Press release –
Today, Richmond, Virginia-based artists Stephen McCarthy (The Long Ryders, The Jayhawks) and Kevin Pittman (The Dads), who have joined forces as The Sky Chiefs, have unveiled their new single “Engines.” The track, which premiered at Magnet Magazine, is from their forthcoming self-titled LP due out February 13th. “In 1993, the pair began tracking the first of what would become almost 24 songs, unwittingly giving birth to their own litmus test for the genre-defying twang that would soon be called Americana,” said Magnet Magazine in their premiere of “Engines.”
The song paints a portrait of resilience, of a spirit worn down emotionally and mentally, yet one that moves forward toward the promise of something better just beyond the horizon. Recorded without bass or drums in the parlor of a 100-year-old bungalow, the track features antique pump organ, gut-string guitar, and lap steel, creating a wheezing, warm-toned soundscape that feels like a Wild West carnival drifting through the clouds. With dry two-part harmonies and a cinematic, Jules Verne–inspired sense of travel and wonder, the recording pulls listeners into an otherworldly yet deeply human journey.
“Engines” follows the release of lead single, “House Full Of Company,” the first song written and recorded in the duo’s bungalow studio, which was once home to a World War I pilot. It carries the echoes of everyone who’s passed through its walls. Blending memory, presence, and the hum of lingering spirits, the narrator searches for peace amid emotional noise, wondering if heartache and fading laughter are simply yesterday’s ghosts taking up space in the mind.
The Sky Chiefs are what happens when two veteran songwriters, Stephen McCarthy and Kevin Pittman, accidentally create something too good to stay lost forever. In the early 1990s, the pair holed up in a 100-year-old bungalow that doubled as a recording studio, songwriting lab, late-night speakeasy, and occasional test site for neighbor complaints. Over the course of a year, they cranked out two dozen songs full of blood harmony, vintage country twang, and Telecasters loud enough to wake the departed. Then, life happened. The record got shelved, the tapes vanished, and decades passed. The album was lost until this year, when the original recordings magically resurfaced in a friend’s sweltering attic.
Multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter McCarthy was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, in a home filled with the sounds of ‘60s and ’70s pop and old Irish ballads sung by his parents. McCarthy’s early career took him from local Virginia gigs to sessions and stages in Nashville, New York, and London. Seeking new creative ground, he moved west to Los Angeles, where he co-founded and became the singer and lead guitarist for The Long Ryders, a band whose fusion of country twang and punk energy helped define the sound that would later be called Americana.
After returning to Richmond in the 1990s to start a family, McCarthy continued writing, performing, and producing. His composition work even reached the concert hall, with a piece scored by Doug Richards and performed by the Richmond Symphony. Today, he continues to tour the U.S. and Europe with The Long Ryders and The Jayhawks. He has also collaborated with Carla Olson on two albums, alongside several new Long Ryders releases.
Pittman grew up on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Reedville, Virginia, in a family of boatbuilders. His musical spark struck early; with little to do after work hours, he and his friends would play as loud as they could next to a local fish factory. He went on to front The Dads (CBS/Estate Records), an East Coast favorite in the 1980s known for their high-energy live shows and tours with The Kinks, The Romantics, and Culture Club. After The Dads disbanded, Pittman moved to Los Angeles with his next band, The Wit Lincolns, landing a demo deal with Jimmy Iovine at the newly formed Interscope Records.
Returning to the East Coast, Pittman built his own studio and reconnected with longtime friends like McCarthy and Bryan Harvey of House of Freaks. In recent years, he’s released two acclaimed solo albums, Victrola Mouth (2021) and Sundog (2023), earning over 60,000 streams and placements on more than 100 playlists worldwide.
Now, with their long-lost debut restored, remixed by Pittman, and ready for the world to hear, The Sky Chiefs are once again blending McCarthy’s guitar-driven Americana roots with Pittman’s melodic rock instincts, proving that some music really is worth the wait.
The duo will celebrate the release with a show on March 6 at Révéler in Richmond, Virginia.
Visit https://theskychiefs.com.
