Josh Abbott Band

Biography

Josh Abbott founded the band in 2006 in Lubbock, Texas, while attending Texas Tech University where he was a member of the Texas Epsilon chapter of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He paused college, a thesis away from his Master's degree, to pursue a musical career full time, and founded the band with fraternity brothers Austin Davis, Neel Huey and Drew Hurt. The band recorded a demo including "Taste" in 2007 and began touring in 2008. Huey and Hurt dropped out, and Preston Wait and Eddie Villanueva joined. James Hertless and Caleb Keeter joined in 2010. In 2009, the band recorded and released their first album Scapegoat.

A second album, She's Like Texas, followed in 2010 and entered the Top Country Albums charts. Michael Berick of Allmusic rated it four stars out of five, comparing it to Steve Earle and saying that Abbott's songwriting showed "maturity". They had their first sell-out crowd at the World's Largest Honky Tonk "Billy Bobs Texas" located in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards on 10 February 2010 which sold 6,000 tickets.

It includes the single "Oh, Tonight", which entered the Country Songs charts in early 2011 at number 59 and peaked at 42. The song is a duet with Kacey Musgraves, the Nashville Star season 5 finalist and Universal Music recording artist.

The band's third CD, Small Town Family Dream, was released on 24 April 2012. It was their highest charting album, debuting at No. 5 on Top Country Albums, selling 21,000 copies in the US in its first week. The second single, "Touch", was released in early February and was made available digitally on 14 February. Its music video includes the reality TV star Melissa Rycroft and her husband Tye Strickland, another of Abbott's fraternity brothers. The single was featured in the motion picture The Longest Ride, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks.

In August 2015, the band announced their fourth studio album, titled Front Row Seat, a concept album detailing Abbott's relationship and failed marriage with his ex-wife. The first single off of the album, "Amnesia" was released in August 2015 with SiriusXM The Highway premiering the lyric video for the single. "Front Row Seat" was released everywhere on November 6, 2015, and debuted on the Top Country Albums chart at No. 9, selling 12,800 copies in its first week.

Josh Abbott Band's single "Wasn't That Drunk", featuring Carly Pearce, was released to radio on March 21, 2016. The second single from Front Row Seat, "Wasn't That Drunk" garnered attention from a national radio and media audience. The band made their national television debut with the single on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on May 31, 2016 and performed "Amnesia" on CONAN on January, 18, 2017.