The escalator pitch.

Boring names are, well, boring. So before releasing his critically-acclaimed lo-fi debut, Dead Letters, in 2005, Columbia, SC-based singer-songwriter, Chris Smith adopted Sunshone Still as his musical nom de plume. The name was lifted from the lyrics of Nick Drake’s Place To Be.

And I was green, greener than the hill
Where flowers grew and the sun shone still
Now I'm darker than the deepest sea
Just hand me down, give me a place to be

To date, Smith has released four full-length albums and one self-titled EP under the Sunshone Still moniker: Dead Letters, Ten Cent American Novels, ThewaytheworldDies, and Two Crossed Stars.

Recorded over a couple of years by Smith on a Fostex MR-8 in various hovels and holes 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.

Inspired by Hampton Sides’ non-fiction book of the American West called Blood and Thunder, Sunshone’s sophomore album, Ten Cent American Novels, was written in the form of a novel (complete with a prologue, chapters, and epilogue). The concept album’s big ideas, like Manifest Destiny, are expressed with grand, 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".

In 2010, Smith and his family lost his brother to suicide. The third album, ThewaytheworldDies, is a reflection on his brother’s life and death. Paste Magazine said, 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."

From sepia-toned to technicolor, the musical evolution continued. Produced by Jason Hausman (an Emmy Award winning composer and sound designer) and Sunshone and recorded in late 2020 largely at Hausman’s Hot Sakē studio, the self-titled EP (released 4/16/2021) navigates the slow burn, emotive nature of Sunshone Still’s music yet evolves the sound naturally to a larger canvas with experimental, orchestral, cinematic tendencies.

Singles from the EP include Fundamentals of Computing (feat. Emily Sage) and a complete reimagining and rearrangement of Van Halen’s classic I’ll Wait. Fundamentals of Computing evokes Brian Wilson-esque harmonies with nods to influences from the likes of Glen Hansard and Ben Folds.

On June 16, 2023, the newest full-length album, Two Crossed Stars was released. The Post & Courier / Free Times called it, “A mix of impossibly delicate intimacy, stellar songwriting and creative production.” This 10-song collection was entirely written composed, arranged, performed, recorded, mixed, and produced by Smith at his home in Columbia over a two year period. Two Crossed Stars is a full realization of the technicolor images and sounds living in him for years waiting to be explored.

So, although Smith still has a boring real name, Sunshone Still gives him “a place to be”, so to speak.