“I’ve played MilkBoy before and it was one of the best nights of the tour! People in Philly are the best!” proclaims modern crooner Stephen Day, before going on to characterize the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection as having some of the best energy of any city. The Nashville-based singer/songwriter will be returning to the city and MilkBoy for a sold-out headlining show this Saturday, March 1st, amidst The Gold Mine Tour, which kicked off last week and features a plethora of venues that are well over twice (and sometimes three times) the capacity of the Center City barroom. During a phone chat last month, I ask Day how he likes playing these cramped and sweaty spaces, compared to more grandiose rooms (He’s also recently played significantly larger spaces supporting the likes of Stephen Sanchez, Teddy Swims, and our phriends Lawrence.), and he exclaims, “I love it, Man!”
The Gold Mine Tour is in support of the titular LP that dropped in August, Day’s third full-length studio album, which he describes for me as a bit of a return to his roots: “The first music I ever put out, when I was 19, was soulful. So this was sort of dipping my toe back in the soul realm, a return in some ways to my love of soul and the kinds of soul that I love.” However, he tells me that the album – which he’s characterized as a kind of concept album, revolving around, “the narrative of trying to find, keep and hold onto something tangible,” which is how he defines the album’s namesake phrase – is more complicated than that, encompassing the sounds that reflect his tastes as a music fan in general.
“This album, I wrote two-and-a-half years ago. It started out of my love for ‘70s soul music and ‘60s country music. I wanted to be able to do those two things, but make it modern. I wanted to fuse these two worlds of music that I love, but it’s ultimately just me.”
Stephen Day originally hails from Georgia, but has called Nashville home for years and says he’s a huge fan of Music City, whose music scene he explains as being a little more nuanced than some realize: “Dude, it’s the best! It’s the most warm and welcoming and collaborative place… There’s lot of country, but there’re a lot of communities for people outside of country, too, like the soul-pop sound that I do.” He’s even brought along fellow Nashville musician Abbey Cone, who primarily partakes in country herself, for the first half(ish) of The Gold Mine Tour (including its stop at MilkBoy), who he says he’s a big fan of: “She’s one of the best artists in Nashville and just an incredible songwriter.”
Although Day admits to holding his experiences in America dear (from his roots in Georgia, to his current home, to places like Philly), when I ask about some of the highlights of his decade as a professional musician, he tells me that getting to travel the world is something special: “Playing shows in the US has been amazing, but it’s been pretty wild to go overseas. Like, I played the Philippines as part of a festival, and I played London. Whenever I get to do that, it’s like, ‘Woah, this music is reaching people beyond The States.’” However, he also says playing live itself provides a lot of exceptionally cool opportunities. “Live music is such a beautiful thing. I approach the live aspect of my artistry as this separate being… When I’m playing live, I’m breathing new life into the songs in a way that creates a totally new record live. It feels like a new version of the record,” he explains, which he tells me often feels more “vulnerable and raw.”
This current headlining run takes Stephen Day through early-mid April, with the second half(ish) of dates finding him joined by Anna Vaus, another Nashville-based singer/songwriter who, like Abbey Cone, has actually toured with our buddies Trousdale. However, Day tells me that fans can definitely expect some unreleased music shortly after the conclusion of The Gold Mine Tour: “I’m wrapping up a companion EP, and hoping that drops after the tour wraps… It’s basically three more songs that didn’t make the album, one of which was teased on the album as an interlude, a song called ‘Moonshine.’”
