 Credit: Y. Orhan
After many successful years in France, Chris Stills turned his attention back to LA where the pieces fell into place for him to release his first album in over a decade, Don’t Be Afraid. Released on March 23rd, Don’t Be Afraid threads together intimate, honest storytelling, rock ‘n’ roll energy, pop panache, and classic grit in an eleven-song collection that is undeniably his most personal to date. On release day, Stills kindly took the time to speak about the project, Light Up the Blues, and more.
Although you’ve been busy in other endeavors, it’s been over ten years since your last record. Was there anything that spurred the release or was it just a matter of everything falling into place? A lot of it is that. Over the past ten years I was living in France and acting in a musical, then I moved back to L.A. and was doing a bit of television and being a single Dad to my two lovely daughters. I was taking a break from the label world and the whole business side of music, but I was playing shows too. I played the Hotel Café many times with very little to show for it - and that was cool with me - but then I finally met people, like David Saw, who motivated me to get out there again. Things take time, but you know, good things come to those who wait. It’s onward and upward from here on out, with eyes on the future. Definitely a good perspective to have. Did you approach the making of Don’t Be Afraid any differently than your two previous records? It was totally different from the last record with the biggest difference being that the only guy in charge was me. When you’re with a label they kind of steer you in certain directions and this record was a lot of me calling my very talented friends like Dan Burns, Michael Chaves, Zach Ray, and others asking if they had the time to be a part of it. They kindly agreed, so we’d record a few songs, then a few months later we’d do a few more, making these songs like snapshots of points in my journey. Those are eleven snapshots, including three co-writes, two with David Saw and the other with Ryan Adams. Were the songs all written recently, pulled from awhile back, or a combination? A combination. For this album, I let the songs find me. There were some older ones from 2013, and there were more recent ones, like the two with David which I wrote last year. This album is really about the trials and tribulations of a guy who puts his life together after a breakup, so there’s a lot of ups and downs, but there’s also songs like “Daddy’s Little Girl,” which is a song for my daughters. I wrote that song after I saw this diamond commercial on tv and it made me realize that one day I was going to have to give my daughters away to another guy – and be happy about it (laughing). This song is for all the dads out there as a way to tell their daughters that no matter what happens in life, you’ll always be there for them. I was crying the whole time I was wrote that song and when I play it live, a lot of people end up crying too. We should be sponsored by Kleenex (laughing). 
It’s an emotional song. There’s a lot of emotion on the entire album, as well as a lot of honesty.
I listen to music and a lot of the stuff people write are stories that sound cool, but I was rebuilding my life and I wasn’t feeling cool, so I think it wasn’t really a choice to write this way, but a necessity to get it out and share it with people. With this record, I just wanted the honesty to come through in the songs. It absolutely does, and that honesty is front and center on the title track, “Don’t Be Afraid.” Is that why you chose it as the title of the album? That song is a sign of the times, but it also means a lot to me personally. It’s a song that addresses fear and how it can stop you in your tracks and keep you from where you’re going. For me, I needed to stop being afraid to release the record. In a larger context, I was playing that song in France when the Paris attacks happened, so the song took on a whole new meaning for me. And it also can apply to what’s going on here in the U.S. It’s looking all gloom and doom and I want to tell people it’s going to be okay in the end. I believe in hope. Is there any particular significance to anchoring the album with “This Summer Love” and “In The Meantime?” It's funny because the other day I was thinking they should have been inverted. The whole record is me leaving the label, moving to France for stability and building a life, and then the divorce, and what happened after that. “This Summer Love” is this idea about getting yourself together and meeting someone again after years of marriage….and how risky and scary it can be. You wonder if you can do it again, but then you realize that you don’t need to be afraid to fall in love again. Absolutely. In addition to the album release show in NYC, will you be out supporting the record? We are working things out, but I will definitely be coming to a town near you in the future. On April 21st, though, we have our annual benefit for Autism Speaks, Light Up the Blues, for which I'm the musical director and co-producer with my stepmom and dad. This year we have Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Burt Bacharach, Judy Collins, Sheryl Crow, and others performing with Jack Black as the emcee. It’s a super fun show, but the cool thing is we also bring people who are on the spectrum on stage to perform. One year we had a girl sing “Ave Maria” and she had everyone in tears by the time she was done. To me, the biggest message from that is don’t let a disability keep you from doing the things you want to do. They’re amazing kids and human beings and it feels so good to be able to do our part and give back. Website/Facebook/Twitter/Purchase
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