Search - Stephen Clair :: Little Radio

With past honors like Alternative Musician of the Year (Hudson Valley Magazine) and Best Male Solo Acoustic Performer (Metroland Magazine), Stephen Clair returns with Little Radio ? the follow-up to his critically acclaimed Altoona Hotel, whose title track garnered airplay on both sides of the Atlantic, establishing Clair as a highly respected songsmith, guitar player, and performer.

After living in Austin, New Orleans, San Francisco, upstate NY, and the south of France, Clair has finally settled in NYC. The satisfaction of having a place to call home has never come easy to Clair, whose records have often focused on a perpetual discontent in his own locale ? wherever that happens to be. On Little Radio's opening track, "Blame it on Your Town," with its blasé strut, Clair declares: "Blame it on your town/Cos there?s another one down the road/And it can?t be as bad as this one/Until you call it home."

Clair thinks differently now.

Little Radio makes it clear that Clair?s newfound satisfaction is in planting roots in NYC. In "Dancing in NY" and "Jen in Her Underwear," Clair embraces the Gotham lifestyle, while in "Fatten Your Landlord," he confesses: "When you sign your name/they open up a vein/a lease can feel like your life/now some real estate mogul/is sitting? on your dough/there?ll never be an option to buy."

Many of the songs are odes ? to people ("Watching You," "Lemonade", "Record Sleeve"), places ("Dancing in New York"), and things ("Little Radio"). On the title track, with its powwow of plunking guitars, banjo, and spaghetti western guitar line, Clair pronounces his love for the AM/FM listening device he holds in his lap late into the night: "I?m sitting on the floor/hunched over my little radio/my forehead is practically touching it/I get the best sound/by putting my head down/next to the speakers."