This is so good – and welcome.
As if it wasn’t enough to have the first two (magnificent) dB’s albums re-released and then to have Peter Holsapple’s newest solo offering – now this comes along – and it looks to be another triumph from Chris Stamey.
To this point, I’m happy to say that I have everything he’s released under the solo banner and this will be a joy to add. It’s going to be a musically warming summer – the proof is here, starting with the first single/video from the forthcoming Anything Is Possible, “I’d Be Lost Without You”. The press release, shared here, is a meaty table-setter – and the track (presented on video) is an appetite-whetter. After one listen to “…Lost…”, I know how good this album is going to be (and see if you think the same as I do as to what this stellar piece reminds me of). So read on!:
“Anything Is Possible, due July 11, 2025 on Label 51 Recordings, is the latest collection of original material (and one affectionate cover) from North Carolina songwriter/vocalist/guitarist/producer (and author) Chris Stamey, an indie rock icon with a storied long and illustrious history that’s encompassed co-founding seminal avant-pop band The dB’s, playing with Alex Chilton in the ’70’s and more recently with Jody Stephens’s Big Star Quintet, and recording with the all-star smart-pop outfit, The Salt Collective. The new album features special guests such as The Lemon Twigs, Pat Sansone (Wilco), Probyn Gregory (Brian Wilson band), and Marshall Crenshaw, among others. The album was produced by Mr. Stamey at Modern Recording in Chapel Hill, NC. Anything Is Possible is being released by Label 51 Recordings on LP, CD, digital download and streaming platforms.
“This album is a love letter to the kind of harmonically-rich, yet often lyrically-innocent pop music I heard, on the family turntable – and especially on AM radio, growing up in the late ’50’s and mid-’60’s in the American South. I have since come to understand more about the nuts and bolts of those songs, but the magic of those first encounters remains,” explains Mr. Stamey.
Anything Is Possible‘s music was first workshopped in L.A. with members of the Wild Honey Orchestra, reading from written scores. The initial basic tracks were then recorded at Overdub Lane (Durham, NC) with Dan Davis (drums), Jason Foureman (acoustic bass), and Charles Cleaver (piano), with Chris singing, playing additional keyboards, guitars, and bass, as well as writing the orchestrations. The record was then shaped and completed over the course of a year at Modern Recording, with contributions from The Lemon Twigs, Matt Douglas (Mountain Goats), long-time collaborator Mitch Easter, Probyn Gregory (Brian Wilson Band), Marshall Crenshaw, Don Dixon, Brett Harris, Rachel Kiel, Matt McMichaels (Mayflies USA), Kelly Pratt (War On Drugs arranger), Pat Sansone, Robert Sledge (Ben Folds Five), and the Modrec Orchestra. Wes Lachot, NC musician/engineer and internationally-lauded studio designer, came on board in the final stages, with fresh ears and invaluable advice.
First Single Release: “I’d Be Lost Without You”
Among the album’s highlights is “I’d Be Lost Without You.” Chris describes the song’s development: “it started with me pounding out the chords on piano, to which Mitch Easter then added a great twangy, reverbed-out Fender Bass VI à la Carol Kaye, aside Rob Ladd’s distinctive ‘orchestral’ snare drum and drumkit flourishes. But when The Lemon Twigs came into the picture with all those harmonies, it morphed into something bigger . . . much bigger. Then Probyn Gregory (flugelhorn, trombone) knew just what icing this cake needed. Although this production admittedly evokes the summery sixties L.A. sound, it began differently: with my fascination for Jerome Kern’s “All the Things You Are”, a song that winds through ever-shifting key centers but seems melodically inevitable all the while. Originally, as written on piano, it sounded like a song Chet Baker might have sung, sparse, nocturnal, and intimate. I learned a lot about The Beach Boys recording style from studio work with Alex Chilton, something else I have to thank him for.”
Another standout is the title track. “I began writing this record while listening regularly to the gentle, whimsical music of Harry Nilsson and Brian Wilson.” recalls Stamey, “It all changed when in 2023 I played some shows with the Twigs. Their electric energy reminded me how much fun it was to plug in a guitar and crank it up. I asked Mitch Easter to play drums like he’d play back in high school, when we listened to ’60’s Brit hitmakers The Move constantly. It was so much fun for me to play Roy Wood bass riffs once again, against his Bev Bevan fills and flams. Once Pat Sansone, Michael and Brian D’Addario, and Wes sang the soaring harmonies, I knew we were into something good.”
Chris envisions “When My Ship Comes In” as “a lullaby in the tradition of songs popular in World War II, such as “I’ll Be Seeing You,” a time when couples were separated by war and by distance, not knowing if their ‘ships’ would ever really return home.”
There’s one non-original tune on Anything Is Possible, “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder.” Chris reminisces, “This was a very minimal track in Brian Wilson’s original Pet Sounds version, but that ride cymbal mesmerized me in high school. Here, it’s arranged more as if it were a full-on Wrecking Crew adventure, with Jennifer Curtis playing a million string parts. Again it’s Wes and The Lemon Twigs in the choir, singing parts that were arranged and recorded for the original version, but then left on the cutting-room floor during its mixing. Darian Sahanaja, Wilson’s musical director, kindly let me see the concert scores for these original harmonies and for the original string parts as well, and Probyn advised on some crucial details.”
Quite the aural feast to come, undoubtedly. The music Chris Stamey makes is like fine jewelry.
Anything Is Possible will be released on Friday, July 11, 2025