Chris Stamey Covers The Kinks

Listen to ‘Waterloo Sunset’ below; new LP, Modernism, out now

July 2, 2026July 2, 2026 Ron Hart 0 Comments 2026, Chris Stamey, Flatiron Recordings, The dB's, The Kinks, Waterloo Sunset

Chris Stamey has a new album out right now called Modernism that serves as a companion piece to his acclaimed 2025 solo LP Anything Is Possible.

Conceptualized as an homage to the adventurousness of free form radio as FM was edging out AM as the dominant frequency, Modernism finds Stamey aurally flipping through his 45s and selecting some of his favorites to interpret with a slew of his famous friends.

It features new versions of classic songs such as The Beatles’ “Hey Bulldog” (with Big Star’s Jody Stephens on drums), The Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset” (with the dB’s), and Sly and the Family Stone’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” (featuring the Uptown Horns, Brian Dennis [DAG], and Jon Wurster [Mountain Goats, Superchunk]). Deep cuts are also in evidence, including “Shadows Breaking Over My Head” by the Left Banke (with Brian Wilson Band alums Probyn Gregory and Nelson Bragg), “Hernando’s Hideaway” (from The Pajama Game, and a 1954 hit for Everly Bros. producer Archie Bleyer), “At Last” (by Harry Warren), as well as three new interpretations of his own earlier tunes.

There’s also a closer of the Rolling Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday,” a version produced by Alex Chilton in 1977. The original mix is now lost, but a charming instrumental rough mix on an old reel-to-reel analog tape (Alex on drums and guitar) was recently discovered, and Chris and Pat Sansone (Wilco, Autumn Defense) were able to replace the missing vocals and (with Don Dixon’s bowed bass and Rachel Kiel’s alto recorder) bring the track to life.

“This record was a blast to make,” Chris reports. “I had come back from touring with renewed confidence in my own playing, and realized I’d been relying on some of my friends’ vast chops for so long in the studio that I’d forgotten how much fun it was to groove along on guitar and bass myself.”

Chris Stamey *Modernism*, Flatiron Recordings 2026

Rock & Roll Globe is beyond honored to premiere the video for Stamey’s version of “Waterloo Sunset” today on the site.

Here’s what Chris had to tell us about this cover, which features his bandmates in the dB’s — guitarist and fellow vocalist Peter Holsapple, drummer Gene Holder and bassist Will Rigby — backing him up.

“I think if I’d stopped to think about it for a minute, I might have been so daunted by approaching ‘Waterloo Sunset’ that I’d never have even begun. It is not only a classic bit of songwriting by Ray Davies, one of the best of the best, but also a charismatic recording by the Kinks (with some credit also due to Rasa ‘Sha la la’ Davies as well, I believe?). But it proceeded in stages, almost while no one was looking. The dB’s (Peter Holsapple, Will Rigby, Gene Holder, and occasionally myself) had done the arrangement originally for a local choral group, recording a backing track at my studio. Some time went by, then the four of us rediscovered that track and, at my urging, added some more layers, including that guitar solo of Peter’s. But it didn’t find a place to land and languished in the archives at Modern Recording until I heard it by accident one day at the end of another playlist and, with the permission of the rest, embarked upon finally completing it. I then played it for Bill Hein and his clever cohorts at Flatiron Recordings, who totally loved it and then conspired with me to find a way to release it.

“It became the linchpin of a new record, Modernism. In fact, the other songs on the record really came about for the most part because I was looking for a way to ‘keep it company’ as a release, thinking of maybe a maxi-single or a 5-song EP, but ended up just having such a good time in the studio (with drummers Rob Ladd, Mitch Easter, Jody Stephens [and, strangely, Alex Chilton but that’s another story]) that we kept going, and before we knew it there was a whole accompanying album. This record was a pleasure to make, and I’m hoping that you can hear that I’m there; as Memphis producer Jim Dickinson reportedly insisted, sometimes ‘fun sticks to tape.”

“Flash forward to May of this year, when I found myself on what I thought of as a “busking” tour of Europe, playing acoustic guitar arrangements of my songs in Spain, Belgium, the UK, France, all on my lonesome. I was in the middle of this, playing a different city almost every day, when I woke up in London one morning, with a train to Paris to catch in a few hours, and realized that there was a very slim chance that I could leap into action and go busk this song in the actual locale, the venerable Waterloo Station itself. Not exactly coals to Newcastle, but adjacent? On the drop of a dime, my friend Chris Metzler embraced the madcap-ness and met me there with his trusty iPhone, and we dashed to different locations in the one hour we had before I had to get on said train to France. I broke my A string on the guitar right away, in the first location, and that seemed even more in keeping with the adventure. It was especially cool to have Chris M. on board, as he had actually managed Ray Davies for a time, including during the time Ray joined in with the London performance of Big Star’s Third, and he shared memories of Ray and a large choir singing the same song on same riverbank some years ago while laughingly trying to parse if his inspiration should be Goddard or Wes Anderson. I think I suggested Hitchcock but that was a stretch too far. We also were quite pleased to finally find the actual Lionel Stanhope mural in the station that had graced the picture cover of the 7-inch limited-edition single of this recording, on Flatiron, although we found it by circling entirely around the huge station only to realize we’d started 10 yards away from it on the other side. This turned into a kind of metaphor for me for the rest of the tour, that sometimes what I am looking for is right there next to me all along, if only I’ll open my eyes before dashing off madly. And also that you can find beauty when you least expect it, even in a busy London rail station: Wasn’t that Ray’s point?

AUDIO: The Kinks “Waterloo Sunset”

“Back home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, I cut the footage together roughly on my laptop in a few after-dinner sessions, then brought it to accomplished editor Norwood Cheek (he of the totally great only-bass-and-drums new duo Bass Battery), who did some novel additions that floored me, using methods I cannot possibly divulge here. And we were done!

“I have read that Ray Davies has said that this was originally entitled “Liverpool Sunset” and the setting of the lyric only changed when he wanted to avoid it seeming derivative of The Beatles’ ‘Penny Lane’ (also a Liverpudlian celebration), a song that had come out a few months before. But if true, this perhaps admits to some flexibility in the specifics of the composition, and maybe leaves the door open to permission for a humble American to find their own resonance herein without having grown up in the Big Smoke. Such is my hope. All I know for sure is, next time I go busking, I’m bringing some extra sets of strings.”

Modernism is out now 12” LP vinyl, CD, digital download and streaming platforms. There’s also a 7-inch colored-vinyl 45 of “Waterloo Sunset,” with a non-album B Side of a song by Paul McCartney, “Goodbye,” first recorded by Mary Hopkin, floating out there as well.