Though some of the band members have changed through the years, Carbon Leaf has been consistently creating and performing music since the early 1990s.

The band currently consists of founding members Barry Privett, Carter Gravatt, and Terry Clark, as well as Jon Markel and Jesse Humphrey.

Carbon Leaf is best known for the song "Life Less Ordinary", which debuted in 2004 and reached #5 on Billboard's Adult Alternative charts.

Shadows in the Banquet Hall, released in 1997, includes "Flood", "Wolftrap and Fireflies", and "Attica's Flower Box Window".

[citation needed] Ether~Electrified Porch Music (1999) is the first album with Jordan Medas as the bassist and contains "Home", "American Tale", and "Blue Ridge Laughing".

[4][5] Following this appearance, "The Boxer" entered regular rotation on radio stations including Washington, DC's DC101 (WWDC 101.1 FM).

In Spring 2004, Carbon Leaf signed with Vanguard Records,[12] part of the Welk Music Group and in July of that year released their album, Indian Summer.

In June 2006, an interview with Carbon Leaf guitarist Terry Clark was chosen as the cover feature for the inaugural issue of The Green Room magazine.

According to their blog, it was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, and mixed in collaboration with producer Peter Collins and Trina Shoemaker.

The video for "Learn to Fly" featured Katy Perry as "a besotted fan rushing to attend a Carbon Leaf performance".

[5] Carbon Leaf played at Sudflood 2007, and dedicated their performance to the memory of the lives lost in the Virginia Tech shootings.

[21] Carbon Leaf has played with many acts, including Dave Matthews Band, Something Corporate, O.A.R., and David Gray, and has toured with Jason Mraz, Blues Traveler, Great Big Sea, Jump, Little Children, Matt Nathanson, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, The Avett Brothers, Guster, and Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers.

In January 2006, Carbon Leaf was one of the bands to join Sister Hazel's floating Music festival The Rock Boat.

[19] Their plan was to market their music by giving it away at shows, a strategy not compatible with Vanguard's focus on CD sales.

Their ninth studio album and third of 2010, a collection of original Christmas- and winter-themed songs titled Christmas Child, was released on November 16.