Indie-rock songwriter Briston Maroney was born on January 24, 1997, in Kennesaw, Georgia. He spent the bulk of his childhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he auditioned for the thirteenth season of American Idol in August 2013. At the time, he was the 15 year-old singer of Subtle Clutch, a Knoxville-based band that played local venues and regional festivals. Successfully advancing through the preliminary rounds of American Idol's audition process, he wound up in Hollywood, where he was named one of the show's 30 semi-finalists before being cut from the roster. Undaunted, he returned to Tennessee and launched a solo career during the decade's second half, releasing the debut EP Reason to Shake in 2015 and the sophomore effort Big Shot in 2017. Moving to Nashville in 2018, he signed with Atlantic and released his first major-label EP, Carnival, that November. Another release for Atlantic, Indiana, arrived in 2019, merging Maroney's folk and Americana influences with elements of guitar-based rock & roll. He dove deeper into his indie-rock leanings with Sunflower, his full-length debut album. Released in 2021 and produced by John Congleton, Sunflower showcased Briston Maroney's talents as a vocalist, writer, and electric guitarist, and its string of singles — including the Top 40 alternative rock hit "Bottle Rocket" — helped push the musician to Number 6 on Billboard's Alternative New Artists chart.
