for King & Country

Contemporary Christian duo for KING & COUNTRY emerged as an anthemic pop act assembled by Australian-born brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone, both now based in Nashville. Their breakthrough arrived with the 2011 single “Busted Heart” and its follow-up debut album Crave, which established them firmly within Christian music while also securing entry onto mainstream U.S. charts. The 2014 sophomore effort Run Wild. Live Free. Love Strong. repeated that commercial momentum across American charts and later earned gold certification. Closing out the decade, the brothers achieved their largest success yet via the 2018 release Burn the Ships, which became their inaugural number one on the Christian albums chart. Following several seasonal live projects and EPs, 2020 brought the full-length holiday album A Drummer Boy Christmas. Two years later the group delivered What Are We Waiting For?, whose track “Relate” ascended to the top of the U.S. Hot Christian Songs chart. In 2024 the biographical film Unsung Hero and its companion soundtrack chronicled the Smallbone family’s story.

Raised in Sydney by a father who worked as a music promoter and entertainment manager, the siblings of contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Rebecca St. James developed their craft in a household centered on music before the family moved to Nashville in 1991 to accommodate his new professional venture. Their initial recorded appearances came as backup vocalists for their sister, an experience that soon prompted the formation of the independent duo Joel & Luke. Adopting the name for KING & COUNTRY, they sought to signal allegiance to something larger than themselves and to underscore the confessional, heartfelt character of their songwriting. By summer 2010 the song “Light It Up” had been placed in the Lifetime series Drop Dead Diva. That autumn the pair issued a self-titled EP on Word that included “Love’s to Blame” and “People Change,” both featured on the CW’s The Vampire Diaries, along with “Busted Heart (Hold on to Me),” which became the fastest-rising debut single of 2011 on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart. Issued in February 2012, the full-length Crave appeared on Billboard’s list of the year’s most anticipated debuts; the Smallbone brothers subsequently toured with Skillet and Sanctus Real on the Winter Jam package. The album reached the Top Five of the Christian chart and registered on the lower half of the Billboard 200.

Summer 2013 saw the arrival of the live set Hope Is What We Crave: Live, followed that fall by the holiday EP Into the Silent Night, which again landed inside the Christian Top Five. Their second studio album, Run Wild. Live Free. Love Strong., entered at number two on the Christian chart and climbed to number thirteen on the Billboard 200 in 2014. A 2015 deluxe edition added the bonus track “Priceless,” which peaked at number three on Christian radio. In late 2017 the holiday concert recording Christmas: Live in Phoenix appeared. The following year “joy.” served as the lead single for the third studio album Burn the Ships, released in October. The 2020 single “Together” united the duo with Tori Kelly and Kirk Franklin. Later that year they expanded their seasonal catalog with the complete holiday album A Drummer Boy Christmas, featuring Needtobreathe on “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and Gabby Barrett on “Go Tell It on the Mountain.”

A 2021 deluxe reissue of Burn the Ships incorporated new material such as the Lecrae and World Famous Tony Williams collaboration “Amen (Reborn).” It preceded the single “Relate,” which appeared on the fourth studio album What Are We Waiting For?, released in 2022. That project included guest contributions from Dante Bowe, Sleeping at Last, Tori Kelly, and Kirk Franklin, ultimately topping the Christian Albums chart while reaching number seven on the Billboard 200. Early 2024 brought the Lee Brice duet “Checking In,” the first single from the soundtrack to Unsung Hero, the autobiographical film depicting the Smallbone siblings and their family’s formative years.