Hear Chris Stapleton Sing A Rare Version Of “Another Try,” Before Josh Turner Recorded It

By now, it’s really not a secret that Chris Stapleton is one of the most accomplished singer/songwriters in country music… well, maybe in all of music in general.

But before Chris Stapleton became a breakout star with his 2015 debut album Traveller, he was already a well-established and highly respected figure in Nashville’s music industry… he just managed to avoid the spotlight. The Kentucky native moved to Nashville in 2001 to pursue a music career, and initially, he was actually studying engineering at Vanderbilt University, but quickly dropped out  to pursue songwriting full-time.

In 2007, he joined up with the bluegrass band, The SteelDrivers, and wound up securing a few Grammy nominations, but 2007 is also when he started getting a ton of big cuts as a songwriter in the country music industry. We’re talking Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Darius Rucker, Trace Adkins, Trisha Yearwood, but one artist that he’s had quite a few big hits for is Josh Turner. He even joined Josh for a duet on a song he didn’t write, “Loretta Lynn’s Lincoln,” which was featured on Turner’s 2006 Your Man album.

Of course, Josh Turner is as traditional country as it comes with that signature baritone voice, and he had a big run of hits in the early 2000s including “Your Man,” which was penned by Chris Stapleton, “Firecracker,” “Would You Go With Me,” “Why Don’t We Just Dance,” and more. In 2008, Josh teamed up with Trisha Yearwood for a classic country heartbreaker titled, “Another Try,” which was written by none other than Chris Stapleton and Jeremy Spillman. Released on Josh’s Everything Is Fine album, the song only reach #15 on the country charts, but is easily one of Josh’ best singles. I’d even go as far as to say that it IS his best.

It was also nominated for Vocal Event of the Year at the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music awards:

But you have to hear Chris Stapleton’s demo version of the song… it’s just phenomenal.

Chris’ demo version is a bit different, and so is Chris’ approach compared to his usual vocal style. You can usually count on Chris to let that big voice rip, but in this version of the song, he’s much more reserved, letting the emotions of the song do the heavy lifting. He also sings it much higher than you usually hear him… less of that signature Stapleton grit, and more tenderness. It’s unlike anything you’ll probably ever hear from Chris ever again.

Of course, that might also be because it’s probably hard to get artists to want to cut a song if they know there’s no way in hell they’ll be able to sing it well. Darius Rucker, a great vocalist in his own right, even confessed that he was hesitant to record “Come Back Song” (another Chris Stapleton cut) because Chris’ demo was so good that he thought he wouldn’t do it any justice. Lucky from him, most people never get to hear the demo.

But getting back to “Another Try,” it’s just a country music masterpiece…. the kind of song that would probably never be a hit on country radio today. In fact, if we’re being honest, it would never even get released as a single today because it’s too slow or too country for the radio.

Listen up and prepare to be stunned:

How “Your Man” Changed Both Their Careers

Hard to believe it’s been more than 20 years since Josh Turner’s hit single, “Your Man” came out. Released back in 2005, “Your Man” was the lead single from Josh Turner’s 2006 album of the same name. That deep baritone voice really brings the song together and delivers one of the signature vocal moments of Josh’s country music career, but as you probably know, the song itself was written by another great voice, arguably the best voice in country music… Chris Stapleton.

Josh and his wife recreated the music video in celebration of the 15-year anniversary, but Josh also sat down with Chris Stapleton to discuss how the song came together, what it has meant for their careers, and the impact it has made.

“Your Man” would go on to become Chris’ first number one single, as well as Josh’s first number one, and according to Chris, it even “bought him a house.” Seems like a few different songs bought him a house throughout his career.

And the rest is history.

Chris actually wrote the song on Valentine’s Day, and as he explains, was just trying to capture the spirit of the holiday and write something sweet. He says:

“This next song I wrote on Valentine’s Day, I was working on Valentine’s Day so I figured I’d write something nice and sweet. It wound up bein’ my first #1 song… it bought me a house.”

Watch Chris perform the song himself, way back in 2013:

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