Formed during 2002 in Cleveland, Tennessee, J. Roddy Walston and the Business cultivated a classic-sounding Southern rock/Americana style that emphasizes songs and danceable kinetics over empty hipness and trendy pop gimmicks. The group relocated northward to Baltimore, Maryland in 2004. Following several personnel shifts, the lineup stabilized as a classic rock quartet featuring J. Roddy Walston on lead vocals along with guitar and piano, Billy Gordon handling guitar and additional vocals, Logan Davis on bass, and Steve Colmus behind the drums. Their live performances built an expansive audience across every region they visited or toured. The band issued the EP LMNEP in 2005 and followed it with the self-released full-length Hail Mega Boys in 2007. Another concise release, Digital EP, surfaced in June 2010, succeeded a month later by the self-titled album J. Roddy Walston and the Business on Vagrant Records. Their third studio album, Essential Tremors, appeared in fall 2013. To promote it, the group headlined the “Holler and Moan” tour and performed at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. They resurfaced in 2017 with the full-length Destroyers of the Soft Life, which included the single “The Wanting.”
