After 13 years of selling albums to the Ellensburg locals, ex-Screaming Trees member Mark Pickerel returned to Seattle to focus on his music career. He has since stepped out from behind his drum kit to front Mark Pickerel and His Praying Hands, which has released two albums. The latest album, Cody’s Dream, launched last month and has been well received by the Seattle community and beyond.

Growing up in the small town of Ellensburg, Wash., I had only one option for buying music: Rodeo Records, a small, independent record shop on Main Street. Each of my purchases was made from the quiet young owner who, it was rumored, had been involved in the Seattle grunge scene and had even recorded a couple of tracks with Kurt Cobain.

As it happened, the rumor was true. The man was Mark Pickerel, the original drummer of the Screaming Trees, who had played with Nirvana members Kurt Cobain and Kris Novoselic, as well as a number of other prominent Seattle musicians.

Pickerel then put his musical career on the back burner and opened Rodeo Records in 1991. He continued to perform and record on occasion, and often played at Ellensburg bars and restaurants with local band the Dusty 45s, that is until Rodeo Records was forced to close in 2004 due to competition from music downloading and the new Fred Meyer.

If you’re envisioning a tired set of tracks by an old rocker trying to recapture the glory days of Seattle grunge, then you are way off base. Cody’s Dream has little resemblance to the music Pickerel produced with the Screaming Trees. Mark Pickerel and His Praying Hands plays what can be loosely defined as alt-country, but includes aspects of soul, blues, folk, honky-tonk and everything in between. Pickerel’s rough, deep voice is beautifully complemented by steel slide guitar to create a mellow, old-time country sound that is pure Americana.

On one of the albums standout tracks, “The Last Leaves,” Pickerel croons, “Go be an Arizona Rose/ A melody that grows/ In the sun of someone/ Before we come undone/ Take the Navajo road/ Past the boarder patrol/ Go wild down there/ Outta my control/ Just leave.” Although the album is primarily composed of Pickerel originals, he does offer a cover of Bob Dylan’s “One More Cup of Coffee,” which is remarkably more desolate than the original.

Mark Pickerel and His Praying Hands will play a free all-ages show at 3 p.m. Saturday at Easy Street Records on Queen Anne. If you haven’t already, you can pick up a copy of Cody’s Dream at the show.

[Reach reporter Joseph Darda at arts@thedaily.washington.edu.]