock band The Jompson Brothers, releasing an independent album in 2010, touring the next three years to support the album. In 2013, he left the band and signed with Universal Music Group Nashville, to begin work on a solo album. He released one single in 2013 "What Are You Listening Too" which was to be the lead single from his debut album. The single under-performed and the album was never released.

49th Annual CMA Awards - Press Room
Photo by Jason Davis/Getty Images
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Not deterred, Stapleton headed back into the studio to work on another solo album. In the meantime, the world got their first tastes of him as a performer, first at the Grand Ole Opry in 2013, and then stepping in for Luke Bryan in 2014 at the CMT Artist of the Year Event. Stapleton and Lady Antebellum filled in for Bryan admirably, performing Bryan's #1 hit "Drink A Beer", which Stapleton wrote.

Soon after, the album Traveller was released and met with immediate critical success. The entire album was recorded with a live band, and was co-produced by the artist. Stapleton and his wife Morgane, who is also his back-up vocalist, sifted through 15 years worth of his writings to come up with the 9 songs on the album.

The album would strike gold at the CMA awards in August, where Stapleton shocked the world by capturing Album of the Year honors. He would continue to pull off major upsets by also taking home the Best New Artist award, then pulling one of the biggest upsets in the history of the CMA Awards by taking the Male Vocalist of the Year Awards to cap off his evening. He followed his CMA honors up in December by capturing the CMT Break-out Artist of the Year. The honors would continue at the Grammy Awards in February, when Stapleton brought home gramophones for Best Country Album and Best Country Solo Performance for Traveller.

Jack Daniel's Bash on Broadway: New Year's Eve In Music City
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With all that hardware under his belt, to go along with nominations at the upcoming ACM Awards in six categories (Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, New Male Vocalist, Male Vocalist and Vocal Event) Stapleton is preparing to release his third single from Traveller. An official announcement on that single has not been made, but with the release of an incredibly powerful and moving video for "Fire Away" it seems likely that will be the choice, and its definitely our choice for today's Catch of the Day, new music you haven't heard, but you'll want to hear it again.

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