Chris Stamey's professional career dates back to the mid-70s as a Singer-songwriter, musician, sound engineer and producer. A founding member of The dB's, he had previously been in Sneakers, with future R.E.M. producer Mitch Easter, and The Cossacks, a NYC-based band that included Alex Chilton, the lead singer with The Box Tops and Big Star. Despite four and a half decades in the music industry, this evening's performance by Stamey is his first of two shows in Ireland, coinciding with dates in the UK and mainland Europe.
The support act is Dubliner Barry O'Brien. His well-crafted melody-loaded songs, matched by slick guitar work, are the perfect warm-up for the headline act.
Armed with an acoustic guitar, a four-and-a-half decade's back catalogue, and numerous industry tales, the intimate surroundings in the seated room of one of the smaller rooms in Whelan's is the perfect venue for Chris Stamey's ninety-minute performance. Included in his set are songs that, by his admission, he hasn't played for ages, a selection from his recent excellent album, THE GREAT ESCAPE, and a few from his next album ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE (“including me changing the record title,” he jokes.)
Stamey was drawn to New York in 1977 by the presence of the band Television, and tonight he speaks of the toxicity of New York at that time and the electric music scene ('one hundred and fifty people packed into CBGB's and one hundred and forty-eight of them were journalists'), working with Blondie on HEART OF GLASS and an aborted recording on his small indie record label by Television's Richard Lloyd.
He starts with two dBs songs, Cycles Per Second and Nothing Is Wrong, followed by two from his solo recordings, I Wrote This Song For You and From A Window To A Screen, before launching into the first of many informative tales about his early career. Introducing (I Thought) You Wanted To Know, he explains that the song was originally recorded with the wayward Television guitarist Richard Lloyd, but that contractual commitments resulted in it being released by him as Chris Stamey and the dBs, heralding the birth of that band. The tender love song, London, from his 2013 album LOVESICK BLUES, was directed at his fiancé in North Carolina while Stamey recorded in that city (“at times a miserable place”).
Stamey has had and continues to have a long and productive relationship with his dBs colleague Peter Holsapple, and he includes two of their collaborations, She's Not Worried and I Want To Break Your Heart. The selections from his recent release, an album much loved by us at Lonesome Highway, provide possibly the musical highlights of the evening. The Sweetheart Of The Video, written about a suicide victim and close friend, although mournful in content is beautifully performed and by way of counterbalance, is followed by his light-hearted tribute to Van Dyke Parks, The One And Only (Van Dykes Parks).
He also responds to a 'call out' to perform Dear Friend from his latest recording. It's a profoundly emotional song written in memory of friends passed on by suicide, and Stamey is visibly emotional playing the song to the extent that he finds it challenging to complete the final verse.
Stamey's free and often fiery guitar playing and vocal deliveries throughout are as impressive as his eloquent songs and heart-on-his-sleeve lyrics, and he encores with She Might Look My Way, a song that Stamey performed regularly with Alex Chilton. It's a fitting end to a most rewarding evening in the company of an artist who appears genuinely appreciative of the attentive and pin-drop silence throughout his set ( “connecting with you all is so much better than playing these songs in my bedroom”).
Review and photography by Declan Culliton