Country Artist Chris Housman Created a 'Feel-Good Album.' But Then His World Came Crashing Down (Exclusive)

"It's a collection of my life's work up to this point," the musician explains. "In a way, I've been working on this since I picked up the fiddle when I was 7"

Chris Housman is finding a way to smile.

“I'm doing really well, especially considering everything,” Housman says in a hushed tone during a recent interview with PEOPLE.

Indeed, while the country artist is celebrating the triumphant release of his debut album Blueneck and the widespread attention he’s getting for the steamy music video for his current single “Guilty as Sin,” he also finds himself mourning the loss of a past love.

"He was the love of my life," says Housman of Nashville songwriter Abe Stoklasa, who died of undisclosed causes last November. He was just 38 years old at the time of his death.

The two first met in August of 2019 at a "little lesbian karaoke bar" in Nashville. "I'm probably going to cry at some point, but I remember that he walked in the front door of the bar, and I said to my friend that if I could build a person, that's the person that it would be," remembers Housman, 34, of his first time meeting Stoklasa. "I ended up talking to him and then we kept running into each other after that."

But then, things between the two began to escalate quickly.

"We were together for a couple months, and I think it was too intense at first, and he ended it in December of 2019," Housman remembers. "But then, a couple months later, the pandemic happened, and we ended up kind of quarantining together, and then we were officially together again."

This on-again, off-again relationship continued for many months until the couple broke up for the last time in October of 2021.

"We both loved each other," reflects Housman of Stoklasa, who wrote songs for artists such as Tim McGraw, Lady A and Chris Lane. "And also, he was a genius. He was a really successful songwriter and insanely talented singer and musician. And I think that added to the intensity of the whole thing."

Despite their breakup. the two remained on good terms until Housman received the shocking news of Stoklasa's passing.

"I just always thought we would probably end up together," Housman says quietly. "We both just needed to get our s--- together a little bit. So then when that option was gone? It’s still hard to believe."

Related: Chris Housman Proves That a Broken Heart Is Universal on 'Nobody': Anybody Can 'Insert Themselves in This Song'

And while Housman’s debut album Blueneck could have easily been filled with the shock and the angst and the sadness that the singer/songwriter has felt since the day Stoklasa died, it doesn’t.

"It's really just a collection of my life's work up to this point," Housman explains of the album created primarily before Stoklasa’s passing. "In a way, I've been working on [this album] since I picked up the fiddle when I was 7 years old. I think it encapsulates my personality too. It's a feel-good album."

It's a positive mindset that Housman says he’s been clinging to.

"The only way to get through this is to find a way to feel good despite everything in the world that happens," he says. "I think the album reflects that well."

Country to its core, the album also brings with it some controversy heard within the lyrics of songs such as "Bible Belt," "Guilty as Sin" and the title track "Blueneck." "I wanted this album to be a combination of the stuff that I grew up listening to and the stuff I wish I grew up listening to," Housman says.

Perhaps one of the most stellar pieces of work on Blueneck is “Can’t Go Down That Road,” an incredible song that Housman wrote alongside Blaine Younger has certainly taken on a whole new meaning since Stoklasa’s death. And then there is “Nobody,” which directly is inspired by Abe. "I wrote that one after we broke up the first time, and I was just devastated," Housman remembers. "And then we ended up getting back together for a couple of years, and he loved that song."

The album concludes with "Why Can’t I Just Say," which includes the actual recording from a voicemail Stoklasa left for Housman.

"It just felt perfect to end the album with that song," Housman concludes. "That song was about him in that moment."

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