Pete Krebs & The Gossamer Wings will release a new album on the first of three Record Store Day Drops on August 29, 2020. The legendary Portland, OR musician’s first solo album in 20 years contains 10 original songs, inspired by a few decades that have seemed like a lifetime and recorded with friends in his hometown of Portland, OR. As Krebs describes, “This album has been a labor of love, 20 years in the making.”
All My Friends Are Ghosts represents the past 20 years of Pete’s life, a period of time full of challenges, including a cancer diagnosis in 2013, which was a close call that changed everything for him. “Everyone has a reckoning in life. We coast for awhile until something wakes us up and we have to change,” Krebs explains. The Portland community rallied for Pete during his illness, coming together to raise money to help with his expenses and get him back on his feet and making music again. The outpouring of support he received is a testament to how beloved the songwriter is among his community.
Krebs has been a seminal member of the Portland, OR music scene since the late 80s and his bands (especially Sub Pop trailblazers Hazel) have helped define Portland’s musical landscape. The body of work from his many different projects – Golden Delicious, The Stolen Sweets, Pete Krebs and his Portland Playboys, The Catnip Brothers and his solo career with his backing band The Gossamer Wings – have made him a respected elder statesman of the local scene. His musical influence extends beyond Portland, with a catalog of a couple dozen albums released on Sub Pop, Rough Trade and Portland’s own Cavity Search Records. He has recorded with Elliott Smith, banjo iconoclast Danny Barnes and Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden, among others.
A curious and versatile musician, Krebs’ output hasn’t been limited to a single genre. In addition to his own original material, he’s explored punk rock, gypsy jazz, traditional country and pre-war jazz, taking a working musician’s approach to learning, writing and performing the various genres that he calls home. Putting the music first, he’s always focused on well-crafted, honest songs and a soulful approach to performance.
The songs on the album are snapshots of the last twenty years of Krebs’ journey, written with the considered honesty of someone who has taken stock of all he has experienced. While exploring heavier, darker subjects, he somehow counterbalances them with an inspiring positivity and a feel good melodicism. This album finds Krebs at his best, writing personal songs that resonate with universal truths and melodies that find their way into the head and the heart.
Today Glide is excited to premiere “Brightest Stars,” a standout track that was inspired by a beloved parental figure, whose unexpected and tragic death shook his faith in divine judgment. Kicking off in folksy fashion with an old time fiddle, the song is a heartfelt reflection of loss. Krebs lets his earthy vocals and direct lyricism convey emotion, buoying it with rich harmonies and a simple, loping instrumental arrangement. These days, Krebs mostly sticks to playing shows in the Portland area, which is unfortunate for anyone who doesn’t live there as he is one of the more musically versatile musicians you will find anywhere. As we hear in this song, Krebs is also adept at crafting folk and Americana tunes.
Krebs describes the inspiration behind the song:
“This one is very personal to me. I was unofficially adopted by the family of a friend, who are from Southern Oregon. They were very accepting of me in ways which filled in some of the gaps I experienced in my own family. The matriarch of the family died in a horrible car wreck when the patriarch of the family fell asleep while driving home early one morning. This happened to two of the kindest, nicest people I know and shook my faith in divine judgement.”
LISTEN:
Photo credit: Andrea Bohon
