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All Music Guide:
Singer/songwriter Pete Droge's career was helped immeasurably by his friendship with Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. McCready helped Droge secure a deal with American Records to release his 1994 debut, Necktie Second. Droge is a rootsy rocker in the vein of Tom Petty and John Mellencamp, with the occasional introspective ballad. On the strength of the tongue-in-cheek single "If You Don't Love Me (I'll Kill Myself)," Necktie Second became an AAA hit. Find a Door followed in 1996, but it had a hard time finding an audience, partially because American Records was faltering financially at the time. During 1997, he wrote his third album and severed ties with American, moving to the Epic subsidiary 57 Records. Like his two previous records, his first album for the label, Spacey and Shakin, was produced by Brendan O'Brien. Droge took over production duties for 2003's Skywatching. It was followed in 2006 by Under the Waves.
Wikipedia:
Pete Droge (born March 11, 1969 in Seattle, Washington) is an American alternative/folk rock musician from Vashon Island (grew up Bainbridge Island) in Washington State's Puget Sound. His debut album Necktie Second, released by American Records in 1994, featured the tongue-in-cheek If You Don't Love Me (I'll Kill Myself), (which also appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Dumb and Dumber), as well as the songs "Sunspot Stopwatch" and "So I am Over You."
Droge's next album, Find A Door, was released two years later in the summer of 1996 under the name of Pete Droge and The Sinners; his backing band included Dave Hull (bass), Rob Brill (drums), Peter Stroud (guitar/vocals) and Elaine Summers (guitar/vocals). This album met with critical success but received little airplay. Notable songs include You Should Be Running, Dear Diane and Mr. Jade.
Droge subsequently released two more solo records, Spacey And Shakin' and Skywatching; the latter was released on his own label, Puzzle Tree Records, through United Musicians.
In 1996, Droge contributed the title song to the movie Beautiful Girls. Other credits include contributions to albums by Kim Richey and Stone Gossard. In 2000, Droge appeared as a "Hyatt Singer" in the movie Almost Famous, performing "Small Time Blues" with Elaine Summers. The small part was a tribute to Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, according to Cameron Crowe on the Director's Cut Commentary of the movie. He mentions he met them in 1973.
His latest project, The Thorns, is a three-part harmony Adult Alternative super group, which features other notable artists Matthew Sweet and Shawn Mullins. His song "Going Whichever Way The Wind Blows" from the album Under The Waves can be heard on a Toyota Sequoia commercial. Most recently, his song "Two of the Lucky Ones" plays in the background in the 2009 movie Zombieland.
