“The letter read, ‘This was our mom’s guitar. It’s worth a lot of money. We want you to have it’”: How actor turned musician Morgan Nagler got her 1977 Martin acoustic, wrote with neighbor Phoebe Bridgers, and finally made a solo album

Morgan Nagler.

Singer-songwriter and semi-retired actress Morgan Nagler has been playing music for 20 years, and written with Gillian Welch, Phoebe Bridgers, and Kim Deal. But it’s only now that she has felt ready to release her solo debut.

While you may not recognize Nagler by name alone, chances are, you’ve seen or heard her at some point. First rising to fame at a mere five years old with roles in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, American Pie 2, and Maggie, she first connected with music between takes on the Paramount block – where she wrote her first song at 16 years old on a $100 acoustic guitar.