Steph Gunnoe and Sean McCollough met in Knoxville, TN in 2000. They immediately discovered a shared love of Appalachian roots music. Soon they began picking out tunes together, and their complimentary musical styles quickly became apparent.
They spent many afternoons in Steph's kitchen arranging songs by traditionalists such as Hazel Dickens, Bill Monroe, and Gillian Welch along with several of Steph's early originals. Their first public performance together was at the beautiful Palace Theater in Maryville, TN for a friend's wedding (picture above). Their second public appearance was live on the radio on WDVX, and their musical career as a duo was on it's way. 
A couple of years later, they met Maria Williams through friend Phil Pollard (who Sean Played with in a band called Evergreen Street). Maria soon joined them on upright bass and they started calling themselves The Lonetones. In 2003, they put out their first album, Useful. Phil played drums on the album
and soon began joining the band for live gigs as well.
The band began playing regularly around Knoxville, and then also began traveling to nearby cities for gigs. They released their second album, Nature Hatin' Blues, in 2006, expanding their sound with the addition of vibraphone and glockenspiel (played by Pollard). In 2008, Pollard moved to Richmond, VA and was replaced by Steve Corrigan. As they prepared to record their next album they expanded their sound even farther by adding Lissa McLeod on accordion and keys. They released Canaries in 2009.
These days, the band is back down to four members with Sean taking over on some of the keyboard duties. They also periodically play with a more stripped-down line-up as a duo or trio. The group will still pull out an old-time, claw-hammer banjo tune from time to time. And they still perform some of their more straightforward string-band material from their first album. But as they have continued to grow as artists, their shows have become increasingly eclectic, making them fit equally well at an indie-rock bar as they do at a folk festival.