Last summer, seeing the George Strait, Chris Stapleton, Little Big Town show in Chicago was some real bucket list stuff. Deep dish pizza and all the hits. I wish I had more time in the city. I guess I have a reason to go back. Now, of all the songs Stapleton has done, originals and covers, he says you’ll never hear him do this song live ever again.
THE NATIONAL ANTHEM. (one of the best renditions ever IMO)
Here’s why:
“I would have people ask me to sing the national anthem for various things, and I jokingly always said, ‘No, I’ll just do it when it’s time to do it at the Super Bowl,’ you know,” Stapleton said. When he was finally asked to perform it at the big game, as a man of his word, he had no choice but to say yes.
“I don’t get nervous to play, necessarily,” said Stapleton. “That one, I was like ‘I’m gonna make sure I’m as prepared as I can be for this.’”
The NASCAR Hall of Famer asked, “that was genuinely nerve-racking?” And the multi-Grammy winner replied “Genuinely nerve-racking and I was live-live. There was no pre-record.” He went on about the pressure to get it right, or at the least to not get it wrong, or as he put it “insulting the national anthem.”
While his performance was one for the record books, he thinks there was a little Hollywood magic helping him shine, crediting the crew and thanking them for “all the TV editing that they did while I was doing it was just spot on.” He added, “Everything that they did to make that moment feel as big and nice as it could, they did it. And they executed flawlessly.”
Once was enough for the country star, though. He went on to explain that whenever anyone asks him to perform it again, he tells them that he is now “officially retired” from singing the national anthem.
