Chris Stapleton – “Broken Halos” (Singles Going Steady)

Jedd Beaudoin: If we could get Chris Stapleton and Zakk Wylde to make an album together that might the ultimate. This has a great deal in common with the last Black Label Society record. It’s mellow but not depressingly so. The emotions are never overstated and it’s refreshing. You might wait for it to take off in some big way but that never quite comes. It’s surprising that this is a single. Seems more like a deep cut but good for him. [7/10]

Steve Horowitz: Hey, I didn’t know Bob Seger put out a country song? Oops! It’s that former Steel Drivers guy who is supposed to be gritty and realistic. He does a good job of coloring by the numbers here. He hits all the right notes with a pained inflection as if he really believed in angels with wings or is that people who were innocent that used to shine? No matter. He’s got nothing to tell ’em except don’t bother Jesus, which isn’t a bad suggestion. If Stapleton had the balls to tell everyone that we are all broken and that dirt is what makes us human, he could turn his cliches into something more than empty comfort. As it is, the song is bleh… [2/10]

Adriane Pontecorvo: Chris Stapleton’s voice has a natural grandeur on “Broken Halos”, the same bare magnificence you might find on mountaintops and open plains. Everything about the bittersweet ballad is real and human, untouched by electronics and other artifice. A true and poignant country tribute to the departed, with a stunning simplicity that will stop you in your tracks. [8/10]

SCORE: 5.66