Chris Stamey

Betsey Trotwood, Farringdon: Sunday 17 May 2026

This was an interesting proposition; an acoustic show in a tiny venue I had never been to before, just ahead of my birthday, and a matinee show to boot - how could I refuse that temptation!

To make things more intriguing, I last saw Chris Stamey play, with his old dB's songwriting sidekick, Peter Holsapple, way back in 1991. I only really knew the album they were touring behind at that time (Mavericks) - and to be fair, I have only really gotten to know a few more of his records since then. Yet that was substantially more than my trusty gig buddy, Steve, knew of his work going into this, so we were both going in a little on the blind side.

But when you go and see someone who has been a pro musician for the best part of fifty years, it is generally a safe bet that you will see some talent on display.

And sure enough, Stamey, his beautiful Taylor guitar and a solid boot keeping time on the nicely worn old wooden floors of the Betsey Trotwood, was more than enough to keep us entertained for the afternoon.

The crowd consisted of around fifty people - mostly older, and mostly male (and including the comedian, Stewart Lee) crammed into the bar area of this delightful Victorian hostelry; and many of those present knew his entire catalogue inside out. It is quite a catalogue too - as well as a dozen or so solo albums, there are the three records he did with North Carolina's 80s indie favourites, the dBs, three more with his songwriting pal Peter Holsapple, and a number of other collaborations with the likes of Yo La Tengo. Oh, and did I mention he started his career working with the legendary Alex Chilton.

The afternoon consists of two lovely sets, over two hours, mixing up those catalogues - I'm not going to go song by song, because I'll be honest, I didn't know all of them or all their titles. But that didn't diminish my enjoyment of the set he put together one bit. He effortlessly switched at will between dexterous finger-picking and strumming, generating some beautiful sounds as he seemed to play pretty much every chord known to man, and use every inch of the fretboard along the way.

Early on he dives straight into some of the dBs catalogue, mixing it up with a couple of tunes from his recent record, Anything Is Possible. For those, the ones he had recorded with The Lemon Twigs, he explains to us that we will have to add in their Beach Boys-esque backing vocals in our minds.

There is a fantastic take on Television's Venus de Milo, a song by Tom Verlaine, which he mentioned was his favourite ever song written about New York City - something I didn't think would work so well as an acoustic version. We also get a delightful version of The Byrds' Here Without You, the Gene Clark song he and Holsapple took on for Mavericks.

There's Meet Me In Midtown, his own take on a New York song, which is, he says, more geographically correct than Tony Hatch's Downtown (the Petula Clark one). We also get the great slice of late 70s pop, I Am The Cosmos, written by Big Star's Chris Bell. He also delights us with his first single, 1977's The Summer Sun.

Along the way, as the second half skips past, there is his ode to his home state of North Carolina, in the shape of Greensboro Days. We head back to his Lemon Twigs collaborations for the title track of last year's Anything Is Possible, then 80s rarity, Cara Lee and I Wrote This Song For You from 2013's Lovesick Blues. He also dips into his brief collaboration with fellow Carolinian (and producer of R.E.M.s first two albums) Mitch Easter - for a song from the Sneakers.

As we near the end, he proudly shows off the one song he says he ever wrote with his wife Dana, After All This Time, again from last year's record. But I go back to earlier in the second set for my personal highlight - my favourite of his tracks (at least from the ones I know), or as he refers to it, the one metal track off of Mavericks; I Want To Break Your Heart - a very jauntily toned, hard edged tune, belying its themes of candour and vulnerability.

Yes, perhaps you do lose a little with some of his songs from not having a second vocalist around to harmonise with him, but that doesn't take away from the overall performance. We are blessed with a consummate professional, putting everything into a varied two hour set, strewn with little anecdotes of his fifty years of making music. An absolute pleasure to share the afternoon with him - and I was home in time for dinner!