Project Description
Similar Artists: James Taylor, Harry Nilsson, early Josh Rouse
Stanhope is the music of Chris Rawlins, who first started performing under a pseudonym to get over stage fright, but soon found artistic freedom in the idea of creating his own identity. He says, “I wanted to feel like I was someone else at first, but eventually became so comfortable writing about personal subjects under a pseudonym, the name seemed more like me. And it’s allowed me to expand my sound and follow changes in my writing”
His music career kicked off in 2014 when he moved to Chicago and started performing original material in public. Five years of open mics, local gigs, and short regional tours later, he released his first solo album, Bring on the Rain, in 2019 with the help of the Old Town School of Folk Music songwriter, teacher, and producer, Steve Dawson who recorded the album. He wrote and recorded his upcoming album, Static, in 2020 and 2021 and it will be the first official release under the Stanhope moniker.
News
RELEASES
“Angry at Strangers” (Single)
Release Date: March 23, 2022
We’re at a place in history where tension and animosity to be “angry at strangers” feels like a constant assault arising from social media, the pandemic, and political unrest. Through gentle melodies and nostalgic-filled polaroids, the song provides a quiet resting place to land from the world around us. The lyrics “the way I always want you in my dreams keeps me getting angry at strangers” and “the way we hurt each other because we can” nudges the listener to examine the deeper issues that cause people to react to the world around us. As Stanhope’s learned, “You’re not just angry at strangers for no reason. The memory of someone or some event can make you angry at the world around you if you don’t deal with that bad memory properly and move on.”
Static (Album)
Release Date: May 6, 2022
Like memories fading in and out, Static’s songs come to life as if heard through the speakers of a transistor radio. Every song on the album draws on the past, either reflecting on it, dwelling on it, or moving beyond it. Stanhope comes at songwriting from a background in fiction/prose writing, with each song working like chapters in a novel to tell the album’s overarching story. Each chapter here is a flashback to a certain scene or place. With the Midwest as a backdrop, the timelessness in his music is influenced by growing up around small towns where change is slow and moving to the city as an adult. Read more
“Scream Inside Your Heart” (Single)
Release Date: April 27, 2022
“Scream Inside Your Heart” is a gentle embrace of comfort within times of tension and struggle. It was written after his wife read a story about the Japanese amusement park asking people to “scream inside their hearts” during the pandemic so as not to spread Covid. “I think she wanted me to write a light-hearted song to ease the tension of the world around us, but at the time I was finding it very difficult to be funny, so I wrote a song of comfort the best way I could in that moment.” Read more
Bio
Stanhope first started performing in public under the name Chris Rawlins as a way to get over stage fright. He says, “I wanted to feel like I was someone else. And I’ll continue to use that name as a stage name/nom de plume, but to expand my sound and follow the changes I’ve noticed in my writing, I decided I wanted to have a band name to go along with that.”
Stanhope is his middle name and his mother’s maiden name. He says, “As I’ve continued to find my voice as a writer, I realize the past and memory are such important themes in my work that I wanted to start releasing music under a name that suited that on a personal level for me.”
“A rich and unforgettable first album from this Chicago based songwriter…surreal and thought-provoking.”
“Rawlins is fingerpicking singer-songwriter troubadour of the old school, his songs drawn from everyday observations, his laid back melodies easy on the ear, his gentle, grainy voice variously evocative of Eric Andersen, James Taylor and, on the tone and phrasing of 'Don't Forget', a folk country-inflected Leonard Cohen.”