The Wallflowers formed in 1990, in Los Angeles, California. Their first album, which was self titled, was released in 1992 on the Virgin record label. Although the album was praised well by the critics, it only sold 25,000 copies. One of these critics that gave the Wallflowers a good review is Rolling Stone Magazine, which gave the debut album three and a half stars.

Playing early gigs all around Los Angeles, their favorite venue was the Kibitz room of Canter's Delicatessen, one of the towns more fabled hangouts, which they played at every Tuesday night. They soon grabbed the attention of groups such as 10,000 Maniacs, The Spin Doctors, Cracker, and Toad the Wet Sprocket; all of which the Wallflowers were asked to tour with.

The original members of the Wallflowers include vocalist and guitarist Jakob Dylan, bass player and background vocalist Barrie Maguire, Peter Yanowitz on drums, Rami Jaffee on keyboards, and guitarist Tobi Miller. This five-some broke up shortly after the albums release due to conflicts within the band, and with the record company -- Virgin Records. Yanowitz went on to drum for Natile Merchant.

The Wallflowers have been influenced by a variety of different groups and artists. These influences include bands as modern as the Counting Crows, to the bands they were listening to as they were growing up. These groups include The Band (Bob Dylan's back-up band), Bruce Springsteen and his E-Street band, The Replacements, Elvis Costello, Tom Petty, and The Clash. Bruce Springsteen even joined the Wallflowers for a live perfomance of their song "One Headlight," at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards. That night they were up for four awards but walked away empty handed. Frontman Jakob Dylan said that the most influential album in his life is The Clash's London Calling, "they had something I could listen to that I wanted to join."

Growing up, Jakob was the youngest of Bob Dylan's and supermodel Sara Lowndes' five children. His brothers are Jesse and Samuel and his sisters are Anna and Maria. His brother Jesse even helped the Wallflowers by directing a video for their song "Ashes to Ashes," from their self-titled debut. Jakob didn't see much of his father growing up because his parents got divorced when he was only six years old. His mother got custody of the children. When Jakob began writing songs at age 18 he didn't want to be compared to his father, but soon learned not to let that bother him. It has been rumored that Bob Dylan's song "Forever Young" is about the birth of his son Jakob. Jakob was so shy as a high schooler that he would take an F, rather than stand up in front of class to give an oral report.

The band seemed to have vanished for a few years but stormed back on the scene with their 1996 release, "Bringing Down The Horse,"

producing such hits as "6Th Avenue Heartache," "One Headlight," "The Difference," and "Three Marlenas." The band switched record labels, from Virgin to Interscope, and even changed the members themselves. The only ones to return from the first album are lead vocalist Jakob Dylan, and keyboardist Rami Jaffee. Dylan and Jaffee's new bandmates are guitarist Michael Ward, drummer Mario Calire, and Greg Richling on bass. Since Mario Calire didn't join the band until Bringing Down The Horse was recorded, drums were played by Matt Chamberlain. After most of the members of the original band had left, Dylan and Jaffee had actually considered re-naming the band, because it is not the same group anymore.

Their first hit off of Bringing Down The Horse, which eventually went double platinum, was "6th Avenue Heartache." This song features the use of a glide guitar. Adam Duritz, the lead singer of the Counting Crows, made an appearance on the album singing background to this song. Dylan got around to writing it while he was living in New York City and attending Parsons School of Design. "Every morning when I woke up this homeless guy would be on the steps of the building across the street from mine. He lived there, and he'd wake up every day and play songs on his guitar. I woke up every morning hearing him sing. After two months or so, he wasn't there anymore. All his stuff was still there, but he had disappeared. Pretty soon people started taking his stuff, and he never came back. I related to him in some way. He liked doing the same thing I liked doing, even though we came from two drastically different worlds. He moved on and I moved on, but in some way I felt a connection to him."

They finally scored their first number one song with their second release, "One Headlight." This song shows off the talent of Jaffee on the organ; and even features the use of a dobro, which is typically used mainly in country and bluegrass styles of music. The Dobro is similar to a steel guitar, seeing as both of these instraments use a resonating device to project the sound. The Dobro was developed by the Doyera brothers (who later Americanized the spelling to Dopera), Czechoslavakian immigrants who came to America in 1908 and the Dobro is an anagram formed from DO pyera BRO thers. They followed up their success of "One Headlight," with the releases of "The Difference," and "Three Marlenas." "Three Marlenas" is a bittersweet tribute to a desperado seeking releasease

Joining the Wallflowers on this album is pedal steel guitarist, and Nashville veteran, Leo LeBlanc. He is sometimes refered to as a "sixth member" of the group. His work is best protrayed on the last track, "I Wish I Felt Nothing." Shortly before the albums release, LeBlanc died of cancer. The Wallflowers dedicated Bringing Down The Horse in memory of him.

After almost four years, Breach was released on October 10, 2000. The first single from this album was "Sleepwalker." However, this album did not live up to the expectations set by the previous album, Bringing Down The Horse.

Almost two years later the Wallflowers released their fourth studio album, Red Letter Days.  Before recording started for this album, long time guitarist Michael Ward parted ways with the band for personal reasons.  Rather than recruiting a new guitarist the band recorded RLD and toured as a four-some.  The first single and video from this album was "When You're On Top"

The Wallflowers were excited to announce the release of Rebel, Sweetheart on May 24, 2005. The album's first single was "The Beautiful Side Of Somewhere" and was released to radio in mid-March, 2005. The album was produced by Brendan O'Brien and recorded at Southern Tracks Recording in Atlanta during the summer and fall of 2004.

In conjunction with the realease of Rebel, Sweetheart, the band released an exclusive iTunes Originals album for the iTunes music store. The album featured exclusive performances, interviews with the band's songwriter Jakob Dylan, and served as a collective of Wallflowers history

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