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Okkervil RiverOkkervil River is a rock and roll band formed in Austin, Texas in 1998. The group's music is sometimes categorized as alternative country. Their name comes from a short story by Russian author Tatayana Tolstaya, Leo Tolstoy's great grandniece. Okkervil River's founding members became friends in high school in New Hampshire, and after parting ways for college moved to Austin to live together and start a band. These were songwriter Will Sheff, Zach Thomas on bass and mandolin, and Seth Warren on drums. Their first gig was at Steamboat in Austin on Monday, January 11, 1999. Over the course of two weekends in the summer of 1999, they recorded a seven song self-released record called "Stars too Small to Use," with recording engineer Jeff Hoskins. They met Jonathan Meiburg at a gig with his band Whu Gnu at the Waterloo Brewing Company on December 3, 1999. Jonathan subsequently joined the band on accordion and later on pianos and organs. On the strength of "Stars too Small to Use," Okkervil River was admitted into the 2000 SXSW music festival. Their first major press was a SXSW feature article in the Austin Chronicle on March 3, 2000. The band met recording engineer and producer Brian Beattie at their SXSW showcase on March 18 and soon agreed to make a record together. They spent much of the rest of that year working on "Don't Fall in Love With Everyone You See." Seth moved to Berkeley California in December, replaced on drums by Mark Pedini, formerly of Providence Rhode Island's the Eyesores. By the following year's SXSW festival, Okkervil River had gotten interest in their new record from the Bloomington Indiana-based record label Jagjaguwar. The record was eventually released on Jagjaguwar on January 22, 2002. One year later the band traveled to San Francisco and reunited with Seth to record their third album at indie studio Tiny Telephone with engineer Scott Solter at the console. Jagjaguwar released "Down the River of Golden Dreams" on September 2, 2003. Prior to the release of "Down the River..." the group released a split-CD with Julie Doiron on the Spanish label Acuarela. The CD features five songs by Doiron and four by Okkervil River. Mark having left the band to pursue his graphic design work, Okkervil River needed a drummer for SXSW 2003. They invited Travis Nelson, who joined the band full-time. Following a long bout of touring, the band added keyboardist and lap-steel player Howard Draper as a fifth member. In August of 2004, the band began recording with Brian Beattie again, putting the finishing touches on "Black Sheep Boy" in November. Meanwhile, Jagjaguwar released a five song EP of odds and ends called "Sleep and Wake-Up Songs" on November 2.
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