He is best known for his time as the eponymous frontman of the John Butler Trio, a roots and jam band that formed in Perth Fremantle, Western Australia in 1998.

The John Butler Trio recorded five studio albums, including three that reached number one on the Australian charts: Sunrise Over Sea, Grand National and April Uprising.

[2] The show traced his family history from his deceased grandfather's war diaries through to ancestors in Bulgaria and the events of the 1876 April Uprising.

[3][7] In 1996, he attended Curtin University in Perth and enrolled in an art teaching course, but eventually abandoned his studies to pursue a career in music.

[9] Butler was also participant in the Western Australian skateboarding scene,[10] and is recognised for his involvement with the internationally renowned "Woolstores" street spot in Fremantle.

[11] John travelled to Encinitas, California, after high school, where he spent two years with his brother Jim and began his music career in a band called Vitamin.

There Vitamin was written up and reviewed in Go magazine they performed all around the San Diego area and played one show in Houston, Texas opening for Dive, who later became Osmant between in 1995.

Vitamin bandmate Ozzie Rea moved to Australia in 1998 and fronted a Perth funk band called Proton who shared John Butler Trio's drummer.

The members of Vitamin were John Butler (12-string guitar, vocals); Ozzie Rea (vocals); Justin Bancroft (electric guitar); Taria Flower Star (bass); Duck Grossberg (bass); Desiree (congas); Gabe (Djembe); Jim (Harmonica); and Hailey Odom (harmonica).

[13] At various times the members of the John Butler Trio included drummers Michael Barker (2003–2009) and Nicky Bomba, bass players Rory Quirk (2001–2002), Andrew Fry (April 2002 – November 2002), Shannon Birchall (2002–2009) and Byron Luiters.

The song "Zebra" was released as a single in December 2003 and received mainstream radio airplay and reached the top 30 on the ARIA Charts.

The one off performance featured musicians who had collaborated on Grand National, including Vika and Linda Bull, Jex Saarhelart and Nicky Bomba.

On 21 October, Butler featured on SBS Television's documentary called Destination Australia – Bridge Between Two Worlds performing to refugee children in a class at Perth's Highgate Primary School.

On 19 February 2011, Butler performed for the first time with his wife Danielle, also known as Mama Kin, under the moniker Brave and the Bird, at the Gimme Shelter event (an annual fundraiser for the homeless) held at the Fremantle Arts Centre.

[26]One of the songs on the album, "Wings Are Wide", was written as a dedication to his grandmother, who gave Butler his grandfather's Dobro guitar that became the foundation for his songwriting.

Released in Australia on 8 February 2014, Flesh and Blood was produced by Jan Skubiszewski and features a vocal duet with Ainslie Wills.

[28] At the ARIA Music Awards of 2007, Butler performed "Funky Tonight" in a collaboration with fellow Australian musician Keith Urban.

"Ocean" by John Butler featured on the benefit album 'Surfing Medicine: Volume I' released in 2009 with Slightly Stoopid, The Pharcyde, and others raised enough funds for charity to conduct an international peer reviewed herbal cancer research and treatment publication in Journal of Ethnobiology and project by Indigenous leaders from Hawai'i, Jamaica and Africa in Kormantse territory of Ghana which led to a cover story about the 'Ocean' funded charity music project in a surf magazine that won 2 Silver Medals at the American Advertising Awards for best collateral material for any magazine issue and series in America in 2015.

In July 2002, Jarrah Records was created by Butler, members of fellow Western Australian act The Waifs and their common manager, Phil Stevens.

[40] Other supporters include Paul Kelly, Correne Wilkie (Manager, The Cat Empire), Paul and Michelle Gilding (Ecoscorp), Maureen Ritchie, Missy Higgins, John Watson (Eleven Music), John Woodruff (JWM Productions), Sebastian Chase (MGM Distribution), Philip Stevens (Jarrah Records), The Waifs and Blue King Brown.

[44] Butler performed at another concert in support of the Kimberley cause on 24 February 2013, with Missy Higgins also appearing again, with the event held at The Esplanade in Fremantle, Western Australia.

[45] A march to protest the proposed gas refinery construction at James Price Point accompanied the free concert and campaign supporters were photographed with banners and placards.

[46] In response to the proposed dumping of around 3,000,000 cubic metres (110,000,000 cu ft) of dredged seabed onto the Great Barrier Reef,[47] a legal fighting team was formed by World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia and the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) in late 2013/early 2014.

[49][50] Butler is against Coal Seam Gas (CSG) and gave a free supporting concert at the Bentley protesting the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, Australia, on 20 April 2014.

[54] In an interview with the Herald Sun newspaper in 2008, Butler acknowledged that he had been referred to as the "million dollar hippie" in various articles and around his hometown in Australia.

I started writing about the damage of war and the environment, but as you drill down deeper, move closer to the core of the heart, there are so many great stories to be had which aren't literally talking about a problem.