Biography
Buck Meek, chiefly recognized for serving as guitarist and backing vocalist in Big Thief, creates gentle and wistful solo material colored by cowboy-country touches. Before assembling the Grammy-nominated indie outfit that later reached the Billboard 200, he issued his earliest shorter recordings in the months preceding the band’s 2014 formation. His understated debut full-length under his own name, Buck Meek, surfaced in 2018. The next two albums, 2021’s Two Saviors and 2023’s Haunted Mountain, grew more collaborative, tracked live to tape by the same core ensemble that animated his warmly sincere songwriting.
Born in Wimberley, Texas, Alexander Buck Meek grew up in Houston and later Wimberley under the care of a glass artist and a child psychologist. Around age six he received his first guitar lessons from his mother and, as a teenager, performed jazz manouche and outlaw country. He completed studies at the Berklee College of Music in the late 2000s, finishing shortly before future collaborator Adrianne Lenker began attending the same school.
After moving from Boston to Brooklyn, Meek crossed paths with Lenker, who had recently arrived; the two recalled an earlier shared bill in Boston. Forming an immediate bond as both friends and musical peers, they released the 2014 duo EPs A-Sides and B-Sides before recruiting bassist Max Oleartchik and drummer James Krivchenia to launch Big Thief. Meek’s first solo studio EP, Heart Was Beat, followed in 2015, featuring contributions from Lenker, Oleartchik, and Mat Davidson, also known as Twain.
Big Thief’s debut album, Masterpiece, appeared on Saddle Creek in 2016, the same year the group performed at the South by Southwest Festival and supported Eleanor Friedberger, Frankie Cosmos, and M. Ward on tour. Their national television debut came with a March 2017 appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers. The quartet’s second album, Capacity, arrived that June and entered the Top 20 of the Billboard Heatseekers, independent, Americana/folk, and vinyl charts.
Following the Capacity touring cycle, which included a headline run and dates alongside Conor Oberst, Meek issued his first solo album, Buck Meek, on Austin’s Keeled Scales label in May. He later supported the record with Twain and opened more than a dozen shows for Jeff Tweedy’s solo performances in 2019.
Reuniting with Big Thief, the band delivered its third consecutive album produced by Andrew Sarlo, the exploratory U.F.O.F., marking their 4AD debut in May 2019. The remainder of the year was spent touring North America and Europe, after which the group released its fourth album, Two Hands, in October; the set became their highest-charting release to that point, reaching number 113 on the Billboard 200. As the year ended, Big Thief earned a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album for U.F.O.F.
When the COVID-19 pandemic halted touring in 2020, Meek recorded his second solo album, Two Saviors, with Davidson, brother Dylan Meek on keyboards, guitarist Adam Brisbin, and drummer Austin Vaughn. Brisbin and Vaughn had previously appeared on Meek’s debut, as had engineers Phil Weinrobe and Sarlo. Keeled Scales released Two Saviors in January 2021.
Meek rejoined Big Thief for the expansive double album Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, produced by Krivchenia and pared from 45 songs to 20. Issued on 4AD in February 2022, it entered the Billboard 200 Top 40 at number 31 and received a second Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album, plus a nomination for Best Alternative Music Performance for the track “Certainty.”
Meek signed with 4AD as a solo artist for his third long-player, Haunted Mountain. Captured live in the studio to two-inch tape by the returning ensemble from Two Saviors, now augmented by bassist Ken Woodward, the album also incorporated modular-synthesizer touches from recordist and mixer Adrian Olsen. Produced by Davidson and shaped by themes of love and its surrounding forces, Haunted Mountain appeared on 4AD in August 2023; five songs, among them the title track, were co-written with Jolie Holland.
Born in Wimberley, Texas, Alexander Buck Meek grew up in Houston and later Wimberley under the care of a glass artist and a child psychologist. Around age six he received his first guitar lessons from his mother and, as a teenager, performed jazz manouche and outlaw country. He completed studies at the Berklee College of Music in the late 2000s, finishing shortly before future collaborator Adrianne Lenker began attending the same school.
After moving from Boston to Brooklyn, Meek crossed paths with Lenker, who had recently arrived; the two recalled an earlier shared bill in Boston. Forming an immediate bond as both friends and musical peers, they released the 2014 duo EPs A-Sides and B-Sides before recruiting bassist Max Oleartchik and drummer James Krivchenia to launch Big Thief. Meek’s first solo studio EP, Heart Was Beat, followed in 2015, featuring contributions from Lenker, Oleartchik, and Mat Davidson, also known as Twain.
Big Thief’s debut album, Masterpiece, appeared on Saddle Creek in 2016, the same year the group performed at the South by Southwest Festival and supported Eleanor Friedberger, Frankie Cosmos, and M. Ward on tour. Their national television debut came with a March 2017 appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers. The quartet’s second album, Capacity, arrived that June and entered the Top 20 of the Billboard Heatseekers, independent, Americana/folk, and vinyl charts.
Following the Capacity touring cycle, which included a headline run and dates alongside Conor Oberst, Meek issued his first solo album, Buck Meek, on Austin’s Keeled Scales label in May. He later supported the record with Twain and opened more than a dozen shows for Jeff Tweedy’s solo performances in 2019.
Reuniting with Big Thief, the band delivered its third consecutive album produced by Andrew Sarlo, the exploratory U.F.O.F., marking their 4AD debut in May 2019. The remainder of the year was spent touring North America and Europe, after which the group released its fourth album, Two Hands, in October; the set became their highest-charting release to that point, reaching number 113 on the Billboard 200. As the year ended, Big Thief earned a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album for U.F.O.F.
When the COVID-19 pandemic halted touring in 2020, Meek recorded his second solo album, Two Saviors, with Davidson, brother Dylan Meek on keyboards, guitarist Adam Brisbin, and drummer Austin Vaughn. Brisbin and Vaughn had previously appeared on Meek’s debut, as had engineers Phil Weinrobe and Sarlo. Keeled Scales released Two Saviors in January 2021.
Meek rejoined Big Thief for the expansive double album Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, produced by Krivchenia and pared from 45 songs to 20. Issued on 4AD in February 2022, it entered the Billboard 200 Top 40 at number 31 and received a second Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album, plus a nomination for Best Alternative Music Performance for the track “Certainty.”
Meek signed with 4AD as a solo artist for his third long-player, Haunted Mountain. Captured live in the studio to two-inch tape by the returning ensemble from Two Saviors, now augmented by bassist Ken Woodward, the album also incorporated modular-synthesizer touches from recordist and mixer Adrian Olsen. Produced by Davidson and shaped by themes of love and its surrounding forces, Haunted Mountain appeared on 4AD in August 2023; five songs, among them the title track, were co-written with Jolie Holland.
Albums
Singles
