Now Stapleton is stepping out on his own as a solo artist with the release of his new single "What Are You Listening To." This isn't Stapleton's first time in front of a microphone. He spent a few years as frontman and guitarist of GRAMMY-nominated country/bluegrass band The SteelDrivers, and he currently still plays with rock band The Jompson Brothers. This new solo venture, though, marks the first time he's had his name on the marquee–something he admits he isn't completely comfortable with.

"Being a solo artist is a slightly uncomfortable thing," he explained to Radio.com in a recent interview, "because I've been in bands in the past, and it's never your name on the front of things. There's a bit of pressure internally, because when you put your name on the cover of something it's like, 'This is me.' It's more of an eye on you sort of thing than being in a band."

The spotlight is something Stapleton will have to get used to, as his first-ever solo single has been added at numerous country stations since its release in July. In addition, this fall he's on the Locked and Reloaded Tour with Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley.

Stapleton wrote "What Are You Listening To" with Lee Thomas Miller, whose credits include, among other things, the Jamey Johnson song "In Color" and Tim McGraw's current single "Southern Girl."

"We talked about the concept of it, and how people might listen to music, and how it affects people in different ways," Stapleton said. "We got this notion of a breakup song, thinking about what somebody else is listening to and how music affects the moods of people, or how it reflects the moods of people. That's where the song came from. It wasn't necessarily a notion that I'd heard before in a song."

While "What Are You Listening To" wasn't written from a particular personal experience, he did admit that if you pay close attention to the lyrics, often a songwriter's life will unfold within the song.

"My job for years has been to show up day in and day out and write songs," he said. "You run out of personal experience really quick, but the neat thing about it, even when you're not writing from personal experience, you're trying to write something universal that maybe someone else can attach themselves to."