Chris Stapleton sings national anthem: Small-town Kentucky beginnings to America’s biggest stage

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An inside look at Chris Stapleton's Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum exhibit: 'America to its core'

The Chris Stapleton exhibit showcases the singer's rise to fame, having started out his career as a songwriter and backing singer and achieving success where he is now.

Chris Stapleton will perform the national anthem at Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Arizona, Sunday.

The 44-year-old country star will be joined by Academy Award-winning "Coda" actor Troy Kotsur, who will perform the national anthem in American Sign Language ahead of the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles at State Farm Stadium.

This year's Super Bowl features a star-studded pregame lineup that includes R&B legend Babyface performing "America the Beautiful" and Emmy-winning "Abbott Elementary" actress Sheryl Lee Ralph singing "Lift Every Voice and Sing."

The Super Bowl is historically the most-watched sporting event in the United States and draws a massive international audience. Over 112 million viewers tuned in to watch the Los Angeles Rams play the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl 2022.

Chris Stapleton is performing the national anthem at Super Bowl LVII. (Adam Hagy/Getty Images for ABA)

CHRIS STAPLETON TO SING NATIONAL ANTHEM AT SUPER BOWL LVII

"You was made for this moment and I can’t wait to watch," Mickey Guyton, who sang the national anthem at last year’s game, wrote on Stapleton's Instagram. "Enjoy every minute and don’t forget to breathe." 

Stapleton was nominated for best country song for his hit with Rodney Crowell, "I'll Love You Till The Day I Die," at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards last Sunday. He took the stage during the awards ceremony to perform Stevie Wonder's 1973 classic "Higher Ground" with the Motown legend.

Last Sunday, Stapleton and Stevie Wonder performed onstage during the 65th Grammy Awards at Crypto.com Arena. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

The "Tennessee Whiskey" hitmaker has won eight Grammy Awards; 15 CMA awards, including male vocalist of the year in 2021; and 10 ACM awards in his career. 

Over the past 21 years, Stapleton has come a long way from launching his career as an aspiring songwriter to performing on the biggest stage in America.

Here are five things to know about the country star ahead of his performance at the big game.

Stapleton hails from a small town in Kentucky

The country star is from a small town in Kentucky. (Brett Carlsen/Getty Images for CMT)

Before moving to Nashville to break into the music industry, Stapleton grew up in the small unincorporated community of Staffordsville, Kentucky, near the town of Paintsville. The singer's family moved to Staffordsville after he was born in Lexington, Kentucky. 

During an interview on "The Bobby Bones Show" in January 2022, Stapleton opened up about his hometown and attending high school in Paintsville.

He explained that Staffordsville was "where my home was. It's kind of the county seat of Paintsville, Kentucky. Staffordsville consists of a few houses and a post office.

"But the town Paintsville, the town where I went to high school and all that kind of stuff, you know, we had small-town stuff. We had Walmart and a Taco Bell, things like that."

When Bones asked how he began to "flex his [musical] muscle" in a small town, Stapleton said, "I grew up singing in church with my brother and some buddies of ours, and we did a bit of much of that.

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"I had an uncle that played guitar, and his brother was in a kind of a popular regional band. And so I had those influences. They would show me chords and things. That was probably my guitar education on that end. And songwriting too.

"It kind of always was there. It was part of the ethos of hanging out, was playing music a little bit."

While Stapleton became interested in music at an early age, he said he mostly focused on sports in high school. The singer was also valedictorian of his high school class, according to "CBS Mornings."

He comes from a family of coal miners

The performer is from a family of coal miners. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

Stapleton comes from a family of coal miners. His father Herbert was an engineer for a coal mining company, and both of his grandfathers were coal miners. 

The musician studied engineering at Vanderbilt University in Nashville for one year and completed two years of business school before deciding to pursue his passion for music.

Stapleton's hit 2015 debut studio album "Traveller" was largely inspired by the death of his father in 2013. He told The Tennessean Herbert raised him on outlaw country music and classic R&B and gave him his first guitar.

"(Dad's passing) flipped a switch: It made me want to do some things musically that I think he would have liked," Stapleton said. "It was so odd to me. My dad was a straight-laced teetotaler, but he loved all this music that was not that."

Stapleton has donated to United Mine Workers of America, a union with a membership including coal miners, clean coal technicians, health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees throughout the United States and Canada.

While performing at the 2015 Country Radio Summit in Nashville, Stapleton displayed a large piece of coal on a stool next to him, according to Saving Country Music.

"That sat on my dad’s desk for years. It was the first piece of coal he ever mined," he told the audience before dedicating the next song he played to his late father.

The singer-songwriter signed a publishing deal four days after moving to Nashville

Stapleton signed a publishing deal four days after moving to Nashville. (Getty Images)

Stapleton told "CBS Mornings" he was inspired to become a songwriter after meeting a group of local songwriters following his graduation from high school. 

"I didn't know they would pay you money to sit in a room and write songs for other people," Stapleton told the outlet. "I always thought that George Strait was singing a song, he made it up and that was the end of it. But the instant I found that out, that that could be a job, I thought, 'That's the job for me. I gotta figure out how to do that.'"

Stapleton moved to Nashville in 2001 to pursue a career in songwriting.

"Four days later, I had a publishing deal. Which is not — that is not anybody's story, but that's mine. I did all of my starving artist things — not in Nashville."

Stapleton went on to become one of the most in-demand songwriters in the industry. He co-wrote six No. 1 hits, including Kenny Chesney's "Never Wanted Nothing More," Josh Turner's "Your Man," Thomas Rhett's "Crash and Burn," George Strait's "Love's Gonna Make It Alright," Luke Bryan's "Drink a Beer" and Darius Rucker's "Comeback Song." 

Stapleton has written or co-written over 200 songs for a long list of artists, including Tim McGraw, Sheryl Crow, Ed Sheeran, Adele, Blake Shelton, Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Miranda Lambert and more.

Stapleton hasn't forgotten his roots

In 2016, Stapleton returned to Paintsville to perform at his alma mater, Johnson Central High School. He also donated $57,000 in musical instruments to the school's program in partnership with the ACM Lifting Lives program and RAM Trucks. (Rick Diamond/Getty Images for RAM)

After the devastating floods in Eastern Kentucky last August, Stapleton returned to help out with relief efforts. According to The Louisville Courier Journal, he was seen working at cleanup sites and greeting fans at the local Walmart.

A Facebook user posted a photo of Stapleton posing with her husband, Logan Curry, and members of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office taken at the Knott County Sportsplex.

"Logan D Curry is back in Knott Co today and had an extra set of hands in Chris Stapleton!" she wrote in the caption.

"Logan could not express more how bad Chris wanted to help with anything, literally anything. No job was to small or beneath him. This man loves Eastern KY and he wanted to be gods hands and feet for the people who need help the most right now!"

In 2016, Stapleton returned to Paintsville to perform at his alma mater Johnson Central High School. He also donated $57,000 in musical instruments to the school's program in partnership with the ACM Lifting Lives program and RAM Trucks.

"It’s important to me to help kids who want to be creative, be that music or any form of expression," Stapleton told People magazine at the time. "It’s important to me to support kids."

The country star has been happily married to his wife Morgane for over 15 years 

Stapleton and wife of 15 years Morgane Stapleton enjoyed a date night at the 2022 CMA Awards. (Sara Kauss/FilmMagic)

Stapleton and his wife Morgane met in Nashville in 2003 when they were both working as songwriters. They tied the knot in October 2007 and share son Waylon, 13, daughter Ada, twin sons Macon and Samuel and another son who was born in 2019 and whose name has not been revealed yet.

"She fills in all the places where I lack, which is a whole lot, personally and mentally," Stapleton told The San Diego Union-Tribune of Morgane in 2018.

"She can really help me get down to the core of things I want to do or play, and — sometimes — I don’t even know what those are. And she has actual taste. She’s a tasteful lady in every possible way.

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"So she helps me, musically, and not let me do things that are too crazy. I’ll get off on tangents a lot, but she’s great at keeping me focused and centered, musically and personally. None of the things we’re getting to do now would have happened, or even been possible, if she hadn’t been there."

Stapleton and his wife Morgane met in Nashville in 2003 when they were both working as songwriters.  (Jason Kempin/Getty Images for CMT/Viacom)

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In 2015, Morgane told The Washington Post, "Oh, we drive each other crazy once in a while. But being without each other drives us even more crazy."

Stapleton shared a sweet message on Twitter to mark his 15th wedding anniversary with Morgane. 

"15 years. I love you more today than I ever have," he wrote. "Happy anniversary, Morgane!" Morgane posted her own tribute on social media, writing, "You're a keeper. Happy 15th, babe."