Could you recognize this famous country music star without his trademark beard?

A couple of artists are recognized for certain physical characteristics that are often labeled as their ‘trademarks.’

In Chris Stapleton’s case, his beard is one of the first things people notice about him. Apart from that, he is rarely seen nowadays without his cowboy hat.

As Wide Open Country reported, it was not like that all the time. When he started his career, he didn’t have such a long beard nor a cowboy hat. Five years ago, he took to Instagram to share a throwback showing his previous face-shaved style.

The photo showed three people wearing shirts and staring at the camera. One of them had a mustache, the one in the middle had a cowboy hat, and the third one didn’t have any.

Stapleton captioned the image writing that one of those people was him. Even though he didn’t provide more clues, people identified him in no time. However, they admitted how different he looked without his beard.

He later posted a different one that surprised his followers even more. It was a blurry image showing him holding a guitar next to another man. He captioned that one admitting that it was his first gig in Nashville.

It took place on the sidewalk of 2nd avenue and he only played for one hour. He confessed that he made $20 and that it was the best hourly wage he had ever earned at that time. It was also the first time people noticed his talent.

Many years later, his beard grew bigger and his music spread through the entire world. His first record was titled Traveller and was released in 2015, two years after his father passed away.

He revealed that most of the lyrics and songs of that album were inspired by a road trip he and his wife took through the Southwest after losing his father. When it came out, it was overshadowed by Crash and Burn, a song that he wrote and sand on for Thomas Rhett.