Free album... Okkervil River

Okkervil River's founding members became friends in high school in Meriden, New Hampshire, and after parting ways for college moved to Austin, Texas to live together and start a band. The band consisted of songwriter Will Sheff, Zach Thomas on bass and mandolin, and Seth Warren on drums.

In 1998, the group self-released their first disc, Bedroom EP. Over the course of two weekends in the summer of 1999, they recorded a seven song self-released album titled Stars Too Small to Use, with recording engineer Jeff Hoskins.

The band met recording engineer and producer Brian Beattie at their SXSW showcase on March 18, 2000 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. Warren moved to Berkeley, California in December and was replaced on drums by Mark Pedini.

By the time of that year's SXSW festival, Okkervil River had received interest in their new record from the Bloomington, Indiana-based record label Jagjaguwar. The record was released on Jagjaguwar on January 22, 2002.

One year later the band traveled to San Francisco and reunited with Warren 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.

In August 2004, the band began recording with Beattie again, finally putting the finishing touches on their third full-length album, Black Sheep Boy in November. It was released on April 5, 2005. As a result of the album's overwhelming success, Okkervil River followed up with an EP entitled Black Sheep Boy Appendix on November 22, 2005. The Stage Names, their fourth full-length studio album (produced again by Beattie), was released on August 7, 2007.

Okkervil River has posted a mixtape for free download on the band's website, which includes primarily covers recorded at live shows, radio sessions, etc. over the past couple of years. It's Okkervil River's Christmas present for you. Enjoy! Highly Recommended!

Okkervil River - Golden Opportunities Mixtape (free album)
Okkervil River @ MySpace


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