Richmond, Virginia-based artists Stephen McCarthy (The Long Ryders, The Jayhawks) and Kevin Pittman (The Dads) have joined forces as The Sky Chiefs and announced their forthcoming self-titled LP will be released on 13th February 2026.
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 neighbour complaints. Over the course of a year, they cranked out two dozen songs but 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.
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.
Both McCarthy and Pittman started out in Virginia before seeking new opportunities elsewhere. Their respective journeys took them all over the US but since 1990 they have been based back in their home area. You can find pre save and pre order links via the band’s website.
The duo has unveiled the album’s first single and its accompanying video, ‘House Full Of Company’. It was the first song they wrote and recorded in the bungalow, which was the former home of a World War I pilot. The band says it reflects the spirits, past and present, that inhabited it. The narrator is just trying to find peace amid the static of so many people passing through, when friends and long-lost kin come to visit. “Heartaches bring headaches and laughter fades to static, and we wonder – could it just be yesterday‘s ghosts taking up space in our heads?” they ask.
