Chris Stapleton smh

She Mate Me

All-American
Dec 7, 2008
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Yes he does. He is the best vocalist I have ever heard live. You ask most artist now days and they will tell you the same thing. He just put his spin on it with his guitar.

He's a fine singer. That's not the same as having a wide vocal range.

Watch Whitney hit all the notes and compare it.

He can't hit the notes she hits, so he doesn't try. Smart.

It's a very difficult song to sing for even good vocalists.
 
Nov 25, 2019
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He's a fine singer. That's not the same as having a wide vocal range.

Watch Whitney hit all the notes and compare it.

He can't hit the notes she hits, so he doesn't try. Smart.

It's a very difficult song to sing for even good vocalists.
Whitney set an extremely high bar. I thought a woman would have been a better choice to get the range needed.
He was good, but not outstanding.
 

Wizard.sixpack

Freshman
Sep 15, 2009
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Good voice and talented but damn man sing the 17n song the way it was meant to be. Guess I’m a traditionalist, get off my lawn and ****.
I hope you are joking. That was the best version I have ever heard of the the Star Spangled Banner. People were crying for God's sake. It was AWESOME!
 
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QuadrupleOption

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Aug 21, 2012
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I thought Stapleton's rendition was really good. The guitar arrangement was well done and his voice fit that arrangement really well.

No it wasn't the traditional version, but no one is doing that at the Super Bowl any more anyway. You may as well suck it up and move on.
 
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FlotownDawg

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Aug 30, 2012
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America the Beautiful should be our national anthem anyway. It’s much easier to sing and the lyrics are about the country’s natural beauty and brotherhood.
 
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CoastDawg18

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Mar 3, 2008
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I didn’t see it live yesterday so I just watched it on YouTube. Some of y’all have lost your damn mind. That was an awesome arrangement. It was very soulful and you could literally feel the emotion that the song should bring out in you as an American. It was damn good.
 
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IBleedMaroonDawg

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Nov 12, 2007
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America the Beautiful should be our national anthem anyway. It’s much easier to sing and the lyrics are about the country’s natural beauty and brotherhood.
They don't perform this often. Not sure they teach very many patriotic songs or pretty much anything patriotic these days when they already feel that commercials about Jesus are MAGA or benign fascism. Gotta keep a reign on this stuff.
 
Sep 8, 2008
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I thought it was great. One of the best I've heard, and I, too don't care for singers who take too much liberty stylizing it. I felt his improvisations/runs were just right...not too much, not completely traditional, but not at all disrespectful.

My chest swelled with pride listening.
 
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HWY51dog

Sophomore
Jul 24, 2013
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He's a fine singer. That's not the same as having a wide vocal range.

Watch Whitney hit all the notes and compare it.

He can't hit the notes she hits, so he doesn't try. Smart.

It's a very difficult song to sing for even good vocalists.
I understand what you’re saying about vocal range and he has great range. However, if you are just straight comparing him to Whitney Houston, she was a unicorn. She had the greatest performance of the national anthem ever.
 
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The Peeper

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Feb 26, 2008
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Well I'll say it was better than Roseanne when she sang it at that Padres baseball game. Where was Kaepernick, taking a knee somewhere so he could sponge a paycheck off somebody?
 

Jeffreauxdawg

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Dec 15, 2017
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Good voice and talented but damn man sing the 17n song the way it was meant to be. Guess I’m a traditionalist, get off my lawn and ****.
Frances Scott Key wrote it to the melody of an English tavern song that would have commonly been played on a mandolin and harpsichord or something. Not sure we want to hear it as it was meant to be.. Unless Gordon Lightfoot is singing it of course.
 
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Jeffreauxdawg

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I like Stapleton (I have four of his albums on my phone), but that was horrible. If you can't sing it right, don't do it.
Define right? As it was written to be sung or as you prefer to hear it sung?

Here's what it was originally written to sound like..
Original FSK Version


John Philip Sousa changed it 80 years later to what you may like...
John Philip Sousa Version

Whitney Houston's version was arranged by John Clayton Jr. Listen to it with and without Whitney to see how different it sounds... Cause Whitney Houston's voice distracts you from everything else.

With Whitney
No Whitney


History shows there's no right or wrong, just some are better than others at a given point in time. And for what it's worth, Whitney could sing Baby Shark and bring the house down.
 
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L4Dawg

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Oct 27, 2016
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I define it as singing it by the traditional melody and emphasis that has been around a long time.. Stapleton's version was terrible. It's NOT a country song. Neither is it a rap song, soul song, rock song, alternative song, hip hop song, or any other modern pop style song.
 
Nov 16, 2005
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While I agree that Whitney Houston’s version is the gold standard…..it was pre recorded and lip synced sung into a dead mic on the field.

If you don’t like Stapletons version that’s fine but at least he did it live.
 
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POTUS

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I just went back and watched Houston's version. It is phenomenal. It's not fair to compare others to her. They have no chance. Her voice is a one of one.
 

Cantdoitsal

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While I agree that Whitney Houston’s version is the gold standard…..it was pre recorded and lip synced sung into a dead mic on the field.

If you don’t like Stapletons version that’s fine but at least he did it live.
Never knew Whitney's was lip synced; bummer. I liked Stapleton's version as it created a lot of dust around the world. I've liked previous versions by others as well as long as you feel patriotic pride coming outta the microphone. Others have trashed it which is disgusting when you can tell they don't give a 17 about the country and all they want is individiual acclaim.
 

POTUS

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It is phenomenal but it’s not live.
I Dont Season 8 GIF by Friends

It was 1991 man. Sound technology has come a long way in the last 32 years. That was how it had to be done back then.
 

Chesusdog

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May 2, 2006
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Good voice and talented but damn man sing the 17n song the way it was meant to be. Guess I’m a traditionalist, get off my lawn and ****.
I'll take his approach any day over the Whitney Houston style of adding syllables to every other word. And this is from someone who finds 99.9% of country music to be low brow, intolerable garbage.
 
May 23, 2022
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Whitney Houston's version is by far the best. Some really close seconds: the dixie chicks in 2001 (i think), faith hill's version, leann rimes version at the UT/USCw national championship.