| From A Room: Volume 1 | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 5, 2017 (2017-05-05) | |||
| Recorded | 2016–2017 | |||
| Studio | RCA Studio A (Nashville, Tennessee) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 32:32 | |||
| Label | Mercury Nashville | |||
| Producer |
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| Chris Stapleton chronology | ||||
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| Singles from From A Room: Volume 1 | ||||
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From A Room: Volume 1[a] is the second studio album by American singer-songwriterChris Stapleton, released on May 5, 2017, throughMercury Nashville. Primarily acountry,blues, androots rock record, it was produced byDave Cobb and Stapleton.
Upon its release, the album received critical acclaim. Commercially, it debuted at number one on theCanadian Albums Chart and number two on the USBillboard 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 2023, the album was certifieddouble platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It won the award forAlbum of the Year at the51st Country Music Association Awards, andBest Country Album at the60th Grammy Awards. The song "Either Way" was released as the album's first single,[2] followed by "Broken Halos".[3] They won theGrammy Award for Best Country Solo Performance andBest Country Song, respectively.[4] "Broken Halos" reached the top of theCountry Airplay chart.[5]
From A Room: Volume 1 is Stapleton's second studio album, following his solo debut withTraveller, which earned him several accolades at theAcademy of Country Music,Country Music Association, andGrammy Awards, and was certified double platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The release was confirmed to be followed byVolume 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 producerDave 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 AnnualAcademy 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 tocountry radio stations on May 8, 2017, as the first single off the album.[2][14] Stapleton performed the track "I Was Wrong" onThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[15] The same month, he embarked on hisAll-American Road Show Tour.[16]
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-tempocountry rock,folk rock andSouthern 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 byGary P. Nunn and Donna Sioux Farar and original recorded byWillie Nelson.[14] Stapleton recorded the song as anoutlaw country guitar ballad,[21] punctuated by harmonies from his wife Morgane in the background, and accompanied byMickey Raphael playing the harmonica.[17]
The third album track "Second One to Know" is a country andblues rock song withrock and roll influences,[12][22] featuring electric guitar riffs.[21] In "Up to No Good Livin'", which featurespedal 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] ACMT editor opined thecountry blues track "Them Stems" is an answer toTraveller'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 inelectric blues andSouthern 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 broodingalt-rock ballad" according to aPaste 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 aRolling Stone reviewer.[17]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 81/100[25] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [26] |
| Consequence of Sound | B[27] |
| The Independent | [28] |
| The Irish Times | [29] |
| Paste | 8.1/10[23] |
| Pitchfork | 7.6/10[30] |
| PopMatters | 8/10[31] |
| Rolling Stone | [32] |
| Spectrum Culture |  [33] |
| Uncut | 8/10[34] |
From A Room: Volume 1 received widespread acclaim frommusic critics. AtMetacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has anaverage score of 81 out of 100, which indicates "universal acclaim" based on nine reviews.[25]
Writing forRolling Stone,Will Hermes started his album review commenting "Stapleton is a soul singer, with a preternaturally creaky voice that can turn wizened or brawny, full of pained howls and distended vowels the record", and continued describing the record as "strikingly focused, sonically and thematically. Its characters are flawed; there's much bad behavior, with heartbreak to pay." Hermes also noted its music influences, commenting, "It conjuresOtis Redding as much asWaylon Jennings [...] Stapleton is a convincing bluesman. You could imagineB.B. King singing "Death Row" orFreddie King slashing through "I Was Wrong" with his jagged Texas guitar, which Stapleton impressively echoes."[32] Also from the magazine, reviewer Robert Crawford stated it "further cements Stapleton as country's reigning outlaw."[17] InPaste, Ben Salmon opined, "Each [track] is charming and sturdy and well put together, evidence of an artist who is at the very top of his game and ready to reach even higher."[23] Rob Hughes inUncut felt that the album "manages to pull off that rare trick of sounding both fresh and familiar, as dauntless as it is consoling."[34]
In an article forThe New York Times,Jon Caramanica described the album as "earthen, rich with tradition, has a tactile intensity and is carefully measured," and noted the songs' themes are "about romantic disappointment and people letting each other down, often with the Stapletons singing in devastating harmony, like on "Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning" and "Up to No Good Livin'.""[35] Joe Lynch fromBillboard opined Stapleton's "earthy growl" fromTraveller remains intact, and found the lyrics "sharper than before. There's plenty about boozin' and heartache, but he also tackles a prisoner's final day on earth on "Death Row" and hilariously bemoans getting to the end of his stash on "Them Stems.""[36] Also from the publication, Kevin Rutherford, stated the album "shows Stapleton would much rather bend country radio to his will, not vice versa. "Either Way" contains one of the quintessential powerhouse vocal performances in recent memory, while "Second One to Know" is a raucous, guitar-led jaunt that isn't just a barnburner—it nukes the thing from orbit."[37] In his review forAllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine described it as a collection "of good tunes, delivered simply and soulfully," while there is not a "grand concept," the album "holds together."[38] Glenn Gamboa fromNewsday felt the album "isn’t quite the bold, all-encompassing statement" like its predecessor, however, Stapleton's "unpolished, heart-on-his-sleeve approach is bold enough to keep him at the front of the country pack."[39]
| Publication | List | Rank | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billboard | 50 Best Albums of 2017 | 22 | |
| Entertainment Weekly | The 25 Best Albums of 2017 | 9* | |
| Rolling Stone | 50 Best Albums of 2017 | 30 | |
| 40 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2017 | 4 | ||
| The San Diego Union-Tribune | The Best Albums of 2017 | 5* | |
| Stereogum | The 10 Best Country Albums of 2017 | 6* | |
| Uproxx | The Best Country Albums of 2017 | 13 | |
| Variety | The 20 Best Albums of 2017 | no order* | |
| Vinyl Me, Please | The 30 Best Albums of 2017 | 29* |
*Along withFrom A Room: Volume 2
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Country Music Association Awards | Album of the Year | Won | [49] |
| American Music Awards | Favorite Country Album | Nominated | [50] | |
| 2018 | Grammy Awards | Best Country Album | Won | [4] |
| Academy of Country Music Awards | Album of the Year | Won | [51] | |
| iHeartRadio Music Awards | Country Album of the Year | Won | [52] | |
| Billboard Music Awards | Top Selling Album | Nominated | [53] | |
| Top Country Album | Won |
From A Room: Volume 1 debuted at number two on the USBillboard 200 with 219,000album-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 wasLuke Bryan withKill 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 theCanadian Albums Chart.[58] It was certifieddouble platinum in the US andplatinum in Canada.[59][60]Volume 1 is the best-selling country album of 2017.[61]
All tracks are produced byDave Cobb and Chris Stapleton.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Broken Halos" | 3:01 | |
| 2. | "Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning" |
| 4:15 |
| 3. | "Second One to Know" |
| 2:56 |
| 4. | "Up to No Good Livin'" |
| 4:06 |
| 5. | "Either Way" |
| 4:08 |
| 6. | "I Was Wrong" |
| 3:11 |
| 7. | "Without Your Love" |
| 3:51 |
| 8. | "Them Stems" |
| 3:01 |
| 9. | "Death Row" |
| 4:03 |
| Total length: | 32:32 | ||
Credits forFrom A Room: Volume 1 adapted fromAllMusic.[62]
Musicians
| Technical personnel
|
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[60] | Platinum | 80,000‡ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[78] | Gold | 7,500‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[59] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Region | Date | Edition(s) | Format(s) | Label | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Various | May 5, 2017 | Standard | Mercury Nashville | [13] | |
| United States | Vinyl | [79] | |||
| United Kingdom | June 16, 2017 | Decca | [80] |
| Studio albums | |
|---|---|
| Singles | |
| Featured singles | |
| Other songs | |
| Concert tours | |
| Related articles | |
