• The song was originally recorded by
David Allan Coe
His version peaked at #77 on the country chart in 1981.
It was covered two years later by
George Jones,
whose version reached #2 on the country chart in November 1983 and became a mainstay in his live set.
• Chris Stapleton said:
"The guys in the band and I were in Charlottesville, Virginia, waiting to set up microphones and
started playing in that groove. I just was really enjoying it and started singing 'Tennessee Whiskey' on top of it,
trying to make it something new."
"We liked it so much, we played it that night - and every night since. When we started to record,
we used it as a warm-up song. Dave said, 'We need to do that right now.' That's what you hear."
•
Chris Stapleton and
Justin Timberlake
sang a medley of this track and Timberlake's
Drink You Away
at the 2015 CMAs.
Chris went on to win CMAs for Male Vocalist of the Year, New Artist of the
Year and Album of the Year (for
Traveller).
After the performance,
it became the second-largest selling digital song the following week, with 131,000 downloads sold