Top 50 Songs of the Decade, #45 - "The Devil Named Music," Chris Stapleton

Chris Stapleton had been around forever, and outside of the country music world, very few people had heard of him.  Then he sang with Justin Timberlake at the Country Music Awards in 2016, and all of a sudden he was everywhere.  It's an old story, and one of the best - the songwriter toiling behind the scenes, who all of a sudden becomes a superstar himself.  Think Willie Nelson.

This is a big claim, but I really think that "The Devil Named Music" is the best road song since Bob Seger's "Turn the Page."  The themes are similar.  Seger's great song starts like this:

On a long and lonesome highway

East of Omaha

You can listen to the engine

moanin' out his one note song

Stapleton leads with this:

We drove all night to Billings, Montana

Flew into Utah, slept there all day

I can't remember stopping in Denver

Yeah, I live my illusion that somebody needs to me play

And then, compare the key verse from Seger:

Here I am, on the road again

There I am, up on the stage

Here I go, playin' star again

There I go, turn the page

With the key verse from Stapleton:

And sometimes I'm drunk

And sometimes I'm stoned

And yes, I get tired of being alone

I miss my daughter

And I miss my wife

But the devil named music is taking my life.

Like Seger before him, Stapleton toiled for a long time in relative obscurity, and we are blessed to have songs depicting that life from both of them.

#45, Top 50 Songs of the Decade: "The Devil Named Music," Chris Stapleton.