Jonathan Albert Meiburg is an American musician and writer, best known as the lead singer and songwriter for

Shearwater Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds in the petrel family Procellariidae. They have a global marine distribution, but are most common in temperate and cold waters, and are pelagic outside the breeding season. Description These tube ...

Early life and education

Meiburg was born in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

on March 1, 1976. His father, Stan Meiburg, was an influential environmental policy professional who served as Deputy Administrator of the

Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations: * Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia * Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana) * Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland) * Environmenta ...

. Meiburg grew up in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

. He earned his bachelor's degree in English with a minor in religion from the

University of the South The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee (), is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee, United States. It is owned by 28 southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and its School of Theology is an off ...

Sewanee, Tennessee Sewanee () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,535 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Winchester, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area. Sewanee is best known as the home ...

, and received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to study daily life in remote human communities. After a year spent in such diverse places as the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Tierra del Fuego, the Aboriginal settlement of Kowanyama in Australia, the Chatham Islands of New Zealand, and the Inuit settlement of Kimmirut in Baffin Island, Canada, he enrolled at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

, where he earned a master's degree in geography with a thesis titled "The Biogeography of

striated caracara The striated caracara or Forster's caracara (''Phalcoboenus australis'') is a Near Threatened bird of prey of the family Falconidae, the falcons and caracaras. It is found in Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Ar ...

s (''Phalcoboenus australis'')".

Career

Music career

Meiburg first started his public musical career with Whu Gnu in 1993 in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. He first came to national prominence collaborating with

Will Sheff Will Robinson Sheff (born July 7, 1976) is the frontman for the Austin, Texas-based indie band Okkervil River (1998–present). Originally from Meriden, New Hampshire, he is also a founding member and co-songwriter (along with former Okkervil b ...

on multiple projects. Meiburg played keyboards in a band led by Sheff called

Okkervil River Okkervil River is an American rock band led by singer-songwriter Will Sheff. Formed in Austin, Texas, in 1998, the band takes its name from a short story by Russian author Tatyana Tolstaya set on the river Okkervil in Saint Petersburg. They bega ...

, and both men wrote songs for a new project Meiburg named

, whose name came from Meiburg's interest in birds. Due to the increased popularity of Shearwater and touring conflicts between the two acts, however, Meiburg left Okkervil River in May 2008. Meiburg has performed and recorded as a solo artist. ''Buteo Buteo'' is a collection of early acoustic guitar and bass songs, self-published through Shearwater's Bandcamp site. ''Why I Love My Home (Songs for

Charles Burchfield Charles Ephraim Burchfield (April 9, 1893 – January 10, 1967) was an American painter and visionary artist, known for his passionate watercolors of nature scenes and townscapes. The largest collection of Burchfield's paintings, archives and j ...

)'' was initially a collaboration with Andy Stack of

Wye Oak The Wye Oak was the largest Quercus alba, white oak tree in the United States and the State Tree of Maryland from 1941 until its demise in 2002. Wye Oak State Park preserves the site where the revered tree stood for more than 400 years in the ...

for the

Whitney Museum of Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a modern and contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. The institution was foun ...

, but was recorded solo in the studio and self-released in 2011. In 2010, he collaborated with Jamie Stewart of

Xiu Xiu Xiu Xiu ( ) is an American experimental rock band, formed in 2002 by singer-songwriter Jamie Stewart in San Jose, California. Currently, the line-up consists of multi-instrumentalists Stewart (the only constant member since formation), Angel ...

on a recording project named Blue Water White Death. Their debut album was released in October 2010 on

Graveface Records Graveface Records is an American independent record label from Savannah, Georgia, solely owned and operated by Ryan Graveface (who plays in the groups Black Moth Super Rainbow, Dreamend, the Marshmallow Ghosts and the Casket Girls). He has relea ...

. Since 2017, Meiburg has been collaborating with Cross Record's Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski as the group Loma. Their self-titled debut album came out in February 2018 on the Sub Pop label, which is also home to Shearwater. Their second album, ''Don't Shy Away'', released in October 2020, features a mix by

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

on the song "Homing." He has also played live and recorded with Bill Callahan,

Sharon Van Etten Sharon Katharine Van Etten (born February 26, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actress. Originally from New Jersey, and currently based in Los Angeles, Van Etten's music is noted for its indie rock aesthetic and personal lyric ...

, and others.

Writing career

In November 2014, Meiburg announced via the Shearwater Facebook page that he had signed a contract to write his first book, which describes the evolutionary history of South America through the eyes of a family of falcons known as caracaras, for US publisher

Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers ...

and UK publisher

Bodley Head The Bodley Head is an English book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1887 by John Lane and Elkin Mathews, The Bodley Head existed as an independent entity or as part of multiple consortia until it was acquired by Random ...

. The book, entitled ''A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World's Smartest Birds of Prey'', draws upon his longtime research into the subject and his travels in South America. It was released in March 2021. The book was longlisted for the 2022

Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction __NOTOC__ The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction were established in 2012 to recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. in the previous year. They are named in honor of ni ...

and named one of the best books of the year by

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

. He has published articles in various national and international publications on a wide range of topics: interviews with producer and musician

Brian Reitzell Brian Reitzell (born December 24, 1965) is an American musician, composer, record producer and music supervisor best known for his work on many film and TV soundtracks. He is notable for working extensively with the American film director Sofia ...

for

Tape Op A tape operator or tape op, also known as a second engineer, is a person who performs menial operations in a recording studio in a similar manner to a tea boy or gopher. They may act as an apprentice or an assistant to a recording engineer and d ...

, with author and human rights activist

Zainab Salbi Zainab Salbi (; born 1969) is an Iraqi American women's rights activist, writer, television show host, and podcaster. She is the co-founder of Daughters for Earth, a fund and a movement of Daughters rising up worldwide with climate solutions ...

in ''

The Believer Believer(s) or The Believer(s) may refer to: Religion * Believer, a person who holds a particular belief ** Believer, a person who holds a particular religious belief *** Believers, Christians with a religious faith in the divine Christ *** Bel ...

''; a history of dioramas of the Whitney Wing of the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

for

The Appendix ''The Appendix'' was an online magazine of "narrative and experimental history." It was co-founded in the fall of 2012 by Benjamin Breen, Felipe Cruz, Christopher Heaney, and Brian Jones. A stated goal of the journal is that "scholarly and popul ...

; and numerous articles for online music magazine The Talkhouse, including a personal perspective on touring, an account of a presentation by

, and a review of

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

's ''

The Next Day ''The Next Day'' is the twenty-fifth studio album by the English musician David Bowie. Released in March 2013, it was Bowie's first studio release in ten years, as he had retreated from public view after undergoing a procedure to treat a block ...

''. His interview with author

Peter Matthiessen Peter Matthiessen (May 22, 1927 – April 5, 2014) was an American novelist, naturalist, wilderness writer, zen teacher and onetime CIA agent. A co-founder of the literary magazine ''The Paris Review'', he is the only writer to have won the Nat ...

, also for The Believer, was one of the last before Matthiessen's death in 2014.

Discography

* 2004: ''Buteo Buteo'' by Jonathan Meiburg (self-released) * 2010: ''Blue Water White Death'' by Blue Water White Death (a collaboration between Jonathan Meiburg and Jamie Stewart of

) (Graveface) * 2011: ''Why I Love My Home'' by Jonathan Meiburg (self-released)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Meiburg, Jonathan Musicians from Maryland Musicians from Texas Living people 1976 births American indie rock musicians Shearwater (band) members Okkervil River members