Chris Stapleton made a disabled young fan’s dreams come true when he met her in a Kentucky Walmart on Monday, August 1.
Stapleton met Etta, a young fan who has multiple special needs including autism and seizures while shopping for supplies to send to victims of the recent floods in his home state.
Etta’s mom Courtney Crider had been shopping at the same Walmart as Stapleton alone and had the country singer make a video for her daughter. Then Crider returned with her daughter and the little girl got to meet Stapleton and take a few pictures with him.
Crider shared both the video and photos of her daughter with Stapleton on Facebook, writing, “[here’s the] backstory if you don’t know, Etta is our daughter who has multiple needs. She calms down to Chris Stapleton’s music. Today she finally got her chance to meet him in the middle of Walmart. Well, you will never believe what happened in [the] Prestonsburg Walmart.”
“Of course, I saw him and took Etta back in. She wanted his beard and then cracked up laughing after I told her who he was. I said, ‘we have been trying to send you her story for years.’ He was buying flood victims supplies, so crazy mom didn’t bother him too much. I pray he will sing for her one day. Please watch the last video of Etta laughing after we recapped,” she added.
In addition, Crider spoke with Mountain Top News and explained how Etta has been a fan of Stapleton’s music since she was three. Crider said that Stapleton’s music calms Etta down and that she and her husband will play his songs when their daughter needs medical tests done because she doesn’t “like being held.”
“There’s certain songs that make her super happy and certain songs that calm her down, like if we’re doing an EEG, um, I’ll put that on and she’ll let me hold her,” Crider explained to the outlet. “Sometimes if she’s just in a really sad mood, we put YouTube on and play some of his songs and it turns her complete mood around.” Among the little girl’s favorite Stapleton songs are “Fire Away,” “Parachute,” “Traveler,” and “Starting Over.”
“She doesn’t really know him by his face, she knows him by his voice, but I’d always wondered if she ever met him what she would do because she loves beards,” Crider laughed.
Crider has shared videos of her daughter reacting to Stapleton’s music on TikTok in the past.
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Crider told WKYT all about her daughter’s experience with Stapleton.
“So at first, Etta was really all about his beard and his face, because she is a sensory seeker,” Crider explained. “But, after I told her that it was him, again, it was like it clicked and she got superstar struck. She was giddy and laughing.”
Etta’s mom also shared the moment was unforgettable.
“It was so, so special,” Crider told the outlet. “Etta has a handful of things she really loves: her family and Chris Stapleton are both on the list.”
See more photos of Chris Stapleton helping Kentucky flood relief in his home state HERE.
