Lombardo, one of the founding members of 10,000 Maniacs and responsible for much of their early sound, had left the band in 1986 due to "creative and political" differences.

[citation needed] The pair signed with Rykodisc in 1990 and recorded their first album Victory Gardens which was released in 1991, and were the opening act for the Maniacs on the Time Capsule Tour in late 1990.

[3] The duo released two albums with the Maniacs, 1997's Love Among the Ruins, which contained a cover of the Roxy Music song "More Than This" that reached number 25 on the U.S.

The Pinwheel Galaxy was released in December 2002 and the duo began a ten date national tour to promote it.

In late 2006, John & Mary began working with a new backing band, the Valkyries,[4] made up of some of the best local Buffalo musicians, and their latest album, Peace Bridge was released the following year.