Chris Stapleton’s Most Prized Possession Is A Guitar He Bought For Just $380: “Was In A Flood At Some Point, There’s Mud Inside It”

Sometimes, your most prized possession does not mean it is your most expensive.

Musicians collect many prized possessions throughout their careers. Awards, trophies, RIAA certification plaques, posters from shows that carry personal significance, album artwork, and more. Then, of course, once they have solidified their seat at the table, they can invest in items they’ve always dreamed of having, like an old Bronco or a vintage guitar they have wanted to get their hands on for years.

But often it’s something that an artist has before their career that means the most to them —and for most, it’s a special guitar.

Willie Nelson has a longstanding relationship with his guitar “Trigger.” Nelson even saved it from a house fire that destroyed every one of his belongings… except for Trigger and a pound or so of weed that the “Red Headed Stranger” had stashed away. While Trigger might be the most famed guitar in country music, many other artists have their equivalent of a “Trigger,” including the “White Horse” vocalist Chris Stapleton.

Earlier this year, Billboard sent actor Josh Brolin to Nashville to spend some time at Stapleton HQ to chat, play music, and shoot the s*** with Chris and Morgane Stapleton. Stapleton HQ is a massive warehouse and musical emporium showcasing all the albums, honors, and instruments that Stapleton has collected over the years. The room even has a fully functional disco floor, and all in all, it looks like an immaculate space to create, hang out, or jam.

However, out of all the relics found in this phenomenal space, some items hold more sentimental value than others.

“There are lots of things that mean things to me in here, instrument-wise. There’s a guitar that I wrote most of my songs on.”

Chris Stapleton tells Brolin as he takes him into his guitar storage room, lined wall to wall with guitars in hard shell cases.

“Let me make sure it’s in here. It’s in this giant case.”

Out of the case, Stapleton pulls out a beat-up ‘50s acoustic Gibson LG-2 steel-string guitar; he says he picked it up for just $380.

“This is the guitar that I bought when I moved to town, when I moved to Nashville. This thing. And so, if I had to walk out of here with one thing… it would be this. All the other stuff, I would be sad about a lot of it, but whatever I’ve done, whatever I’ve made, whatever I turned into has pretty much been built on this thing. 

I would say 90% of the things I’ve ever written in my life were written on this guitar. It’s not precious in a collector way to anybody because I mean, it was in a flood at some point, there’s mud inside it. You know, somebody used it as a canoe paddle, or there’s a million crack repairs. Yeah, if I were going to walk out of here with one thing, if you want to know what’s the most important thing, it’s probably this.”

@billboard @Chris Stapleton shows #JoshBrolin his most prized possession: “If I had to walk out of here with one thing, it would be this.” Read More