Florida Georgia Line living creatively, building an empire
Florida Georgia Line seemed to pop onto the country music scene overnight with their hit “Cruise.” 6 years later the duo continues not only with number one songs, but an empire.
FGL sings about things being “simple” in their latest single and while they may make it look that way, the duo has put in the work to build a substantial brand.
“Tyler and I, we are entrepreneurs, we are creatives, we are artists,” explained Brian Kelley.
“Cruise” pushed Florida Georgia Line into what seemed like an overnight success, leaving the duo to easily fall into being a one-hit wonder.
“I think that probably could have been true, you know. We could have been a one-hit wonder. You know we’ve worked really, really hard, worked hard on our craft, worked hard on our music, surrounded ourselves with a really good team, put a standard for our songs every time we have to release a record or an album, a single even obviously, so that’s fine. We will take that. I think it’s even more motivating,” said Kelley.
The duo has already achieved a number of milestones in the six years since the release of “Cruise.” Now they have more than a dozen number one hits, they sell out stadium shows and they broke country chart records with “Meant to Be.”
“You know we moved to Nashville with a big dream and never knew it would take us this far,” stated Kelley.
The guys keep adding on to their empire which includes their own whiskey Old Camp, the opening of FGL House a popular bar and restaurant in downtown Nashville and most recently they celebrated the opening of their creative compound in Nashville. The compound includes three businesses; their own publishing company Tree Vibez Music; an event space called meet+greet and Kelley and his wife’s clothing line, Tribe Kelley.
“We like to live creatively and we like to create spaces for people, spaces that are fresh, that inspire, and just thankful to be here. It’s taken a while to get this thing up and rockin,'” explained Kelley.
While they may sing about keeping things simple, these guys are “always hustlin’.”
FGL is up for three CMA Awards; Vocal Duo of the year, as well as Single and Music Event of the year for “Meant to Be.” The duo will also be performing on the awards show Wednesday night.
News 2 has you covered for the CMA Awards on Wednesday night
- At 5 p.m. we kick things off from the Red Carpet. Log onto WKRN.COM to watch Neil Orne and Nikki Burdine talk to the stars.
- At 6:30 p.m. the Red Carpet show continues live on News 2.
- 7:00 – 10:00 p.m. catch the CMA Awards show, filled with music, celebrities, surprises.
- 10:00 p.m. News 2
- 10:35 p.m. Cherish Lombard takes us inside the CMA After Party