The emotion on Seattle-born/California-transplant Pete Stewart's solo album, I Gave You A Desert, is impossible to ignore. Songs that range from dark acoustic Nick Drake/Elliot Smith-influenced masterpieces to White Album-esque hard, lonely blues rock outings show both a variety of sonic colors and a depth uncommonly found in modern singer/songwriters.

In the tradition of solo artists such as Lenny Kravitz and Elliot Smith, Pete sings and plays nearly every note contained on his CD, leaving drumming duties to two of his former and current bandmates—Seattle's Kelly Lichtenwaldt and San Diego's Ernie Longoria (of both Sprung Monkey and The Accident Experiment—the nationally acclaimed rock band Pete has served as lead vocalist for during the past four and a half years). He has built a loyal following performing his material both solo and with his current live band, The Plastic Saviors.

The lyrics on I Gave You A Desert reveal an artist who tackles issues of love, loss and personal liberty without falling into the common pitfalls of self-indulgent shoe-gazing and isolation. The result is an album that is wonderfully both messy and beautiful—just like the great records that make Pete's influences.

Pete has also served as a Grammy-award winning producer and songwriter on several projects.