"White Horse" is a song by American singer-songwriter
Chris Stapleton
Christopher Alvin Stapleton (born April 15, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and grew up in Staffordsville, Kentucky. In 2001, Stapleton moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to ...
, released on July 21, 2023 as the lead single from his fifth studio album ''
Higher
Higher may refer to:
Music
* The Higher, a 2002–2012 American pop rock band
Albums
* ''Higher'' (Ala Boratyn album) or the title song, 2007
* ''Higher'' (Ezio album) or the title song, 2000
* ''Higher'' (Harem Scarem album) or the title song ...
''. It was written by Stapleton and
Dan Wilson and produced by
Dave Cobb, Chris and
Morgane Stapleton
Morgane Stapleton (née Hayes), is an American singer-songwriter and the wife of Chris Stapleton. She performs background, harmony and duet vocals in her husband's band and was instrumental in the creation of his debut album '' Traveller''. A so ...
. The song stayed at the number two position for two weeks on the
Country Airplay
Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990.
This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...
chart, behind
Nate Smith's smash hit "
World on Fire". It was nominated and won the Grammy Awards for Best Country Solo Performance and Country Song at the
66th Annual Grammy Awards.
Background
Chris Stapleton stated via ''iHeart Country'':
"White Horse" was a song that I wrote with my friend, Dan Wilson. We were out in Los Angeles, it was about I think probably late 2012, early 2013, and there was a movie called '' The Lone Ranger'' that was coming out, and I walked in the room to write with Dan at his house, and he said, "Hey they're looking for songs for this Lone Ranger movie." I said, "Cool. Let's write something. What do you know about it?" He goes, "Well, we don't really know anything." I was like, "Well, let's just make a song that might sound like that." And so, that's kind of where that came from, and we got to talking about how it would be cool to have a kind of rock-driven-western-themed song, and that's kind of where the song came from and we kind of built it around a guitar riff, really.
Composition
"White Horse" is a
blues rock
Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...
-inspired
country song,
featuring an intro of
electric guitar riffs and drumbeats.
Lyrically, Stapleton tells his imaginary partner that he needs time to open his heart to her
and confesses he is not ready to be the man she desires, so she must wait: "If you want a cowboy on a white horse / Ridin' off into the sunset / If that's the kinda love you wanna wait for / Hold on tight, girl, I ain't there yet".
However, he also wishes this is not the situation.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{Chris Stapleton
2023 singles
2023 songs
Chris Stapleton songs
Song recordings produced by Dave Cobb
Songs written by Chris Stapleton
Songs written by Dan Wilson (musician)
Mercury Nashville singles
Blues rock songs
Country ballads