Chris Stapleton may have felt a little bit of pressure making his latest album, Starting Over, but the goal for him every time he releases new music is the connection between him and the audience over the music.

“I had someone ask me about do the expectations by either yourself or what you think the audience (s) expectations are, do those things affect you? And the answer is yes,” he says. “You get to make a first record in relative anonymity and kind of this vacuum you’ve had 15 years to write songs for it and you get to cherry-pick (songs) and do all these things, you now. Now, that being said, I think it’s perfectly human that you become aware of expectations as you go along, but I very much try to ignore them – either my own or someone else’s – of what something should be musically, because I’m not sure that’s a healthy space to be making music in, not in a good way anyway. I want the experience of the music and I want to bring an experience to people listening to music in a way that we can have a connection, and in a way that they can have a connection with other human beings. That’s the ultimate goal for me.”

The album, Starting Over, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums Chart, as well as the Americana/Folk Albums chart.

Chris is currently making his way to the top of the country charts with the title track, “Starting Over.”