NO. 258 | ON THE GREENBELT WITH PETE STILES, JUNE 2, 2026
Pete is my neighbor, a longtime follower of things PSO, and happens to be a killer mandolin and guitar player who has deep roots in the Austin music scene.
For this piece, instead of meeting up on the porch, we hiked and schlepped mic stands etc down to the Greenbelt, which is a 7.25 mile stretch of public land forming an oasis running through the south and central Austin. Barton Creek used to flow freely here back in the day, but the mega drought has left limestone canyons that feel a little like walking on the moon, if the moon has trees and oxygen.
We set up a couple mics and a field recorder and just went at it for about an hour. We had a few hikers stop by, and a father and son from Austria, who offered kind words of encouragement. The track we chose to share has a little of everything: great bird sounds, a spacey intro, and Pete's face-melting mando calisthenics set against a crescendo of driving strums of guitar.
For this piece, instead of meeting up on the porch, we hiked and schlepped mic stands etc down to the Greenbelt, which is a 7.25 mile stretch of public land forming an oasis running through the south and central Austin. Barton Creek used to flow freely here back in the day, but the mega drought has left limestone canyons that feel a little like walking on the moon, if the moon has trees and oxygen.
We set up a couple mics and a field recorder and just went at it for about an hour. We had a few hikers stop by, and a father and son from Austria, who offered kind words of encouragement. The track we chose to share has a little of everything: great bird sounds, a spacey intro, and Pete's face-melting mando calisthenics set against a crescendo of driving strums of guitar.
ABOUT PETE STILES
Here is a little bit about Pete in his own words:
From 1996 until 2008 I was the prodigiously full-tilt mandolin player for the alternative bluegrass band The Meat Purveyors, releasing 6 recordings on Bloodshot Records and touring extensively in North America. During the years that followed (and several that overlapped) I played lead guitar for various country acts in Central Texas including Ransom Tullis and The Luxury Liners, The Danged and D.B. Harris. Intertwined with that was more mandolin work, both live and in studio, for various Austin and Chicago based performers including The Austin Family Jewels and Dean Schlabowski of The Waco Brothers.
In 2019 (great timing for covid) I founded Mother Neff, a spiritual cousin to PSO (think Flaming Lips meets Grateful Dead), to stretch out from the limitations of 'roots rocks' both as a writer and instrumentalist. Mother Neff has numerous recordings on all the digital outlets for you to enjoy and performs regularly in Austin.
Dusting off the mandolin to record with PSO was an easy-flowing, natural fit, hopefully leading to innumerable future collaborations. Cheers!
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