Nelo was officially formed in 2005, but Ragland, Hill, Long, and Goodson started playing casually together years before in Dallas, Texas, where they attended the same high school.

During these years, Ragland began writing songs and found an unsuspected singer in Umstattd, a long time friend at a summer camp in Burnet, Texas.

Upon the formation of the band in September 2005, Nelo immediately moved to Athens, Georgia and began playing at DT's Down Under, an underground bar that Ragland would later manage.

The band moved on to regularly play other local venues including the 40 Watt Club and the Georgia Theatre.

[citation needed] Nelo began touring in January 2009 in support of Two Years Ago, which was released by Justice Records one song at a time on iTunes beginning in March and ending as a completed E.P.

[citation needed] In March 2009, Nelo played the SXSW Music Conference in Austin for the second time and added saxophonist Brian Donohoe to the band.

[citation needed] Working with multiple mixing engineers on the project caused the release date to be pushed back numerous times.