Starting as classmates at the University of San Diego, the group formed in the mid-1980s and began playing in the San Diego, CA area. In the late 1980s and early 1990s Poltz and Driscoll played as an acoustic duo in various coffeehouses and bars including the Blarney Stone Pub, Innerchange Coffee House, and Java Joe's. Poltz wrote most of the songs, with Driscoll and McMullin contributing several songs along the way. The group released several self-produced cassette tapes and was a local favorite in San Diego.

After augmenting the lineup with bassist Gregory Page and drummer Jeff Aafedt, the group signed a contract with Bizarre/Planet Records in 1992. Poltz and Driscoll remained as the original core of the band. After working for two years, the group released their label debut with Morning Wood. With comical, sometimes bizarre lyrics, the band experienced their first taste of national exposure. The music and lyrics were compared to bands such as The Beat Farmers and Ween. The song "Me and Eddie Vedder" would go on to be perhaps the most recognizable track on the album. The song was a raucous meditation on the glorious possibilities of overdosing in a hotel room alongside Eddie Vedder. The experience concludes with 8-track players blaring the Houses of the Holy album as Vedder and Poltz are laid to rest.

The next album the group released was Mommy I'm Sorry. The album contains the track Dick's Automotive.

The band released one more full-length album in 1995. Taking the World By Donkey again featured a generous helping of acoustic guitars spiked with ridiculous lyrics. Some of the humor of the first record was replaced with darker themes. "The Ballad of Tommy and Marla" tells the sad tale of a couple that becomes hooked on crystal meth and eventually have their entire lives destroyed by their drug abuse.

After a few years of touring the United States, Driscoll left the band due to the pressures of touring and a desire to get back to teaching, his first profession. The band achieved a small level of national fame when some of the fans of Jewel Kilcher began to follow the group. Steve Poltz dated Jewel for some time, co-wrote some of her biggest hits, and he was known to occasionally play with her, including lead guitar on the Spirit World Tour in 2000.

Through the late 1990s, the lineup of the Rugburns changed several times, always with Steve Poltz as the lead singer/song writer. Eventually the band faded away in favor of Poltz's solo career.


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