Jeremiah Fraites

Beginnings

Fraites' brother Josh (1982–2001) was a friend of Wesley Schultz; after Josh's death, Jeremiah Fraites and Schultz began playing music together as a way to cope with their shared loss.^[3] After years of playing in the Fraites home, in 2005, they relocated to New York City and began to play in small clubs and at open mic nights in an attempt to find success in the music business.^[3] They played several types of music, and occasionally included other musicians while they played under various names, including Free Beer and Wesley Jeremiah.^[4]

Move to Denver

In 2009, Fraites graduated from college.^[3] Unhappy at having to work multiple jobs to make ends meet while attempting to become full-time musicians, Fraites and Schultz decided to relocate to Denver, which had a lower cost of living.^[4] They eventually placed a Craigslist ad for a cello player, which led to Neyla Pekarek joining the band.^[5]

Recording contract

A self-financed tour in 2009-2010 led to the band being signed to a management contract.^[5] Their management company financed an EP.^[5] As they became better known, their self-financed tour and their EP led to The Lumineers being signed to a recording contract.^[5] The band subsequently released the albums The Lumineers (2012) and Cleopatra (2016).^[6]

Solo work

Fraites released his solo debut album Piano Piano on January 22, 2021, through Dualtone Records (US/Canada) and Mercury KX (World).^[7] The album is a collection of piano-centric instrumental songs that he had been working on for over a decade.^[8] It was met with critical acclaim from NPR's Weekend Edition,^[9] Denver Post,^[10] NPR Music's All Songs Considered,^[11] American Songwriter,^[12] and Earmilk^[13] among others.

Fraites partnered with the meditation app Calm for the release of two exclusive tracks titled "Felt" and "Pluck".^[14]

He also partnered with the British music technology company Spitfire Audio for their Originals series on a program called "Firewood Piano".^[15] The program is based on his eccentric upright piano, nicknamed "Firewood", on which he used to record several songs for his solo debut album.^[16]

He composed the score for the film The Long Walk, which was released in theaters on September 12, 2025. It is his first film score.^[17] His second film score will be for Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.