A year before this booking, Joshua Slone was mostly a name attached to some viral clips. In April 2025 Zach Bryan put out a run of unreleased acoustic songs with him, one about a West Coast road trip, another a heartbreak song set in New York. By September 27 he was on the bill at Bryan's Michigan Stadium show with John Mayer and Ryan Bingham, which AEG Presents said drew 112,408 people, a record for a ticketed concert in the U.S.
He's from Salyersville, Kentucky, and had been posting stripped-back song snippets online well before any of that. Thinking Too Much, his debut album, dropped in late October 2025 with about a day's notice: 16 songs, and a No. 2 spot on iTunes behind Morgan Wallen, per Whiskey Riff. A live version came out in March 2026 with a headlining tour that sold out fast, and the EP Long Life Living for a Lover Boy followed that October. Holler's comparisons point at Noah Kahan and Lizzie McAlpine more than anything on country radio.