DeLeo with his custom fretted guitarron With a career that has accumulated many milestones and tremendous achievements in the span of almost four decades, Stone Temple Pilots’ Robert DeLeo has just now notched off a new accomplishment at age 56. With the release of Lessons Learned, DeLeo marks his debut as a solo artist through the deeply personal and beautifully emotive album. Though taking the spotlight in this way is a first, songwriting is nothing new to the seasoned bassist, as he has always served as the principal writer for Stone Temple Pilots, alongside his guitarist brother Dean, drummer Eric Kertz, and the band’s latest singer, Jeff Gutt. Stylistically, the album differs greatly from his alternative-rock writing with STP, as energetic riffs, bold bass runs, and distorted lines are traded for warm acoustic tones, folk and roots influences, and at the heart of it all, simplicity. In 2020 Robert was faced with his longest stretch of downtime off the road since he first formed STP in 1989, and he was experiencing changes in his life that resonated deeply within him on every level. Being unable to tour for the release of STP’s acoustic album Perdida [2020], he decided that he needed a vehicle to work out the emotions he was experiencing. Finding inspiration with the recent acquisitions of a modified guitarrón and a nylon-string guitar, he turned to the one constant comfort in his life: songwriting. Focusing on his lyrics and the bigger scope of each song, his bass playing is somewhat minimal across the album’s ten tracks, with a greater focus on placement and tone, which he accomplishes expertly. His rich lines on “Big Sky Woman,” “Love Is Not Made of Gold,” and “Lessons Learned” tastefully encapsulate the low end of the music that filled his New Jersey home when he was a boy. A lot has happened in Robert’s life since those early memories, but his love of folk and bossa nova music has always remained and has fueled his writing for STP as much as it has his solo work. Stepping away from his larger-than-life persona that he’s cultivated with the band, this next chapter unveils the vulnerability and sentimental warmth of a man reflecting on his ups and downs, while healing himself along the way. As far as debut albums go, this one was long overdue and well worth the wait. DeLeo with his collection of mint vintage basses What inspired you to write your own solo album at this point in your career? Really, it was the state of the world these past couple of years. Everyone was allowed a lot of time to sit down and rethink life, which has definitely been rearranged. I had that time to pull out these instruments and not only appreciate them, but start playing all of them again. After touring for so long, I had an urge to get back into my guitar playing again. I play so much bass at all times, but I’ve written a whole lot of songs on guitar, and I draw a lot of inspiration from that. I got back into my fing