Sixteen years ago, Pete Droge went looking for his birth mother; instead, he found her obituary. Rather than marking the end of the story, though, that discovery launched a remarkable journey of personal growth and healing, one that would find Droge reuniting with long-lost relatives, battling a mysterious illness, and finding himself in the process.
“It’s been transformational,” Droge reflects. “I learned so much about adoption trauma, grief and loss and perseverance and identity. I learned so much about myself.”
Droge explores it all with poetic grace on his captivating new album, Fade Away Blue. Recorded with Grammy-winning producer Paul Bryan (Aimee Mann), the collection is largely autobiographical, offering up a series of dreamy, cinematic snapshots from throughout Droge’s life as he reflects on the existential forces that mold and shape us. The songs are bittersweet, balancing longing and gratitude in equal measure, and the arrangements are warm and inviting to match, with a spotlight fixed firmly on Droge’s tender, comforting lyrics and understated delivery throughout. The result is an album a lifetime in the making, a rich, revelatory sonic memoir that faces down doubt and despair with love, resilience, and commitment at every turn.
When Bryan came onboard to co-produce, the pair devised a system in which Droge could record at home while Bryan and the all-star band they’d assembled—guitarist Rusty Anderson (Paul McCartney), drummer Jay Bellerose (Robert Plant & Alison Krauss), pianist Lee Pardini (Dawes, Chris Stapleton), pedal steel player Greg Liesz (Jackson Browne), and fiddler Gabe Witcher (Punch Brothers)—could contribute their parts from Los Angeles.
“We had a setup where I could hear exactly what they were hearing in the studio almost in real time,” Droge explains. “I’d tune into what they were playing and then we’d chat on the phone between takes and trade notes and ideas. Paul and I turned out to be so well-matched creatively that it was just a dream.”
For Pete Droge, the journey is its own reward.
Today, Glide is offering an exclusive premiere of the video for “Fade Away Blue,” which Droge admits to choosing as the title track “because it’s about coming out of depression. It’s not something that happens all at once. It’s a slow, steady process, a journey that never really ends.” You can hear these feelings throughout the song, which is a breezy and reflective work of folk-pop that shimmers with Droge’s dreamy harmonies and slide guitar. As we have come to expect from Droge, the musicianship on display is top-notch, and his ability to weave in thoughtful lyricism and catchy vocals makes for a welcome return to the solo space.
Droge describes the inspiration behind the tune:
“Little did I know a few years back when Elaine Summers and I wrote ‘Fade Away Blue’ that ‘jeans’ and ‘genes’ would be such a hot topic. ‘Fade Away Blue’ speaks to the nature side of the nature vs nurture equation. Learning that I came upon my depression issues naturally made it possible for me to be more accepting of myself. As a result of that acceptance—and a good deal of therapy—thankfully, those depressive episodes have become increasingly rare.”
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