Biography
Will Sheff, founder and sole enduring presence in the Texas indie rock band Okkervil River, has traversed a range of sounds from vivid Americana and pastoral folk through rowdy indie rock to electronic-tinged psych pop across such noted albums as The Stage Names in 2007, the Billboard 200 Top 40 entry I Am Very Far from 2011, and In the Rainbow Rain in 2018. His debut solo outing, Nothing Special, arrived in 2022 and, title notwithstanding, continued to avoid mainstream territory while embracing cinematic soft rock alongside psychedelic and Baroque pop.
Born July 7, 1976, in New Hampshire, where he attended Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, Sheff later majored in English at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and graduated in 1998. He subsequently moved to Austin, Texas, and launched Okkervil River—taking the name from a Tatyana Tolstaya short story—with high school classmate Seth Warren on drums and Zachary Thomas on bass. The trio issued several EPs, among them Stars Too Small to Use in 2000, before meeting multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Meiburg at a local bar; Meiburg joined soon afterward, and the group made its initial strong impression at the SXSW festival in March 2000.
Producer Brian Beattie attended the SXSW set and agreed to produce the debut album Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See. Warren relocated to California during those sessions and was replaced by drummer Mark Pedini, while the band signed with Jagjaguwar, which issued the completed record in January 2002. A second album, Down the River of Golden Dreams, followed a year later. Pedini had exited by early 2003, and Travis Nelson took over drums in time for another SXSW appearance alongside lap steel guitarist Howard Draper.
Already established in Texas, Okkervil River achieved national attention with Black Sheep Boy in 2005 and the Black Sheep Boy Appendix EP several months afterward. Both projects involved a broad array of musicians as the lineup shifted again with Scott Brackett joining on keyboards and Pat Pestorius replacing Zach Thomas on bass. Virgin Records reissued the Black Sheep Boy material in Europe amid rising international interest, yet several members felt divided between Okkervil River and Shearwater, the group Meiburg and Sheff had begun in 2001 as a side project that gradually became a primary focus. Meiburg departed to concentrate fully on Shearwater, Brian Cassidy came aboard, and the refreshed lineup debuted with The Stage Names in 2007.
The Stage Names reached number 62 on the Billboard 200, the band's strongest showing to that point. Pianist Justin Sherburn joined three months after its release. Further changes occurred in 2008 when Cassidy left and was succeeded by the Wrens' Charles Bissell, who toured through the summer before yielding the guitar spot to Lauren Gurgiolo. With the new configuration in place, Okkervil River released its fifth album, The Stand Ins, that September; after television appearances and tour dates, the record climbed to number 42 in the U.S., and the band served as Roky Erickson's backing group on True Love Cast Out All Evil, which Sheff produced—a role he repeated on Okkervil River's 2011 release I Am Very Far, the band's career-high Billboard 200 peak at number 32. In the interim, Sheff added vocals to the New Pornographers' album Together.
On 2013's The Silver Gymnasium, an 11-track tribute to his hometown of Meridian, New Hampshire, Sheff revisited his past; it marked Okkervil River's seventh full-length and first for ATO Records. The following years brought Sheff a series of personal and professional difficulties, yet by 2016 he had reconstructed both himself and the band, resulting in the deeply personal Away. Two years later, Sheff and company delivered In the Rainbow Rain, a bright and stylistically varied collection that marked a clear shift from the bucolic folk of the prior album.
With Okkervil River functioning essentially as a solo vehicle supported by numerous collaborators, Sheff pursued a strictly solo direction on his next release. Drawing from psychedelic pop, Baroque pop, and classic soft rock influences, Nothing Special appeared on ATO in 2022 and featured contributions from Benjamin Lazar Davis, Christian Lee Hutson, Cassandra Jenkins, and Fruit Bats' Eric D. Johnson, among others.
Born July 7, 1976, in New Hampshire, where he attended Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, Sheff later majored in English at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and graduated in 1998. He subsequently moved to Austin, Texas, and launched Okkervil River—taking the name from a Tatyana Tolstaya short story—with high school classmate Seth Warren on drums and Zachary Thomas on bass. The trio issued several EPs, among them Stars Too Small to Use in 2000, before meeting multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Meiburg at a local bar; Meiburg joined soon afterward, and the group made its initial strong impression at the SXSW festival in March 2000.
Producer Brian Beattie attended the SXSW set and agreed to produce the debut album Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See. Warren relocated to California during those sessions and was replaced by drummer Mark Pedini, while the band signed with Jagjaguwar, which issued the completed record in January 2002. A second album, Down the River of Golden Dreams, followed a year later. Pedini had exited by early 2003, and Travis Nelson took over drums in time for another SXSW appearance alongside lap steel guitarist Howard Draper.
Already established in Texas, Okkervil River achieved national attention with Black Sheep Boy in 2005 and the Black Sheep Boy Appendix EP several months afterward. Both projects involved a broad array of musicians as the lineup shifted again with Scott Brackett joining on keyboards and Pat Pestorius replacing Zach Thomas on bass. Virgin Records reissued the Black Sheep Boy material in Europe amid rising international interest, yet several members felt divided between Okkervil River and Shearwater, the group Meiburg and Sheff had begun in 2001 as a side project that gradually became a primary focus. Meiburg departed to concentrate fully on Shearwater, Brian Cassidy came aboard, and the refreshed lineup debuted with The Stage Names in 2007.
The Stage Names reached number 62 on the Billboard 200, the band's strongest showing to that point. Pianist Justin Sherburn joined three months after its release. Further changes occurred in 2008 when Cassidy left and was succeeded by the Wrens' Charles Bissell, who toured through the summer before yielding the guitar spot to Lauren Gurgiolo. With the new configuration in place, Okkervil River released its fifth album, The Stand Ins, that September; after television appearances and tour dates, the record climbed to number 42 in the U.S., and the band served as Roky Erickson's backing group on True Love Cast Out All Evil, which Sheff produced—a role he repeated on Okkervil River's 2011 release I Am Very Far, the band's career-high Billboard 200 peak at number 32. In the interim, Sheff added vocals to the New Pornographers' album Together.
On 2013's The Silver Gymnasium, an 11-track tribute to his hometown of Meridian, New Hampshire, Sheff revisited his past; it marked Okkervil River's seventh full-length and first for ATO Records. The following years brought Sheff a series of personal and professional difficulties, yet by 2016 he had reconstructed both himself and the band, resulting in the deeply personal Away. Two years later, Sheff and company delivered In the Rainbow Rain, a bright and stylistically varied collection that marked a clear shift from the bucolic folk of the prior album.
With Okkervil River functioning essentially as a solo vehicle supported by numerous collaborators, Sheff pursued a strictly solo direction on his next release. Drawing from psychedelic pop, Baroque pop, and classic soft rock influences, Nothing Special appeared on ATO in 2022 and featured contributions from Benjamin Lazar Davis, Christian Lee Hutson, Cassandra Jenkins, and Fruit Bats' Eric D. Johnson, among others.
Albums
Singles
