The Deer - On the Essence of the Indomitable Spirit (2015)

The Deer are Grace Park, Jesse Dalton, Michael McLeod, and Alan Eckert. The former three met at the Texas State School of Music, and later met Alan from the North Texas Jazz Program. They formed in 2011 when Grace and Michael began recording their debut album of mostly her songs, An Argument For Observation, in his home studio in Austin, Texas known as Nine Grey Clouds Studios.
In 2013 the band lost backup singer and dear friend, Stephanie Bledsoe, to an accident on her farm; she was 27 years old. This tragedy sparked much change in their lives and songwriting, and they began to compose music collectively. To accomodate this shift they changed their name in 2014 from Grace Park & The Deer to The Deer. Their second album, On the Essence of the Indomitable Spirit, was dedicated to Stephanie's memory and released in January 2015.