Originally formed "for fun" and to play irregular shows at their local pub and record one album, the band were encouraged by friends to perform support slots in London.

Following a trip to South By Southwest in Austin, Texas, the band moved to The Track & Field Organisation record label, for which they recorded the mini album Jesus Songs (which includes a cover of "The King of Carrot Flowers Part 2" by Neutral Milk Hotel, having received permission from the song's reclusive author Jeff Mangum), and the albums Welcome Home, Loser, Balls and Hello Love.

The Broken Family Band were invited in 2006 to make a short film[2] for Channel 4 for their "4Play" strand; they did this and it was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on 22 October 2006 at 1.25am, with 0.14 million viewers (4.1% UK audience share).

The group originally featured a selection of guests, both on recordings and in live performance, although as their sound become less rooted in acoustic traditions, they began to solely appear as a four-piece, occasionally augmented by Timothy Victor.

In 2014 he released his first solo album, House Music, with contributions from Dan Mangan, Justin Young from The Vaccines, Martin Green from Lau and Emily Barker.