STEPHEN CLAIR SOLO
“Clair’s songs have always come from the universe in a moment: on Altoona Hotel, it’s the sound of a radio wafting from a car parked in the yard, and you can feel how those long summer days stretched on; on Little Radio they are the reflections of a young man dropped into the punky, quirky city, staggered by urban affairs but never strangled by irony; and on Under the Bed, with its lonesome view from the road, the moments are of homeward longing wherein songs and singer become classical and wise. This is growth and change, chronicled in recording the small moments along the way, then fixing them in sound skillfully and soulfully, but never so seriously that the twinkle in Clair’s eye is masked.”
RELIX June 2024
Live in western Tennessee, 2024
Stephen Clair Solo
Stephen Clair, songwriter, touring recording artist, band leader, festival and event producer, music school founder and teacher, present and accounted for.
Known for his wry humor and guitar stylings, NY’s Stephen Clair has been a fixture on the Americana, singer-songwriter and garage rock scenes since 1997’s, Altoona Hotel.
Clair came to prominence when the late Rita Houston added "Jen in Her Underwear" to rotation on WFUV, putting Clair on the map and the road. Nowadays he splits his driving time between rock shows with his 5-piece The Stephen Clair Transmissions and intimate solo shows, which have been described as a “a masterclass in guitar accompaniment.” Paste Magazine calls Clair's lyrics “…everyman poetry.”
Clair’s latest album “The Presentation of Self In Everyday Life” is rawboned, featuring nothing more than Clair and a guitar. Each song is a complete take, a miniature story. Every note—including the air around it—is intentional.
Stephen Clair is the go-to singer-songwriter/guitar-slinger for audiences who arrive hugging, leave hugging, can’t wait to laugh through their tears, and sing along; all while mesmerized by Clair’s guitar playing.
The essence of the itinerant troubadour, performing from Seattle to the south of France, Clair has been everywhere man. Clair is prolific, writing multiple songs a week. He has been teaching sold-out songwriting classes for years.
Clair’s wry humor and sharp eye have been likened to The Felice Brothers, John Prine, and Ray Davies. Clair sings of three-legged dogs leading parades and of leaving his boots in the street in hopes that someone with the right size feet might come along. Clair is a singular songwriter and “a fearless performer,’ says San Antonio Express.
Nashville Scene says Clair has a “mean hand” on guitar, and between that and his 50-pound sack of wit, no wonder he’s toured with the likes of James McMurtry and Robert Earl Keen.
“Where The Wild Things Are meets The Kinks” — Nippertown
"Delightfully enchanting" — MAXIMUM VOLUME MUSIC
"Worthless Treasure"
Live. Beacon NY, 2023
