They formed in Fremantle in 1998 with Jason McGann on drums, Gavin Shoesmith on bass and John Butler on vocals.

By 2009, the trio consisted of Butler with Byron Luiters on bass and Nicky Bomba on drums and percussion, the latter being replaced by Grant Gerathy in 2013.

After both Luiters and Gerathy exited the trio in early 2019, bassist OJ Newcomb and drummer Terepai Richmond (also of The Whitlams) joined the band, accompanied by touring musician Elana Stone on keyboards, percussion and backing vocals.

He started his career as a busker in Fremantle, Western Australia and released a self-recorded cassette, Searching for Heritage in 1996.

The band began to develop a wider reputation with a performance at the East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival in Byron Bay in 2000.

[3] In April 2001, John Butler Trio released Three and relocated to Melbourne to promote the record on the east coast.

Shoesmith left the trio to form his own band, The Groovesmiths, Butler replaced him with 19-year-old Rory Quirk, who was on their first tour of the United States in 2001.

Butler, his manager Phil Stevens and fellow Western Australian folk artists, The Waifs, founded Jarrah Records in July 2002.

John Butler told the Australian edition of Rolling Stone released in April 2004 that he wanted greater freedom to pursue his vision.

7 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2004 and also was the first John Butler Trio single to gain significant airplay on commercial FM radio across Australia, although it was still quite popular on Triple J. John Butler would win an Australasian Performing Right Association award for Song of the Year in March 2004.

In 2005 John Butler and co-founder Danielle Caruana (his wife) inaugurated the JB Seed grant program.

The John Butler Trio played at all venues for the Big Day Out music festival, starting in Auckland, New Zealand on 19 January 2007, and finishing in Perth Western Australia on 4 February.

On 31 July 2007 the John Butler Trio performed their song, "Better Than" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

On 4 August 2007 they performed at Newport Folk Festival playing a set that included "Used to Get High", "Better Than", "Ocean", "Funky Tonight", and "Good Excuse".

Their professionalism, musicianship, and commitment have been unwavering and for that and a whole lot more I am truly thankful.Michael Barker went on to form Swamp Thing with guitarist/singer Grant Haua, based in New Zealand.

The album will be called April Uprising, named after Butler's voyage to find his ancestors on SBS Television's genealogy series, Who Do You Think You Are?.

[14][15] The recording process for the new album has been shared with fans via a special studio sessions page on the band's website.

[16]The band, according to billboard.com, recorded twenty two songs at Butler's home based studio in Fremantle, this was eventually cut down to the fifteen that appear on the album.

[18] On 4 June 2010 John Butler Trio played a show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre,[19] which was streamed live to fans around the world at Livestream.

[6] In February 2012, John Butler recorded a studio version of the Trio's instrumental single "Ocean", at The Compound in Fremantle, and uploaded it to the band's YouTube channel later in that year.

The trio also undertook a large national tour in February and March 2014 to support the release of the new album.

Singles from Flesh & Blood were performed by the Trio on the American late-night talk show Conan on 24 February 2014,[29] and for Triple J's Like a Version on 11 April 2014.

Their roots rock cover of Pharrell Williams' "Happy" features on the CD and DVD releases of Like a Version's Volume Ten.

On March 11, 2019, John Butler Trio announced that Byron Luiters and Grant Gerathy would be leaving the band.

[33] The band performed at The Wilderness Society's Save the Kimberley concert on 5 October 2012, alongside Clare Bowditch and Missy Higgins.

The concert was part of a long-running campaign to protest against a proposal to industrialise the James Price Point area in Broome, Western Australia, and also featured an address from former leader of the Australian Greens, Dr Bob Brown.