Matthews, Lessard, and Beauford formed the band in 1991 with LeRoi Moore (saxophones), Peter Griesar (keyboards), and Boyd Tinsley (violin, backing vocals).

In November 1990, lead vocalist and guitarist Dave Matthews, who was working as a bartender at Miller's Bar in Charlottesville, Virginia, befriended a lawyer named Ross Hoffman.

Matthews recollects that, "...the reason I went to Carter was not because I needed a drummer, but because I thought he was the baddest thing I'd ever seen and LeRoi, it wasn't because I desperately wanted a saxophone, it was because this guy just blew my mind.

Upon the recommendation of John D'earth, Director of Jazz Performance at the University of Virginia and another local musician, Stefan Lessard, a junior bassist at the time, joined the band.

"[6] The band's first in-studio demo was recorded in February or March 1991, before Tinsley joined as a full-time member, and consisted of "Song That Jane Likes", "Recently", "Best of What's Around", and "I'll Back You Up.

[7] On October 9, 2010, Stefan Lessard reported via Twitter the discovery of an earlier show, taped March 14, 1991, at TRAX, a local music venue.

[6] For a variety of reasons, like sensing that the band was on the verge of making it big and not wanting to have his life ruled by the grueling schedule that touring musicians often face, difficulties communicating with Matthews, and maintaining the mortgage on his new home, Peter Griesar decided to leave the band after a show at Trax nightclub on March 23, 1993, a night known as "Big League Chew".

"Stay (Wasting Time)", an uplifting gospel number, and "Crush", a love ballad, became popular along with the lead single, "Don't Drink the Water".

The album, a live recording, used a show performed at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey on September 11, 1999, for a PBS television special.

The rest of DMB (along with special guest Carlos Santana) soon joined Matthews in a Los Angeles studio and quickly recorded Everyday.

After critical comparison of the two albums, fans who were less pleased with Everyday's more electric sound were frustrated with the band's decision to scrap the work of The Lillywhite Sessions.

The first, Live in Chicago 12.19.98, features Tim Reynolds on guitar as well as many other special guests such as bassist Victor Wooten, guitarist Mitch Rutman, and saxophonist Maceo Parker.

The second, Live at Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado, highlights songs from both Everyday and Busted Stuff and was released as both a CD and a DVD.

[32] In March 2005, Dave Matthews Band arrived on Australian shores for the first time, playing shows at Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Byron Bay East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival.

Though only 65,000 tickets were sold (50,000 originally, then a second block of 15,000) nearly 20,000 people sneaked into the show, making it the largest one-day concert in Atlanta history.

The band released a statement through their website which read: We are deeply saddened that LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon, August 19, 2008, at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles from sudden complications stemming from his June ATV accident on his farm near Charlottesville, Virginia.

[52] They concluded the tour with a benefit concert for lung cancer research (Stand Up for a Cure)[53] at Madison Square Garden in New York City on September 10, for which tickets were exclusive to members of the band's fan club, Warehouse.

The band's next album, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, was released June 2, 2009, coinciding with a supporting summer tour, slated to run through early October.

On February 22, the first show was announced as being at Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey, with David Gray, Ray LaMontagne, The Flaming Lips, O.A.R., and others, and taking place June 26.

[59] The next day it was announced that they were recording a new studio album with producer Steve Lillywhite, who worked with them on Under the Table and Dreaming, Crash, and Before These Crowded Streets.

[64] In April 2014, DMB performed five shows in Australia, including the West Coast Blues N Roots Festival and the Byron Bay Bluesfest.

[73] Other artists who performed included Cage the Elephant, Coldplay, The Roots, Brittany Howard, Pharrell Williams, Chris Stapleton, Ariana Grande, Justin Timberlake, and Stevie Wonder.

On November 13, 2021, night two of the two-night run, Alex Wasily and Ashlin Parker, horn players for Dumpstaphunk, joined the band for "Corn Bread" and "Jimi Thing".

On January 20, 2023, the band's social media accounts posted a teaser video containing 25 seconds of "Madman's Eyes", a song they debuted in November 2021 and played throughout 2022.

At the same time, the band's 2023 Summer Tour was announced with 45 dates starting on May 9 at Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, and ending with their traditional Labor Day weekend three-night stand at The Gorge Amphitheatre.

In fact, a direct patch to the soundboard was made available to recordists until 1995, when some of these tapes found their way into less scrupulous, commercial-minded hands who overcharged fans in the band's eyes.

[97] Studio albums As of February 2023[update], the band's own charity, the Bama Works Fund, has raised over $65 million and made over 6,500 grants.

[99] In addition, BAMA Works Fund has been active in other projects, and often the Dave Matthews Band, both as a whole and individually, have planned charity events and donated their time and resources outside of Charlottesville.

In Matthews's acceptance speech, he spoke for the band as a whole, commenting that of all the achievements they had enjoyed, that the award by the NAACP and Julian Bond, in particular, was by far the highest honor they had bestowed upon them.

[73] Other artists who performed included Cage the Elephant, Coldplay, The Roots, Brittany Howard, Pharrell Williams, Chris Stapleton, Ariana Grande, Justin Timberlake, and Stevie Wonder.