American Authors

American Authors deliver a stirring blend of breezy indie pop and sharply polished, radio-ready modern rock from their base in Brooklyn, positioning the ensemble in a space that echoes the large-scale folk-rock energy of Mumford & Sons alongside the city-rooted emotional sweep of Fun. The act achieved major success in 2013 via the single "Best Day of My Life," which gained extensive radio exposure through placements in numerous prominent advertisements and movie previews.

Originally assembled in Boston as Blue Pages, the core members comprised Zac Barnett on vocals, James Adam Shelley handling guitar and banjo, Dave Rublin on bass, and Matt Sanchez on drums. Although the four connected as students at Berklee College of Music, they left the program and moved to Brooklyn. American Authors signed with Island Records in 2012, issuing the tracks "Believer" and the breakthrough "Best Day of My Life" along with their self-titled debut EP the next year. Their first full-length album, Oh, What a Life, appeared in early 2014, and by April that year "Best Day of My Life" reached number 14 on the Billboard 200. In May 2015 the upbeat track "Go Big or Go Home" emerged ahead of the band's second studio release, followed by four additional singles before What We Live For arrived in July 2016. The subsequent year brought the standalone single "I Wanna Go Out." After revealing plans for a third album titled Seasons, the group put out three singles across 2018, among them "Deep Water" and "Say Amen," which featured Canadian singer/songwriter Billy Raffoul. Seasons came out in February 2019 and featured the successful track "Neighborhood" with Bear Rinehart of Needtobreathe.