Judah & the Lion Artistfacts

Judah & the Lion song list

Judah & the Lion Artistfacts

2011-
Judah AkersVocals, guitar2011-
Brian MacdonaldMandolin2011-
Spencer CrossDrums2012-2017
Nate ZuercherBanjo2011-2021
Judah & the Lion are a Nashville duo whose banjo-and-mandolin-rooted sound has stretched over the years to absorb hip-hop beats, arena-sized rock choruses, and deeply personal lyrics about grief, divorce, and recovery. Fronted by singer and guitarist Judah Akers alongside mandolinist Brian Macdonald, they built their name by turning personal struggles into communal singalongs, treating the stage almost like group therapy set to a folk-hop beat.
The group formed at Belmont University in Nashville in 2011 as a folk band with bluegrass undertones. The origin was almost accidental: Akers had been quietly writing songs and was introduced to banjo player Nate Zuercher and mandolin player Brian Macdonald over the school's Christmas break. Akers called his mother right after that first jam session to tell her he had "met the guys that I'm supposed to make music with."
Before discovering their signature genre-bending sound, Judah & the Lion started out with a 2012 Christian worship EP called First Fruits, rooted in their time in Belmont University's Christian music program. The band's name isn't strictly biblical in intent, even though "Judah" is the Hebrew word for "praise" and the lion has long symbolized the Old Testament tribe of Judah.
Akers played shortstop for Belmont's baseball team before pivoting fully to music. "I loved baseball and it was a big part of my life at the time," he told Riff magazine, "but I think music has kind of always been more of a heart-wrenching emotional passion for me."

It was his father who gave Akers the gentle push toward music, telling him after a game, "I want to see the passion that I see on stage from you on the baseball field."
The band adopted a rockier edge, while keeping their signature banjo and mandolin, for their second album, Folk Hop n' Roll, released in 2016. One of the tracks, "Take It All Back," became their breakthrough hit, topping Billboard's Alternative Songs chart for three consecutive weeks and later going platinum. It landed them national TV appearances on Good Morning America and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, cementing their crossover from local folk clubs to mainstream rock television.
Founding banjo player Nate Zuercher left the band in November 2021 after nearly a decade, citing burnout following a tough pandemic year and a need for a fresh start. Zuercher's exit forced a creative reinvention, with Macdonald picking up the banjo to help fill the instrumental gap on the band's fourth album, Revival (2022).
The band's fifth album, The Process (2024), chronicles Akers' divorce from Lindsey Riley and his mental health struggles through the lens of the five stages of grief. Akers later found love again with Sina George, marrying her in June 2024, a personal turning point that sets a much lighter, more hopeful tone for the band's sixth album, I Am a Prism.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

More Songfacts:

LightsEllie Goulding

Ellie Goulding's hit song "Lights" is about her fear of the dark, which forces the singer to sleep with the lights on.

Head FirstAerosmith

Geffen Records made history on June 27, 1994 when Aerosmith's "Head First" became the first major label song made available for exclusive digital download. Download speeds at the time were so slow it took around 75 minutes to download the track.

ParanoidBlack Sabbath

"Paranoid" reflects a feeling Black Sabbath bass player Geezer Butler often felt after using drugs.

Follow Your ArrowKacey Musgraves

Kacey Musgraves offered "Follow Your Arrow" to her friend Katy Perry, but Perry thought Musgraves should record the song herself, telling Kacey it seemed "like something that you would totally say."

Come On EileenDexys Midnight Runners

Dexys Midnight Runners' "Come on Eileen" is based on a real girl called Eileen that the band's Kevin Rowland had a relationship with in his early teenage years.