Stephen Day Announces Self-Titled LP, Fall Tour to Open Oct. 3 in Minneapolis
The 13-song set was co-produced by Micah Tawlks and Ian Fitchuk, with the single YOU WOULDN'T KNOW out now.
Nashville-based songwriter Stephen Day has announced a self-titled album, Stephen Day, due October 2 via Riser House. Alongside the announcement, Day released the record's third single, YOU WOULDN'T KNOW. Day and his band will also head out on a 25-date autumn tour across the United States, kicking off October 3 in Minneapolis and running through November 21 in Denver.
Discussing 'You Wouldn't Know,' Day offered: 'You know that feeling that you get every once in a while when your soul knows something your mind's not willing to admit? That's 'You Wouldn't Know'. It's that age old tension between the head and the heart and it's for anyone who wishes they could lay their emotions out on the line but they aren't ready yet and they're terrified their feelings won't be reciprocated.'
Since first picking up a guitar as a high school student in Georgia, Day always knew he wanted to make a self-titled album. Even then, he understood that putting his own name on a record would come with one essential requirement: complete vulnerability and unwavering honesty. Across its 13 songs, Stephen Day offers an intimate portrait of Day's deepest emotions, weaving together every facet of who he is as a songwriter, musician, storyteller, and craftsman. From beginning to end, the listener can hear why he finally felt ready to present to them his namesake.
Co-produced by longtime collaborator Micah Tawlks along with multi-GRAMMY winning producer Ian Fitchuk the album demonstrates Day is a formidable, uncategorizable artist who's able to flit between decades as well as genres—soul, R&B, rock'n'roll, and pop—with effortless ease.
The album begins with the dreamy, hushed contentment of 'It Is What It Is,' eases into the infectious groove of lead single 'Rock Bottom Baby' before travelling back in time with the impassioned pop-rock of 'Annie Breakdown' and 'Yes I Do.' Indeed, the latter two tracks in particular capture Day's modus operandi on this album perfectly. They sound like classic songs from the '80s, yet they're simultaneously contemporary and fresh. Songs you swear must already have taken their place in the pantheon of music, but they're Day's brand new additions.
The delicate strains of 'Mama, I Found Your Guitar'— gives you Day's origin story. His father is a pastor, and his mother was a nurse practitioner who sang at church on Sundays. One afternoon, he found her guitar in a closet and asked her to teach him a few chords, which inadvertently set him on the path he's still on. The song, which was recorded on the very same nylon six string, brings the story into the present day, embossing it with all the difficulties and uncertainties that come with being a musician while deeply romanticising it all.
'It's made way for really beautiful things to happen, and it's also made way for really heartbreaking things to happen,' says Day of his career to date. 'Pursuing something like this feels like a very vulnerable thing to do, so that song is both admiration for my mother, while also being inspired yet confused about why I ended up on this path, how I ended up here now that I've been doing it for a minute, and questioning what its mean for the rest of my life. You know, am I doing the right thing? All those kinds of existential feelings.'
Those existential feelings were compounded by a deeply fraught personal time. After Day's wife endured 'some very intense medical surgeries,' the couple prepared themselves for the absolute worst. For a few months they were, as Day puts it, 'living under the idea that she may not really be around that long.' Thankfully, that wasn't the case. But the deep fear of loss is addressed and conveyed by the plaintive, searching 'Don't Leave Me Like This.'
'It was a great way for me to work through these emotions that I had about the fear of losing my partner,' he remembers, 'while giving someone else a way to read the story that might not be as heavy.'
That unguarded creativity was not only a key component in feeling ready to make a self-titled full-length, but the exposed emotion aligned with the intentional mission at the core of this album: ensure it is as human as possible. And so, working with Matt Chancey on bass, David Crutcher on keys, Ian Fitchuk on drums, Kevin Daily on auxiliary guitar and Scooter Spicer on percussion, that's exactly what they did by tracking as a band live in the studio.
'We had two separate chunks of recording days to knock out the entire album,' says Day, 'and it was the most amazing experience. It was how I had always dreamed records would be made in that sort of old-fashioned way. One of the things I wrote down and kept on a piece of paper in the studio was the phrase 'In with the old, out with the new.' I wanted to take the old way of doing things, but with the hope and prayer that whatever came out of the speakers didn't feel like a retro album, but like 2029 or 2030.'
He succeeded. It's the next chapter for an artist that has already seen more than 200 million streams to date, received cultural co-signs from peers like Teddy Swims, Allen Stone, and Cory Wong, as well as a major motion sync placement in Universal Pictures' Strays. This album carries the very essence of who Day is, both as a storyteller and a musician: timeless.
The next stage of Stephen Day is self-titled.
Tour Dates
10/03 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
10/04 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
10/06 - Kansas City, MO @ RecordBar
10/07 - St. Louis, MO @ Old Rock House
10/09 - Indianapolis, IN @ Hi-Fi
10/10 - Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig
10/11 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Thunderbird Music Hall
10/15 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
10/16 - Boston, MA @ Middle East Downstairs
10/17 - Ardmore, PA @ Ardmore Music Hall
10/18 - Washington, DC @ Union Stage
10/22 - Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
10/23 - Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
10/24 - Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl
11/03 - Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Art Co.
11/04 - Austin, TX @ 3Ten ACL
11/07 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
11/08 - San Diego, CA @ Music Box
11/11 - Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey
11/12 - San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
11/14 - Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
11/15 - Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall
11/19 – Boise, ID @ Shrine Basement
11/20 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall
11/21 - Denver, CO @ Marquis Hall
Tickets are available via stephenday.org.
Tracklist
01. It Is What It Is
02. Rock Bottom Baby
03. Annie Breakdown
04. Yes I Do
05. Back In My Bed
06. Cry Baby
07. Heartbreak Is Up Ahead
08. You Wouldn't Know
09. Don't Leave Me Like This
10. Mama, I Found Your Guitar
11. Leanin' On My Truck
12. Supernova
13. Picture's Perfect
The album's 13 songs were co-produced by longtime collaborator Micah Tawlks alongside multi-GRAMMY-winning producer Ian Fitchuk. Stephen Day is available for pre-order ahead of its October release.
Photo Credit: Gabe Dreshler
Photo Credit: Gabe Dreshler
