Chris Stapleton Dedicates Emotional ‘Broken Halos’ Performance To Friend Who Passed Away

YouTube/Hunter Kelly

We have never seen so much emotion overcome Chris Stapleton before. 

Stapleton performed at Universal Music Group’s luncheon at the Ryman Auditorium for Music City’s annual Country Radio Seminar and while introducing a song, got us all misty-eyed.

“This is a sort of new song, an old song for me, but it’s a song about people who have passed away before their time,” he told the audience. “I recorded this on a day where a friend of mine passed away from pancreatic cancer. He was the same age as me. We played little league together and all that. He was 38. This is for my buddy Mike.”

The first time Stapleton sang this song live was at Dolly Parton’s benefit for the victims of the East Tennessee fires, Smoky Mountains Rise. The song served as a reminder to the victims, to always keep their faith, even though this horrible tragedy.

While every performance from Stapleton is nothing short of phenomenal, the combination of the meaning behind this song and the emotion in his voice, make this performance a stand out for us. 

The heartbreaking lyrics of the chorus are as follows:

Seen my share of broken halos
Golden wings that used to fly
They’ve all gone, wherever they go
Broken halos that used to shine.”

Perhaps this incredibly meaningful song will be included in his newly announced upcoming album, which will be available May 5, 2017. His sophomore album follows his wildly successful Traveller album, which won him several awards including a GRAMMY for Best Country Album.

Watch his incredible performance of “Broken Halos” below. 

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