Live at the Blue Door was recorded by Travis Linville on February 17, 2009, his fourth appearance at the venue, the night before he left for the 2009 Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis.

The music reviewer at No Depression wrote in her blog: "People who hadn’t heard Fullbright previously were stopped in their tracks by the brilliance of this 24-year-old whose mature lyrics have an immediate impact.

"[12] Favorable reviews include The Washington Times which said: "From the Ground Up proves to be a killer debut, pairing sharply worded stories that resonate with confident performances that pop.

[18] Fullbright says that he was scrubbing his bathtub when he learned that From the Ground Up – which he says co-producer Wes Sharon refers to as "the little record that could" – had received a Grammy nomination.

[22] In September 2013, Fullbright performed at the 12th Annual Americana Music Association awards show in Nashville, where he was a nominee in the Emerging Artist of the Year category.

[23] Also in 2013, "Gawd Above" was included on the soundtrack of the movie August: Osage County, the film based on Tracy Letts' play set in Oklahoma.

In his review for The Wall Street Journal, Jim Fusilli wrote, "Songs is a warm, winning and plainspoken Americana album that builds on the authority and charm of From the Ground Up not by musical-muscle flexing, but by its clarity and simmering intensity.

"[26] In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Randy Lewis wrote, "The simplicity of the album's title is a harbinger of what it contains – songs impressively and potently economical, mostly stripped to the emotional essence through poetically concise lyrics and heart-rending musical settings.

"[24] In her review for NPR's All Things Considered, Meredith Ochs wrote, "So what makes John Fulbright good enough to prompt comparisons to the likes of Townes Van Zandt.

Maybe it's his voice, provocative and world weary beyond his years or his melodies that play gently and continuously in your head, long after his new album reaches the end.

[28] Fullbright's first major exposure on American national television occurred when he performed on The Late Show with David Letterman on August 28, 2014.

[30] During the 2017 Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Fullbright was one of many performers along with Andy Adams, the Burns Sisters, Michael Fracasso, Jaimee Harris, Greg Jacobs, Levi Parham, Joel Rafael and the Red Dirt Rangers who performed at a tribute for Jimmy LaFave, festival-regular and board member, who had died two months earlier.