Chris Stamey has released “Waterloo Sunset,” the lead single off Modernism, the latest collection from the North Carolina songwriter / vocalist / guitarist / Producer. “Waterloo Sunset” also has a 7″ colored-vinyl version, arriving this Friday on May 8, 2026.

Conceived as a companion piece to 2025’s Anything Is Possible, the new album is a further “love letter” to the variety of music heard on AM and free-form FM radio in the 1960s and early 70s. The album therefore features many of his favorite songs from that era. The title is also “a wink and a nod” to the fact that it was made primarily at Modern Recording (Chapel Hill, NC).

Modernism is being released by Flatiron Recordings on 12” LP vinyl, CD, digital download and streaming services on June 19, 2026.

The album 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]).

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.

Chris Stamey shares:

This record was a blast to make. 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.

Although a bevy of charismatic drummers are on board, including Jody Stephens, Jon Wurster, Mitch Easter, Alex Chilton, and Will Rigby, more than half of the tracks were cut with session ace Rob Ladd (Alanis Morrisette, the Connells) in the chair.

Stamey says:

I’ve been the beneficiary of Rob Ladd’s drumming expertise during many live gigs over the last decade. We met up one October day to revisit some of these live arrangements—in hopes of finding ‘a few’ to add to a deluxe version of ‘Waterloo Sunset’ that the dB’s had cut with me a while back. Of course there are so many great songs out there: on a different day, it might have been a totally different record.