Goodbye June

Blending earthy tones with oversized guitar tones and a bold, swaggering presence, Goodbye June function as a hard-charging power trio whose approach draws directly from 1970s classic rock, including its built-in blues foundations, yet carries a contemporary level of drive and force. Landon Milbourn delivers lead vocals defined by raw, thunderous attitude, while the guitars produce ample, arena-filling riff power. The band’s first major-label album, Magic Valley, arrived in 2017 as a dynamic fusion of earlier and newer influences; after shifting toward a broader and more varied style on 2019’s Community Inn, the 2022 release See Where the Night Goes and the 2024 album Deep in the Trouble returned to a stripped-down, direct approach.

The group came together in 2005 when lead guitarist Tyler Baker, lead singer and guitarist Landon Milbourn, and drummer, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist Brandon Qualkenbush formed the lineup. The three members are first cousins; Milbourn grew up in West Tennessee, while Baker and Qualkenbush were raised in Indiana. They initially played music together through church activities—Milbourn’s father directed the choir, and Qualkenbush’s father served as pastor at a Pentecostal congregation—yet the trio did not solidify until Baker’s brother, home on military leave, was killed in a car crash in June 2005. Grieving the loss, Baker connected with Milbourn and Qualkenbush, and together they began composing material. Naming the band Goodbye June, the three relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, in 2009 to pursue wider opportunities.

Their high-energy concerts built a strong local following in Music City, leading to the independent release of their debut album, Nor the Wild Music Flow, on Cotton Valley Records in 2012. A video was produced for the track “Microscope,” which included a guest appearance by St. Louis Rams coach Jeff Fisher. After extensive touring across the United States, Goodbye June performed their first shows overseas in fall 2013, visiting Germany, Spain, France, Belgium, Sweden, Holland, and Finland. In 2014 the band won top honors in the Unsigned Music Competition, receiving a $10,000 cash prize plus equipment and guidance from industry professionals. The resulting attention prompted a recording contract with Interscope Records. In spring 2016 they posted the song “Oh No” online, where it quickly accumulated 2.5 million streams and paved the way for the five-track major-label EP Danger in the Morning, issued in August 2016.

Early in 2017 the group released the single “Good Side” ahead of their second full-length album, Magic Valley, which followed that spring. In 2018 they issued the EP Secrets in the Sunset and joined Greta Van Fleet on a European tour. The next year Goodbye June left Interscope and signed with Earache, the historic metal and rock imprint, which put out their third album, Community Inn, in October. That record featured a smoother production and wider range of tempos, with “Secrets in the Sunset” and “Live in the Now” gaining traction on streaming platforms. The 2022 album See Where the Night Goes, also on Earache, struck a balance between the forceful style of Magic Valley and the more experimental Community Inn. For 2024’s Deep in the Trouble, Goodbye June chose to release the project independently, offering another set of their hard-rocking Southern blues and boogie without an intermediary.