Hear Chris Stapleton’s Stirring Willie Nelson Cover Off New Album
Chris Stapleton has released a second track from his eagerly awaited new album From A Room: Volume 1. After unveiling “Broken Halos” last week, the vocalist follows it up with “Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning,” a song made famous by Willie Nelson.
Written by Gary P. Nunn and Donna Sioux Farar, the song hit Number Two on the country charts in 1982 thanks to Nelson, who included the track on that year’s smash LP Always on My Mind.
On From A Room, the follow-up to 2015’s Traveller, Stapleton’s delivery of the song is particularly bluesy, as its lyrics play out like a Murphy’s Law of heartbreak: a missed bill, late alarm clock and spilled coffee all befall the narrator in just the first verse. Mostly a showcase for Stapleton and his wife Morgane’s vocals, which are accented by keys and Mickey Raphael’s mournful harmonica, the interpretation lights a fire under the resigned despondence of Nelson’s.
“Last Thing I Needed” is the second track in the running order of From A Room, produced by Dave Cobb and due May 5th on Mercury Records Nashville. Along with the studio versions of “Last Thing I Needed” and “Broken Halos,” Stapleton performed “Second One to Know” at the ACM Awards on April 2nd in Las Vegas.
The CMA, ACM and Grammy award-winning vocalist is currently in the midst of his yearlong All-American Road Show Tour, which stops in Pikeville, Kentucky, on April 21st for the first of back-to-back shows in his home state. Stapleton is set to release a second volume of From A Room later this year.