Pete Krebs

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Pete Krebs is an independent musician from Portland, Oregon, best known as a member of the punk-pop band Hazel, and for a split record with Elliott Smith.

Having already served successful tours in the Northwest punk bands Thrillhammer, Hazel (two albums on Sub Pop records) and the rambunctious bluegrass band Golden Delicious, Pete Krebs has established himself as a prolific contemporary singer-songwriter. Much like his friend and collaborator Elliott Smith, Krebs uses his more rock-oriented roots to drive intensely introspective songs. Both Krebs and Smith have passed through early periods of extremely stripped down solo recordings to tackling grander works.

Debuting as a solo musician in 1995 on Cavity Search Records, Krebs' starkly acoustic Brigadier established him in the crowded singer-songwriter idiom.

The 1997 release Western Electric often recalls the folk sounds of the Greenwich Village movement ("J.F.K.", "Horsepower Daydreams", "Purple Heart Of Texas") and even the pastoral folk of Donovan and Gordon Lightfoot ("Madison", "Purple Heart Of Texas"), if not Nick Drake's manic depression ("Elevation"). "Hideaway" and the 10-minute instrumental "Luminous" show Krebs' stylistic range.

Sweet Ona Rose, following in 1999, filled out his alt-country sound with a cast of friends (including former Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepherd).

Krebs took a few side trips along the way, collaborating with other Portland, Oregon Gypsy-jazz enthusiasts on the album Hot Ginger and Dynamite in 2001. He also teamed up with Bad Livers singer and banjo virtuoso Danny Barnes for Duet For Clarinet and Goat (Cavity Search) in which the musicians covered each other's songs.

Krebs' latest offering, the folky I Know It By Heart (Cavity Search, 2003), was a collection of melodic vignettes that hark back to the Kinks' exuberant guitar-pop ("Sleeping Beauty" and "Distant Lights of Home") and to Sixties bubblegum pop ("Smashed to Splinters"). Krebs also shows an experimental side with the trip-hop of "Kid Domino".

As of 2007 Pete is playing many gigs with his band, The Stolen Sweets. The Sweets play music modeled after that of the Boswell Sisters, a 1930's group.