Chris Stapleton took the stage at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Tuesday (Feb. 6) to deliver an impassioned cover of a bluegrass favorite, "There Ain't No Easy Way."

Stapleton was part of the lineup at the Universal Music Group showcase at the Ryman as part of the annual Country Radio Seminar, and he performed a bare-bones acoustic rendition of the song, which he told the audience of assembled radio programmers, music business insiders and journalists was a longtime favorite of his.

"When I first moved to town, I used to listen to a lot of — well, I still do listen to them — Darrell Scott and Tim O'Brien," he noted, adding, "I like to do things here [at CRS] that you're never gonna get anywhere else."

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Tim O'Brien and Darrell Scott first released "There Ain't No Easy Way" in 2000, and while Stapleton definitely tipped his hat to their original recording, he made the song his own with an incendiary vocal performance in which he alternated singing softly and hitting scorching high notes for emphasis, mingled with some effective falsetto moments that provided dynamics and texture. Click play on the crowd-shot video above to see Stapleton's performance.

Stapleton was part of a lineup that included Brothers Osborne, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Vince Gill and more, along wth new songs from Eric Paslay and Maddie & Tae. The Country Radio Seminar takes place every year in Nashville in February, bringing together artists and record labels, journalists and radio programmers from all around the country for several days of panels, interviews and musical showcases that roll out new music and set the agenda for the rest of the year in country music.

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