In the early '90s, Dave Matthews was tending bar at a Charlottesville Jazz club, and he decided to record some of his own songs. Realizing that a group effort would be better than a solo tape, he enlisted the help of some local musicians. He approached drummer Carter Beauford and sax man LeRoi Moore, and later Stefan Lessard joined the project. Despite being only 16 at the time, Lessard had already made a name for himself among local musicians as a great bass player with a maturity beyond his years. The group was complete with the addition of keyboard player Peter Griesar. From time to time, the group's music required some added strings, and Matthews called on violinist Boyd Tinsley. After only a few sessions, Tinsley joined the band full-time. Tinsley's energetic violin playing has done much to create that distinctive DMB sound.

Before long, the group felt ready to go public. Their first appearance came in May 1991 at a party on an apartment rooftop. That first audience was small, but soon the word spread. Later that year, they gave another performance, which provided enough exposure to nab the band a regular Tuesday night gig at a local restaurant. Before long, they were playing each week at a music club to solid crowds of local fans and college students. After the word got out about The Dave Matthews Band, the group began short regional tours and were on the road three to five nights each week. The band usually permitted fans to tape their shows, and this helped their popularity by building buzz in each venue before they arrived.

By now, DMB was becoming quite popular throughout the Southeast, and the word was spreading. Tour offers came in from as far away as New York and Colorado. Fans who were well acquainted with the Dave Matthews Band wanted something more, an album. The band's tour schedule was in full swing (DMB opened for the 1993 H.O.R.D.E. Tour), so Matthews decided to capitalize on that energy by releasing a live album. The album was recorded in August 1993 at The Muse on Nantucket. The first album, Remember Two Things, was released in November and was distributed independently by the band. The LP was an immediate hit and scored on the college charts.

The Dave Matthews Band had a banner year in 1994. In February, DMB released an EP entitled "Recently." Later that year, the band played its first show as a headliner. The group also rose from opening act to main act on the 1994 H.O.R.D.E. Tour. In September, they recorded and released the immensely popular album, Under The Table and Dreaming, just before embarking on their first European tour. In 1995, the band made its first official record label tour. As a result of newfound success, The Dave Matthews Band opened two shows for The Grateful Dead in Las Vegas in May. After another European tour in June, DMB spent the rest of the summer with the 1995 H.O.R.D.E. Tour, this time as a headliner. They finished out the year by recording a third album, Crash.

Crash was released in April 1996, and most of that year was spent touring not only as a headliner, but also as a major act. Also in 1996, Matthews began an attack on stores that carried bootleg albums. With the help of the Federal government, he effectively minimized the sale of foreign-made bootleg albums in the U.S. To lessen the effect of bootleg albums on the band's efforts, DMB released Live At Red Rocks 8-15-95. The album was hugely successful, debuted at #3, and went Platinum within five months. The band rested in 1997 since they had been touring and recording for the better part of five years. It was the longest break they'd had and was only briefly interrupted by a six-week tour that summer fronted by Bela Fleck & The Flecktones and Los Lobos.

Having whetted their fans' appetites for more, the band was back in 1998 with more touring and the release of Before These Crowded Streets. Matthews released two live albums in 1999. Live at Luther College featured just Matthews and session guitarist Tim Reynolds performing on the two CD acoustic set. Listener Supported , another two CD effort, was captured for a PBS television show. Their fourth studio album, Everyday, was released in the spring of 2001. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The group toured through out the spring and summer of 2001.

The group's music is a more Pop-oriented version of some of the eclectic bands with similarly strong followings, like The Grateful Dead. And just like The Dead, The Dave Matthews Band is a touring band because that's what DMB's fans have always loved about the group. The band has the unique ability to produce live albums that have the polish and finesse of studio efforts.