Big Thief’s Buck Meek Shared Two Delightful Singles That Barely Missed The Cut For His ‘Haunted Mountain’ Album

Last August, Big Thief guitarist Buck Meek released his third solo album, Haunted Mountain, giving Uproxx’s Steven Hyden no choice but to include it on his “Favorite Music Of August 2023” list. Luckily for anyone who loved Haunted Mountain as much as Hyden did, Buck Meek has released two stray singles, “Cuero Dudes” and “Beauty Opens Doors,” “recorded during the making of Haunted Mountain that didn’t end up on the record,” as the singer-songwriter explained on Instagram.

Meek’s Instagram caption also broke down the verses — or, as the chorus puts it, “Too many stories” — of “Cuero Dudes,” a song that fills five minutes with Meek’s signature folky charm.

“story #1 is made up, story #2 is a true story Grey Gersten told me about Michael Hurley singing hog songs to summon a taxidermied hog head to dance, and story #3 is my grandfather’s earliest memory,” Meek wrote. “his mother put him on her back and climbed out of a second floor window and down a rose trellis with the thorns cutting her skin as they escaped Houston for Louisiana. i’d like to keep writing verses for this song for the rest of my life.”

He continued, “‘Beauty Opens Doors’ was written as an assignment for @lomelda’s @school_of_song workshop, as another attempt at understanding the work of love. what is beauty? maybe truth and humility.”

Watch the “Cuero Dudes” video above, and listen to “Beauty Opens Doors” and check out Meek’s upcoming US tour dates below.

01/17 — San Diego, CA @ Casbah
01/18 — Los Angeles, CA @ Highland Park Ebell
01/19 — San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
01/20 — Healdsburg, CA @ Little Saint
01/22 — Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
01/23 — Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
01/25 — Boise, ID @ Neurolux
01/26 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
01/27 — Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
01/29 — Oklahoma City, OK @ Resonant Head
01/30 — Dallas, TX @ Sons of Herman Hall
01/31 — Austin, TX @ Sagebrush
02/02 — Albuquerque, NM @ Sister
02/03 — Flagstaff, AZ @ Yucca North
02/04 — Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy + Harriet’s
05/16 — Ardmore, PA @ Ardmore Music Hall
05/17 — Somerville, MA @ The Crystal Ballroom
05/18 — Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Showcase
05/21 — Montreal, QC @ Theatre Fairmont
05/22 — Toronto, ON @ The Great Hall
05/23 — Detroit, MI @ El Club
05/24 — Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
05/25 — Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center
05/26 — Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
05/28 — Nashville, TN @ The Blue Room at Third Man Records
05/29 — Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
05/30 — Durham, NC @ Motorco
05/31 — Washington, DC @ Atlantis