Backstory.
Sunshone Still is the nom de plume of Columbia, SC based singer-songwriter, Chris Smith, who also composes and records music for film and television. Smith is known for crafting slow burn, sad dad, semi-quiet, emotive tunes with experimental, orchestral, cinematic tendencies; hence, his natural evolution to moving pictures.
The 2005 debut album, Dead Letters, was a critically-acclaimed lo-fi adventure. Recorded over a couple of years by Smith on a Fostex MR-8 in various hovels and holes, living rooms and bathrooms from Austin to Columbia. Dead Letters documents being far from home, but particularly being far from the one you love. Songs have been featured on the NPR program, All Songs Considered: Open Mic, the PBS series, Roadtrip Nation, The United State of Americana, Vol 3, and Performing Songwriter listed Dead Letters as an Editor’s DIY Pick.
Photo: Ben Premeaux
The sophomore album, Ten Cent American Novels, was written in the form of a novel (complete with a prologue, chapters, and epilogue), the big ideas are expressed with big, eclectic musical landscapes – horns, strings, bells, organ and more. The Free Times called it "ingenious in its delivery and substance". No Depression hailed it a "fascinating, cinematic musical exercise".
The third album, Thewaytheworlddies, is a reflection on the death of Smith's brother by suicide. Paste Magazine said the third album, Thewaytheworlddies, "highlights Sunshone Still’s dusky folk rock, [yet] it expands the band’s sonic palette without reservation". And per Paste, "...the spirit of Smith’s brother permeates the album — and makes it all the more powerful for it." But the musical evolution continues.
In 2021, Smith released a self-titled 6-song EP that naturally expands the tunesmith’s sound to a technicolor-tone with experimental, orchestral, cinematic tendencies.
Written and recorded at home over a two year period, Two Crossed Stars (released June 16, 2023) is the first full-length album released by Sunshone Still since 2012. It is also Sunshone's first completely solo effort. The Post & Courier / Free Times called Two Crossed Stars, “A mix of impossibly delicate intimacy, stellar songwriting and creative production.” All songs were written, composed, arranged, performed, recorded, mixed, and produced by Smith at home. It is a full realization of the images and sounds that have been living in him for years waiting to be explored.
Email contact@sunshonestill.com for booking and media inquiries.