Buck Meek’s new album, Two Saviors, and the story of how he and Adrienne Lenker became best buds
Buck Meek, one of the founding members of Minneapolis folk-rock band, Big Thief, is releasing his sophomore album on January 15, 2021. We are very excited. Born and bred in Wimberley, TX (a town full of awesome hippies), the musician immersed himself from an early age in the sounds of Blues, Manouche Jazz, and Western Swing. In 2012, the Texan moved to Brooklyn where he met Adrienne Lenker, officially.
The story of these two is actually worth a share: Both studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston. She was a Freshman. He was a Senior. One night Fate put them on the same bill together. Their interaction as strangers was brief and limited, with Lenker refusing “to let him borrow her acoustic guitar” (NPR).
Fast forward a couple years. Lenker has just moved to Brooklyn and spends the day moving in her stuff into her new apartment. After a full day of work, she takes a break and goes over to “buy a juice at a bodega named Mr. Kiwi's.” A serendipitous, Hollywood moment ensues. According to Buck, they “lock eyes and remember each other very clearly, but still don’t know each other at all." Lenker approaches him and says something along the lines of, “'Are you ... do you ... did I meet you in Boston at some point?'" (Same NPR article).
From that point forward, the two became very close friends and music partners. They immediately started hanging out every day and playing music together. Within a year and a half, the two purchased “Bonnie”, a 1987 Chevy G20 Conversion van together. For two years, they lived a peripatetic, agent-free lifestyle where they basically pointed to a map and went there. They played every concert and event they could get their hands on — barbecues, bowling alleys, and birthdays (okay, the last two are made up for alliteration’s sake — I wanted to roll with the Bs). But you get the point: they played a lot, and had the time of their lives doing so.
The journey produced two EPs, “a-sides” and “b-sides”, with “Bonnie” looking sharp and reliable as ever in the background.
"It was one of those friendships that developed extremely fast where suddenly you're each other's best friend. We hung out every day from the moment we met." Lenker, on her friend, Buck
Like all the other members of Big Thief, Buck Meek has released several EPs and albums as a solo artist. During quarantine, Buck spent a lot of time alone in his home in Topanga Canyon, California. In an interview for Talkhouse, Buck describes the positives of his time in lockdown: “I’ve been practicing guitar for the first time since music school, really. It’s been such a blessing to have the opportunity to really dig into the guitar again, because for the last 10 years or whatever, it’s just been mostly performative. My relationship to the guitar has mostly been in reaction to who I’ve been playing with, or the next show I have to play, or session. With all this open space, it’s been really vulnerable, but also really exciting to have to just face the mirror with my guitar again.”
This time off also allowed him to put the finishing touches on his new album, Two Saviors. In a press release, Buck Meek summarizes what the album means to him:
The value in our world is built by the labor of love - a currency that accrues no debt, enriching both the giver and receiver. This wealth provides the vitality needed to lift a hammer, to raise a roof, and to lay upon the eaves in silent awe of nature and civilization and the culmination of universal effort. Magic (the left hand of love?) arises from attention, and is accessible to all without prejudice. A creation from nothing, from some uncaused cause, some eternal unmoved mover.
My friend @sarloson agreed to produce this album under his conditions that we record in New Orleans, during the hottest part of the year, spend no more than seven days tracking, all live, on an 8-track tape machine with only dynamic microphones and no headphones, not allowing the band to hear any takes until the final day. My beautiful boys Adam Brisbin @young_gumby , Mat Davidson @twainband Austin Vaughn @austin_vaughn__ , and my brother Dylan Meek @dylanmeekmusic set up in a house one block from the Mississippi river and worked within these limitations, summoning the instinct in a first take, and spending most of our time drinking coffee in the sunlight.