He played his first musical show in a church at a gay wedding, performing Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" and the hymn "How Great Thou Art".

[4] Banhart dropped out of college in 2000[3] and left San Francisco after the dot-com bubble bust worsened the city's economy.

[7] He recorded two other albums and an EP for the label: Rejoicing in the Hands, Niño Rojo, and The Black Babies;[7] the releases had a simple acoustic sound.

[15] The album's song "Lover" was featured in the soundtrack of the movie Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which included a cameo appearance by Banhart.

[16] Banhart has performed at Carnegie Hall[17] and the Hollywood Bowl opening for Gilberto Gil,[18] as well as at Bonnaroo and Coachella music festivals.

[19] In 2007, he signed with Neil Young's manager Elliot Roberts, who also contributed vocals to Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon.

[1][20] Banhart released an album in 2008 entitled Surfing, with Megapuss – a collaborative project with Gregory Rogove and Fabrizio Moretti of The Strokes and Little Joy.

[28] The film Life During Wartime, directed by Todd Solondz, features a musical collaboration between Banhart and Beck.

In April 2012, Banhart took part in artist Doug Aitken's audiovisual project "Song 1" at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. Banhart joined Beck and James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem in performing "I Only Have Eyes For You" for the project that uses eleven high-definition video projectors working in tandem to blanket the museum's entire surface with a video of the performance.

[32] On May 14, 2016, Banhart curated a two-day event at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, featuring performances from Harold Budd, Hecuba, Lucky Dragons, Jessica Pratt, Rodrigo Amarante, William Basinksi, and Helado Negro.

[33] In 2015, Banhart scored the film Joshy, directed by Jeff Baena and starring Nick Kroll, Jenny Slate, and Thomas Middleditch.

In June 2016, Banhart released the first track of his ninth studio album, Ape in Pink Marble, titled "Middle Names".

In April 2020, he was featured on a Mykki Blanco track titled "You Will Find It" [39] In 2020, Banhart, along with Noah Georgeson, scored the film Arkansas, directed by Clark Duke and starring John Malkovich and Liam Hemsworth.

Other artists featured included Mickey Hart, Yo La Tengo, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo.

As part of the exhibition, Banhart collaborated with artist Doug Aitken and musicians Beck and Caetano Veloso for a musical and visual performance piece.

[54] He read Joan Miró's poem "A Star Caresses the Breasts of a Negress" for the recorded guided tour of Tate Modern.

[55] In May 2015, Anteism published a collaborative book with Banhart and artist Adam Tullie titled Unburdened By Meaning.

[57] On April 23, 2019, Featherproof published Banhart's first book of poetry titled Weeping Gang Bliss Void Yab-Yum.

On May 8, 2019, Banhart announced a collaborative collection of linen clothing with designer Alex Crane titled "Almas".

On December 14 and 15, 2019, Banhart curated a two-day event at Hauser and Wirth Los Angeles titled Other Flowers.