With its return to the road rapidly approaching, Florida Georgia Line is working to finish up its third album and hopes to have a first single ready to drop in late April or early May and the album to follow in August.
“We’re sort of in the home stretch, I guess it’s safe to say,” the duo’s Tyler Hubbard tells Billboard. “I’d say it’s about 80 percent finished and we’re just taking our time with it and making sure the songs are the best product possible. And honestly, with the way we do things, the album’s never really finished until we turn it into the label. We might think we’re done and then we write another song and have to take one off and re-record another song — which is kind of fun when that happens.
“But if it was up to us we’d probably put an album out every six months,” he adds. “We like to get music out to our fans.”
Hubbard and partner Brian Kelley have been working with regular producer Joey Moi and “a long list of great songwriters,” thought the duo expects to have plenty of its own material on the album, too. “It’s an evolution, a little bit more into FGL. I’d say it’s another side of who we are,” Hubbard says. “It’s a little bit more real, a little bit more personal and there’s a little bit more of a nostalgic feel to this album, but there’s also the party jams as well. I think just like our other albums there’ll be something on here for everybody, but hopefully we’ve evolved as songwriters and better our craft as singers and artists and entertainers as well.”
Florida Georgia line has also settled on some featured guests for the album, but those are not being revealed yet.
Meanwhile Hubbard and Kelley are gearing to start their 2016 tour itinerary on March 8 with three shows in Australia, two opening for Jason Aldean. The duo returns stateside March 17 to play RodeoHouston, beginning a Dig Your Roots Tour that will mix festival appearances and headlining shows. Hubbard predicts “the biggest party yet,” as well as the most ambitious production FGL has taken on the road.
“It’s just something that’s a little different, that evolves and changes over the night and adds other element as the show goes along,” he explains. “I think that’s key, adding moments, so the whole show will be full of them instead of just one big show.”
The Dig Your Roots title, meanwhile, comes from one of FGL’s new songs, although it won’t necessarily be the next album’s first single. “It’s just a life song,” Hubbard notes. “It’s a little nostalgic. It makes you think about where you came from, where you’re going, what you stand for — a little more meaning behind it, I guess. It’s just a cool song and I think it captures where we’re at right now in our lives, making sure we don’t forget where come from and where we’re headed.”
