Nate Walcott

Biography

Nathaniel Clifford Walcott was born on March 6, 1978 in Albany, New York. While a young child, his family moved to the Central New York village of East Homer. When Walcott was 8, his family moved to Lincoln, Nebraska.

While a high school student in Lincoln, Walcott played in several Lincoln-based bands, including Kid Quarkstar, with longtime friend and future Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine. He also met musicians Mike Mogis, A.J. Mogis, and Ted Stevens of Lincoln-based band Lullaby for the Working Class, with whom he recorded and toured.

After graduating from high school in 1996, Walcott went on to attend DePaul University in Chicago, majoring in jazz performance. He took time off from his studies to tour both with the renowned big band The Glenn Miller Orchestra and Lullaby for the Working Class.

After university, Walcott engaged in freelance recording, arranging, and performing work with a very wide variety of artists including the Chicago-based groups Las Guitarras de Espana, the Mighty Blue Kings, and Pinetop Seven. He was also active in the improvisational and “experimental” music scene, performing with the likes of David Boykin, Mike Reed, and Keefe Jackson at such places as Fred Anderson’s Velvet Lounge, the Hungry Brain, and the Green Mill, and also led his own group, the Nate Walcott Octet. While living in Chicago, both in college and after, Walcott remained connected to Nebraska, working as an arranger and player on records being produced by Mike Mogis for artists such as The Faint, Rilo Kiley, and Johnathan Rice.

While still a student and collaborating with musicians in the vibrant Lincoln and Omaha music scenes, Walcott met singer-songwriter Conor Oberst of the bands Bright Eyes, Commander Venus, and Desaparecidos. Walcott joined Bright Eyes on its tour in support of 2002's album Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground and also on most subsequent tours after the “Lifted” tour. Walcott played on 2005's studio recordings I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn and the live album Motion Sickness.

In 2006, in preparation for writing and recording Bright Eyes' next album, Walcott, along with producer and guitarist Mike Mogis, was named a permanent member of the group. Cassadaga was released on April 10, 2007. Walcott co-wrote "Coat Check Dream Song." Following a five-month tour of the United States, Walcott wrote the arrangements for the band's appearance at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

Walcott followed up the Cassadaga tour by collaborating with Oberst (along with Nik Freitas, Taylor Hollingsworth, Macey Taylor, and Jason Boesel) on his solo efforts, 2008's Conor Oberst and 2009's Outer South. The group came to be known as the Mystic Valley Band as a nod to the location of the 2008 recording, a villa named Valle Mistico in Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico.

In 2010, Walcott toured as music director and multi-instrumentalist for Broken Bells, an innovative collaboration between James Mercer and Danger Mouse. Later that year, he returned to the studio with Oberst and Mogis to record the next Bright Eyes album. The People's Key was released on February 15, 2011. Walcott co-wrote the song "Approximate Sunlight." Highlights of his time with Bright Eyes over the years include numerous tours of North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, and performances at such venues as New York City's Radio City Music Hall and London’s Royal Albert Hall.

In recent years, Walcott has done extensive freelance recording and arranging work, including with She & Him, U2, Beck, Jenny Lewis, First Aid Kit, Rilo Kiley, the Shins, and Maroon 5. He has also maintained a busy freelance performing schedule with the likes of M. Ward, Eleni Mandell, The Living Sisters, Jonathan Wilson, Harper Simon, and Zavalaz, a new band led by Cedric Bixler-Zavala of The Mars Volta. Walcott has continued to occasionally join Conor Oberst during his recent solo performances, including his November 2013 performance at Carnegie Hall.

As of 2016, Walcott is touring with the Red Hot Chili Peppers on their The Getaway World Tour as the background pianist. He is featured on their 2016 Live In Paris EP.

Over the years, Walcott has lived in Chicago, Omaha, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles, where he now resides.

Film Scores

Walcott has composed scores for three feature-length films with fellow Bright Eyes member Mike Mogis:

Additionally, Walcott collaborated with singer-songwriters Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice on the score for 2015's Song One, starring Anne Hathaway, Mary Steenburgen, and Johnny Flynn.

Selected album appearances