If you’re a Chris Stapleton fan, you’re probably already aware that he got his start as a singer as a founding member of bluegrass group The SteelDrivers – but did you know that he also served as the frontman for a gritty southern rock band? The Kentucky native moved to Nashville to attend Vanderbilt University, but quickly discovered songwriting and signed a publishing deal instead. After years of writing songs, Stapleton formed a bluegrass band to perform those songs he had written. The SteelDrivers released their self-titled debut album in 2008, and followed it up with Reckless in 2010, with Stapleton having co-written every song on both albums. Unfortunately, Stapleton’s time with The SteelDrivers was cut short, as he discussed during a recent appearance on the podcast, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard. As Stapleton described, one of the original members of the band, whom he wouldn’t name, developed a fear of flying at some point during his tenure, which seemingly led to disagreements over the direction of the band. “One of the guys in the band developed a fear of flying, and I had an opinion about what we needed to do. And everybody else in the band had a different opinion, so they got somebody else.” Shepard would then ask Stapleton if he was fired and/or kicked out of the band, and the “White Horse” singer didn’t deny it: “Technically, yes. I probably shouldn’t be saying that on here, but that’s technically the truth.” When asked if he was hurt by the firing, Stapleton would ultimately say yes. However, he seems to allude to the fact that he believed that they weren’t setting themselves up for the success he believed they could have had. “Well, sure, but I also didn’t believe that we were [setting the right course]. I was like, ‘Okay, well, I’ll do something else.'” That something else turned out to be another band, one that many Chris Stapleton fans may not remember – or even know about. At the same time as he was a member of The SteelDrivers, Stapleton had also formed another band The Jompson Brothers. Instead of bluegrass, this band had more of a gritty, southern rock edge, though while he was performing with The SteelDrivers it seemed to be more of a side project for Stapleton. After his departure from the bluegrass group though, Stapleton and The Jompson Brothers released their self-titled debut album in 2010, and that same year were even selected to open for Zac Brown Band on their Sailing Southern Ground Cruise. The band, made up of Stapleton as the frontman along with Greg McKee, JT Cure, and Bard McNamee, was, according to their website, “formed in a garage in Nashville, Tennessee as a result of late-night jam sessions.” And as for their name, it came after the members created a family of alter egos: “We all created alter egos, sort of as a joke, with the last name “Jompson.” After a while, we started calling ourselves the Jompson Brothers. It was used as a working name for the band while we were in the early stages of forming the group. We talked about changing it several times, but ended up using it for so long we couldn’t find anything else that seemed right, so we stuck with it.” While the voice is undeniably Stapleton, the group’s sound is also one that will likely sound familiar to fans of his solo music. It can be heard in his rock-leaning singles like “White Horse” or album cuts like “Hillbilly Blood” and “Watch You Burn.” On a spectrum from The SteelDrivers to The Jompson Brothers, Stapleton’s solo music sits firmly in the middle and manages to straddle both sides of the lines drawn early in his career. The Jompson Brothers got some minor attention as a band, especially with their lead single “On The Run,” but the project ended up being a short-lived side quest for Stapleton en route to superstardom: In 2013, he left the group to pursue a solo career, and the rest, as they say, is history. It’s an underrated chapter in Stapleton’s career, because the music that he put out with The Jompson Brothers was exactly what you’d expect from a Chris Stapleton-fronted rock band: Gritty vocals, killer lyrics, and music that absolutely rips. If you’ve never listened to them, check them out: The post Before He Went Solo, Chris Stapleton Fronted A Gritty Rock Band You May Not Have Heard Of first appeared on Whiskey Riff.