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Who Is Chris Stapleton?

Chris Stapleton, winner of the awards for new artist of the year, album of the year for "Traveller," and male vocalist of the year, participates in an interview in the press room at the 49th annual CMA Awards at the Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Chris Stapleton, winner of the awards for new artist of the year, album of the year for "Traveller," and male vocalist of the year, participates in an interview in the press room at the 49th annual CMA Awards at the Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Kentucky bluegrass musician Chris Stapleton stole the show at Wednesday’s County Music Awards in Nashville, Tennessee. Stapleton’s “Traveller” won the CMA’s Album of the Year award.

Stapleton also captured awards for best male vocalist and best new artist. Besides all the hardware he collected, Stapleton also shared the CMA performance stage with Justin Timberlake, singing the George Jones’ classic Tennessee Whiskey.

For a time last night, Stapleton’s name was trending on social media and even in Google searches. It’s not as if Stapleton just started singing, however. He’s been working his way through the industry for at least a decade. In fact, we first took a listen to Stapleton’s music in 2013 in one of the Here & Now DJ Sessions:

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