Overview
- Chris Stapleton performed Willie Nelson’s Living in the Promiseland on The Late Show in a spare setup with harmonica player Mickey Raphael, who appeared on the original recording.
- Written by David Lynn Jones, the 1986 No. 1 casts the United States as a place that invites immigrants to seek opportunity.
- Stapleton leaned into lines about taking in the “tired and weak” and “foreign songs,” underscoring the song’s message of welcome.
- After the song, he shared a whiskey with Stephen Colbert and thanked him as the program moves toward its final episode.
- The appearance comes as Stapleton continues his All-American Road Show Tour and heads into the ACM Awards with six nominations, including entertainer of the year.