Often compared to the updated southern rock of bands like My Morning Jacket and Kings of Leon, Steel Train has earned itself a solid reputation for producing songs for sensitive listeners who like soul and passion with good songwriting. Their lazy country tunes have kept fans coming back for more, and though they only have a few full-length albums to their name, they're quickly growing in reputation. Before long, they'll be as big as some of the other major players in the indie-rock scene.

Steel Train formed in 1999 with vocalist and frontman Scott Irby-Ranniar and guitarist Jack Antonoff at its center. It was not Ranniar's first professional creative attempt--just two years prior, he had acted in the role of Young Simba in The Lion King during that musical's successful run on Broadway.

Borrowing their name from a Bob Marley song, the two of them busked on street corners until they expanded to a full-fledged band, with second guitarist Matthew Goldman, bassist Evan Winiker and drummer Matthias Gruber rounding out the lineup. They signed to Drive Thru Records in 2002, and released their debut EP, For You, My Dear, in 2003. It attracted a fair amount of buzz, and a concept album titled 1969 (featuring six covers of songs from that year, including CCR, David Bowie and Bob Marley) kept interest high.

When the band finally released their 2005 debut LP, Twilight Tales From the Prairies of the Sun, critics were ecstatic. This was the start of a promising young band. The song "Better Love" drew some gossipy interest for being rather explicitly about Antonoff's break-up with actress Scarlett Johansson. In 2007, the band's follow-up, Trampoline, appeared on the charts. It reached a peak position of 10 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart.