Steve Purtee Music

I'm not your typical musician. By day, I'm a Math and Physics professor. By night, I'm a storyteller who happens to use guitar, bass, and song to tell an epic tale over two decades in the making.

The Way began with a single song I wrote over 20 years ago called "Out of the Way"—about a religious fanatic on death row, facing execution for an act of terrorism committed in the name of faith. That one song sparked another, then another, until it evolved into a complete narrative spanning over 30 songs.

This isn't just an album. It's a sprawling story about Harold—a man convinced to fight in a war he didn't believe in, who watched his friends die, came home to a broken marriage and a divided world, and lost a childhood friend to suicide. Facing tremendous loss, he found solace in religion, but his grief twisted into delusion. He started a cult, convinced his followers to kill, and after a compound raid, watched them commit mass suicide. Now on death row with nothing left to lose, Harold faces his final reckoning.

Part 1: Babylon Will Fall is the first chapter of this journey, professionally recorded with vocalist Craig Cairns from Tailgunner bringing Harold's story to life. It tells the fragments: the war, the loss, the breaking point. It sets the stage for what's to come.

This is music with a story that demands to be heard.