Florida Georgia Line want to rock fans to their cores every time they play live, and the same rule will apply when they bring the Dig Your Roots Tour to Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Thursday (Oct. 13).
Both Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard each grew up leading worship in church where they first learned how to connect with people from all walks of life.
“Tyler and I both got started playing guitar and singing in church before we met back in high school,” Kelley said during our CMT.com interview. “When we both graduated from Belmont University, we started helping out in church together in Lebanon, Tennessee, in 2010.
“Growing up with that background in spiritual music, being able to break down walls, it taught us how to connect with people on a spiritual level. People are lifting their hands, they’re crying, they’re dancing, they’re singing and it’s a magical thing. It’s something bigger than us all.”
Another goal on the road this year was to stay as creative as possible by adding a mobile hit factory to the tour.
“Tyler and I started the publishing company Tree Vibez Music last year,” Kelley said. “So we rented a bus and got our writers and songwriters from other publishing companies to come out on the road with us this year. It gives us the chance to take our connection with our fans from the stage, then take that inspiration, go straight to the bus and lay a vocal down or lay a line down.”
“Or just lay down,” Hubbard joked.
“But I think staying creative has helped us the last couple of years,” Kelley continued. “We wrote ‘This Is How We Roll’ and ‘Sun Daze’ on the road, and I think it’s just the next step for us to you know take our music in a better direction.”
Thursday’s Bridgestone Arena concert will be the duo’s headlining arena debut in Music City. Cole Swindell, the Cadillac Three and Kane Brown will open the show. Florida Georgia Line are among the 2016 CMT Artists of the Year honorees. The show airs Oct. 20 at 9 p.m. ET.