Restless Road

In 2013 the Nashville-based group Restless Road secured their initial major opportunity through participation in the third season of the American edition of The X Factor. Despite encouragement from judge Simon Cowell, they encountered difficulty drawing listeners beyond the program's audience. The ensemble persisted by blending subtle hip-hop touches into their gentle, melodic country-pop style, an approach that attracted the interest of cross-genre country performer Kane Brown and led to a signing on his emerging label. Their self-titled debut EP arrived in February 2020 and illustrated this growth. They later registered modest chart traction with the 2023 single "Last Rodeo," which also supplied the name for their first full-length album.

Colton Lane Pack, Zachary Beeken, and Andrew Peter Scholz each entered the third season of The X Factor as solo contestants. Simon Cowell formed them into Restless Road, and the trio advanced to the semifinals. Following the season's conclusion, Restless Road cultivated a following mainly through online covers of popular songs. Pack exited in February 2014 and was promptly succeeded by Jared Keim. The revised lineup signed with WEG Music that year and served as openers for Demi Lovato on multiple dates. Scholz departed in 2015, after which Garrett Nichols, an alumnus of season 13 of American Idol, took his place.

Restless Road sustained activity across the 2010s with both live and virtual performances for their supporters. Jared Keim's exit in 2018 reduced the act to a duo of Beeken and Nichols until original member Colton Pack rejoined in 2020. By then the group had come to the attention of Kane Brown, himself a 2013 X Factor contestant, after delivering a cover of his hit "Good as You." Impressed, Brown extended a recording contract on his Sony-affiliated imprint. The resulting self-titled EP, overseen by producer Dan Huff, appeared in early 2020 and included the Brown collaboration "Take Me Home," which incorporated John Denver's classic "Take Me Home, Country Roads." The reflective single "Growing Old with You" followed in 2022. Throughout 2023 the band issued a regular stream of tracks, achieving a Billboard Country Airplay placement with "Last Rodeo." The song anchored their November debut album, an 18-track set that reached number 42 on the Country Albums chart.