Chris Stapleton Revives Classic Waylon Jennings Hit In Incredible Performance

Feb 27, 2019

When an iconic artist passes away, other artists often come together to bring new life to their music by performing their songs in a tribute. Cover songs are a great way to show your appreciation for an artist, and oftentimes they even spark new fans for the original singer of the music.

A few years ago, stars came together to honor the legendary Waylon Jennings 13 years after his unfortunate passing. The concert took place in July 2015 in Austin, Texas and was truly a memorable sight to be seen.

Thankfully, the concert footage was recorded and edited into a special moment for the network CMT that aired in 2017 so even more people could join in on the tribute to Waylon.

Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, and Eric Church were just a few of the names that contributed to the concert. They all performed during the event to honor Waylon, but one particular routine stood out from the rest of them. Chris Stapleton put on an amazing show that honored Waylon like no one’s ever seen before.

What’s interesting to note is that at the time of the concert, Chris Stapleton was still somewhat unknown in the musical world, even to die-hard country music fans.

Now, Chris Stapleton is one of the top country music artists, but during the Waylon tribute, he was purely performing from his heart for his love of the artist. Thankfully, just a few months later, Chris rocketed to fame with his amazing performance at the Country Music Awards in 2015.

When you look back and watch Chris Stapleton’s amazing tribute performance to Waylon, you’ll see why he is now a legend in country music. The song he chose to cover was “I Ain’t Living Long Like This” and he did a phenomenal job both paying tribute and adding his own musical flair to the song. Although this song was not a Jennings original, his cover inspired many other artists to record the song as well and brought the song to fame after it was recorded by Emmylou Harris in the seventies.

Since Waylon decided to give it his own personal touch, many others have fallen in love with the song and that’s exactly why Chris Stapleton decided that it was the perfect song to sing for the tribute concert. You can watch this amazing performance in the video below.

What do you think about Chris Stapleton’s cover? Are you a fan of Waylon Jennings legacy? Let us know in the comments and pass this along to all the country music fans you know!