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This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This collection has use restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
Archival processing of the Chris Stamey Collection was made possible through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
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Collection Overview
| Size | .5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 350 items) |
| Abstract | The Chris Stamey Collection consists primarily of audio recordings related to Chris Stamey, a white musician and record producer, who was a member of the American pop rock groups, the Sneakers and the dB's. The collection contains mixes, masters, demos, and outtakes by the Sneakers, the dB’s, and subsequent solo projects, as well as recordings by artists that Stamey collaborated with, including Alex Chilton, Peter Holsapple, Whiskeytown and Tift Merrit, and Yo La Tengo, among others. The collection also contains track sheets and other documentation related to the recordings found in the collection. |
| Creator | Stamey, Chris. |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Folklife Collection. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Processing Information
Processed by: Rae Hoyle and Anne Wells, April 2019
Encoded by: Anne Wells, April 2019
Updated by: Anne Wells, Clare Carlson, and Jessica Venlet, October 2019
Archival processing of the Chris Stamey Collection was made possible through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Biographical Information
Chapel Hill native Chris Stamey is a white singer, songwriter, and record producer of rock music. He played with American pop rock groups, Rittenhouse Square, the Sneakers, and the dB's, as well as subsequent solo projects.
Born 6 December 1954 in Chapel Hill, N.C., he was raised in the Winston-Salem area. Stamey first surfaced in 1972 in the short-lived Rittenhouse Square, alongside longtime friend and collaborator, Peter Holsapple, and Winston-Salem native, Mitch Easter. While attending the University of North Carolina in 1975, Stamey teamed with drummer Will Rigby to form the power pop combo Sneakers; the group was later joined by guitarist Mitch Easter, the record producer and future Let's Active frontman. The group traveled to New York City in 1976 to appear at Max's Kansas City, but dissolved soon after, at which time Stamey returned to the New York to set up his own label, Car Records.
In addition to issuing the posthumous Sneakers collection In the Red in 1978, Car also issued "I Am the Cosmos," the lone solo single of ex-Big Star member, Chris Bell; concurrently, Stamey played live with Bell's onetime Big Star bandmate, Alex Chilton, and in 1977 issued a solo single, "The Summer Sun." When Rigby and bassist Gene Holder relocated to New York, Stamey joined them as the dB's, releasing the 1978 single "If and When" before expanding to a four-piece with the addition of Holsapple.
Stamey left the dB's in 1983, issuing the solo LP It's a Wonderful Life later that same year; after issuing 1984's Instant Excitement EP, he recorded and toured with the Golden Palominos, and soon after released the Christmas Time (1986, East Side Digit) mini-album. A year later, Stamey signed with A&M to make his long-awaited major-label debut with It's Alright (1987, A&M / Universal); despite uniformly solid reviews, the album made almost no commercial impact, and he spent the next several years as a producer and guest musician. The LP later appeared on Rhino in 1991 under the title Fireworks; that same year, he reunited with Holsapple for Mavericks (1991, RNA Records). For 1995's The Robust Beauty of Improper Models in Decision Making (1995, East Side Digit), Stamey made a radical shift away from his pop past, teaming with cornetist/guitarist Kirk Ross for an exercise in free improvisation. Stamey spent the remainder of the decade focusing on producing records for other artists at his Modern studio in Chapel Hill, but returned to his own recording career with Travels in the South (2004, Yep Roc / Orange). Less than a year later, Stamey had another album ready for release, a collaboration with Yo La Tengo and Tyson Rogers credited to the Chris Stamey Experience and titled A Question of Temperature (2005, Yep Roc).
A few years after A Question of Temperature, Stamey reunited with Peter Holsapple, releasing Here and Now (2009, Bar / None Records) and supporting it with a tour. Stamey then turned his attention to a live staging of Big Star's 3rd album (1975, PVC Records), acting as the musical director for the concerts. The first of these debuted at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, North Carolina in December of 2010 and over the next few years, Stamey brought Big Star's Third to London and to 2012's South by Southwest festival. That year also saw the reunion of the dB's, who played live and released the new album Falling Off the Sky that summer. Stamey continued with the release of his solo album Lovesick Blues (2013, Yep Roc). Two years later, he released Euphoria (2015, Yep Roc).
adapted from Jason Ankeny's biography on AllMusic.
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Scope and Content
The Chris Stamey Collection consists primarily of audio recordings related to Chris Stamey, a white musician and record producer, who was a member of the American pop rock groups, the Sneakers and the dB's. The collection contains mixes, masters, demos, and outtakes by the Sneakers, the dB’s, and subsequent solo projects, as well as recordings by artists that Stamey collaborated with, including Alex Chilton, Peter Holsapple, Whiskeytown, and Yo La Tengo, among others. Recordings are on open reel audio, Alesis Digital Audio Tape (ADAT), digital audio tape (DAT), and audiocassette. The collection also contains track sheets and other documentation related to the recordings found in the collection. Of note are track sheets related to Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple's 1991 release, Mavericks, which was recorded at Bearsville Studios in Bearsville, N.Y.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Documentation, 1970s-2000s.
Processing information: Folders have been annotated with related audio recording call number.
Documentation that corresponds to audio recordings in series 2. Includes track sheets found with recordings; track sheets and other materials related to Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey album, Mavericks (1991); and loose papers found with the recordings, including promotional materials, memos, and additional track sheets.
| Box 1 |
Documentation |
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Series 2. Audio Recordings, 1975-2006 and undated.
Arrangement: Alphabetical by artist. Artist recordings arranged chronologically.
Processing information: Titles compiled from original containers.
Access Restrictions: Library use only. Access to streaming audio materials is restricted to researchers who are physically present on campus. For further information about access to streaming audiovisual materials, contact Research and Instructional Services staff at Wilsonlibrary@unc.edu
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Items Separated