VIDEO: Chris Stapleton returns to the Stern Show

On November 3, 2015, Chris Stapleton was a 37-year-old country singer who had just released his debut album a few months earlier. When he stepped onto the Country Music Awards stage with pop superstar Justin Timberlake the next night, his whole world changed.

“It's such an amazing moment – the two of you appearing together, I certainly didn't even think it was possible,” Howard admitted to Stapleton, who returned to the Stern Show on Wednesday morning.

“Me neither,” the country star said with a laugh.

Stapleton had actually met Timberlake through a mutual friend and had even discussed making an album together, but it was his wife Morgane who suggested he ask the former NSYNC star to perform with him at the CMAs. “Call him immediately,” he remembered her insisting.

As an observer, Howard pointed out the duo's electrifying performance on their cover of David Allan Coe's “Tennessee Whiskey.” “You two are up there lighting up the whole room,” he marveled.

For Stapleton, the gig was immediately beneficial. “After that night, [my shows] “Everyone sold out straight away and it was a whole different game,” he recalled, before adding that it introduced him to new fans like producer Pharrell Williams. “There's a picture of me, Pharrell and Timberlake on a bus somewhere and I'm sure I look like I don't know what's going on.”

“I like to say, 'Maybe we started the fire, but he threw the match on it,'” Stapleton added of Timberlake and their CMA duet. “It will always have a special place in my heart and so will he.”