- Bro-Country duo formed in 2010 from Nashville Tennessee. The artists are vocalists Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelly.
- Hubbard and Kelly met at college through a campus worship group. As a teen, Hubbard formed a Christian hip hop group, and Kelly learned to play guitar and write music in college, inspired by the Christian group Casting Crowns (see my August 5 post on this group). After graduation, they agreed to take 2 years to try to succeed as a country music duo. They did odd jobs during the week and played in local venues on the weekend. They went to the studio and recorded a 6 song EP called Anything Like Me in 2010, releasing it for digital download. A producer discovered them at a county fair, and started working with them to polish their music.
- In 2012, they recorded another EP with an independent label, which included a song called Cruise. Cruise started getting airplay on satellite radio, and the larger record companies started to show interest in the duo. They were signed, and at the end of the year, their first studio album, Here’s To The Good Times was released, which also included Cruise. Cruise eventually became the most downloaded song in country music history, and it was #1 on the Hot Country Songs chart for a record 24 weeks (it was finally surpassed by Sam Hunt’s Body Like A Back Road in July 2017, but it continues to be the best selling Country song of all time). A remix of Cruise featuring Nelly hit #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is the only Country single ever to be certified Platinum in sales/streams.
- Here’s To The Good Times was the sixth highest selling album of 2013. Four more singles were released, all of which were top 5 on the Country chart, with Stay and This Is How We Roll (with Luke Bryan) topping the chart.
- Their follow-up album, Anything Goes, was released in 2014. It reached #1 on both the Country Album and Hot 100 Album charts. The first single from the album, Dirt, topped the Country chart, and peaked at #11 on the Hot 100. All 5 singles from the album were top 10 hits on the Country chart.
- Florida Georgia Line’s most recent release is 2016’s Dig Your Roots. The album topped the Country chart, making it 3 for 3, and another #1 single was released – H.O.L.Y. (the letters stand for “High On Loving You”). The song also crossed over to the Hot 100, reaching #14, and it became their second best selling song.
- In 2017, Bebe Rexha released Meant To Be, with Florida Georgia Line as the featured artist. Hubbard was a co-writer of the song, and it reached #2 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the Country Songs chart. It stayed at #1 for 50 weeks, destroying the old record of 34 weeks that had been held by Sam Hunt’s record of 34 weeks at #1. The video to the song has over 600 million views – more than twice as many as FGL’s most viewed video, Smooth.
- The duo released a 4 song EP, the self titled Florida Georgia Line, in June 2018. The first single, Simple, was released on June 1, and it reached #4 on the Country chart.
- FGL sound is called “Bro-Country.” It has lots of country harmony and country rock sound, but also can include hip-hop, electronics, and hard rock, with songs about pretty women, drinking and pick-up trucks. Apparently, old-school country stars are very critical of Bro-Country. I dunno – I thought old school country music was usually about pretty women, drinking and pick-up trucks too! All I can say is – move over old-school, it looks like Florida Georgia Line is here to stay! Here’s the video to the very catchy, very Bro-Country This Is How We Roll (did you know that I am a sucker for harmony?).