Here’s an example of what I'm talking about
:
Bryan Sutton playing Texas Gales. Watch how he keeps coming back to the chord shapes. This is not a “Carter Style” song by any means, but he always anchors in those chord shapes as much as possible.
I believe he also does a little palm muting here, which works fine when you’re playing solo. In general, however, Bryan keeps his palm well away from the guitar, which is part of why he has such a powerful right hand attack.