#356 - Tyler Hubbard on The Truth Behind Florida Georgia Line’s Break + Addresses The Rumored ‘Political Divide’ + The Pressure He Feels Now Releasing Music Under His Own Name

Tyler Hubbard sits down for his first hour long interview with Bobby since the announcement of Florida Georgia Line break. Bobby asks him about the rumors that were swirling online over the break and if it had to do with them not getting along. Tyler talks about how he feels more pressure to put out music with his own name on it than he did the last few years with FGL. Tyler talks about how his perspective on creating music has changed over the years, why he signed to a new record label and what to expect from his set opening up for Keith Urban this fall. He also gives a timeframe on when to expect more new music and his first solo album. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
We'll go to episode three fifty six. Tyler Hubbard the
lead singer of Florida Georgia Line now just the lead
singer period. No more Florida Georgia Line. Well after this fall,
they're gonna finish up their shows. He's like, I don't,
We're done. I want to do it anymore and we'll
readdress and I think he says five to ten years.
So it's a good talk. We talked for over an hour.
He's very honest about stuff, which I completely respect. And

(00:24):
we got to it and at some point I go, hey,
what's what's the deal. Why did you guys break up?
I hear it was political. He addresses all of it.
Got to give him credit. He came in. We talked
about all of his backstory, which I always think is
great when people are very open and generous about that,
and then we talked about Florida Georgia Line. So we
also talked about his new music, which is very important
to him. This is his new song called five ft

(00:45):
nine Got Me Five. Also, I felt like it was
interesting when he came to Nashville, he didn't really know
what he was here to do. He wrote motorcycles, He
talks about it. So Tyler Hubbard, the lead singer of
Florida Georgia Line, I encourage you to check out his
new music as well. You know that's what brought him in.

(01:07):
But again, very open and honest about the whole situation
with f GL. So enjoy this. Thank you for listening
to the Bobby Cast. If you don't mind, please go
and do the thing where you give us all the
stars and write a nice review because that actually helps
and we appreciate that. And we're just a little mom
and pop podcast. Just getting off the ground really got
we We are all right. Thank you guys. Here's Tyler Hubbard.

(01:30):
Hey something I was gonna ask us talking to Al
Dean briefly, and he was he had a real nice
watch on. Wait wait gum trash can Yeah, I might
not be a chumping in your microphone. You would be surprised,
that's very mature of you. You would be surprised at
how many people will come in and chew gum the
whole time. Well and then at the end go, oh,
should I not have been chewing gum and the whole time?
It's in and it might go on if I hadn't

(01:52):
put my hands on I might not. I might not
have thought about it. But then there I was just
chewing away. I was talking to and Aldin had a
nice watch on. Then I think I asked him off
the air and I was like, we were just talking
about watches. I guess it's something that people do that
never had money and then you get money all of
a sudden a little bit, and you're I guess I
need a nice watch now. Because we were talking about

(02:14):
watches and we didn't know a lot about it, and
he goes, Garth gave me this one, and I said, Garth,
Garth gave you a Rolex said, yeah, I said, we
talked about this. Yeah, sure, So I want to make
sure it's cool talking about that in the air. We
hopped on and I said, hey, Jason just said Garth
gave him this role X. I said, so, what's the
story and he said, well, I hopped on the Garth
like maybe like a tribute album or a duet album

(02:35):
or something. Oh yeah, and he said Garth showed up,
He goes, but heck, he showed up to the f
g O guys house with free jeeps. Yeah, well the
jeep and a motor. He gave me a motorcycle and
gave b K geep. So what happened? So how Jason
made it sounds like he's like the Easter Bunny and
he just shows up and he's got stuff just like
the Easter Bunny and he was coming or anything. Nope,

(02:56):
Bi Canon, We're on music row in our building in
the middle of a right and uh, our manager at
the time walked in and said, Hey, Garth Brooks just
randomly showed up and wants to see you guys. He's
actually out in the street and uh, he's got like
a trailer behind his truck. So we went out there
and saw him and hey, Garth, how are you? Holy
cow good good to see you. I don't even know

(03:17):
if we I think we've made him briefly before, but
that was like the first time really hanging it all.
And he was like, well, you know, thank you for
being on this project with me. I think at the
time it wasn't supposed to come out, or he was
bummed because it wasn't, so he felt bad or something.
He was also thankful. He was like, thank you for
you know, doing this with me. I actually got you
a g b K and Tyler hear you like motorcycles,
So I got you a little something. It's awesome Indian motorcycle.

(03:38):
And then he just closes up the trailer. He was
by himself, drove his truck, uh, parked it right in
the middle of music row, unloaded the toys, and then
closed his trailer up and drove off and hit a
hit a sign on the way off. Was the best
part of the whole thing. But anyways, is that the
me too? And I I'm lucky enough now to have
some really cool experiences with someone that is somehow human

(04:02):
and somehow still is the biggest I mean selling our
American artists of all time. I mean it's to the
juxtaposition of those two things is like almost shouldn't exist,
how sweet and kind he is, but also he's like
the biggest, most successful. It's to say that you can
actually be cool and genuine and authentic and kind and

(04:22):
still be successful, right, I mean, because sometimes I think
people think they have to put on the front or
they you know, or or be an image or a
certain person or whatever to maybe to maybe be successful.
But it's nice. I love I get so inspired by
watching Garth. I watched The Stadium Show, and I'm just
like dude. He he makes everybody in this place feel
special and he doesn't stop for the whole show. Also

(04:45):
inspired by that Mike Bros. He's in better safe than
I am, and he's he's he's crushing it. So I'm
I'm ready to, uh yeah, be more like Garth. That's
my m O. It's interesting talking about attitudes of folk
because sitting where I sit, both in this chair and
then you know, trying to do my own things, if

(05:07):
it's in the TV world or write books or whatever,
you know, getting to be on both sides of it.
It's why. Mostly new artists and it's it's the cycle
and I see it over and over again, so it's
you kind of know what to expect from folks. Mostly
new artists are very humble and just happy to be
there and exhausted right because it sounds they're running hard.

(05:30):
But when there's that threshold that's crossed into you've got
a number one, you're working on your number two, it's
almost like they go, Okay, I have to kind of
act like something like I gotta have to act like tired, tired,
They gotta they feel like they gotta put on some
sort of semi front because that's the expectation they think

(05:52):
is on them. And so that's when I've seen even
some of my friends, heck, even probably me early on,
go all right, I gotta be way cooler than I
really am. I gotta be And that's when it kind
of goes into they don't like them much right now
because they're trying to be something and I haven't put
that on myself a little bit, especially my first few
years here. But then once again there's another threshold of
success where they're just cool again because they realize that

(06:17):
one this is fleeting. Yeah, I mean so much too.
It's not real like the success that you have in
the you know, the people that you touch, but like,
what what is this? I mean, you can't touch it.
It's fundamentally it probably didn't change you that much. At
the end of the day, you're like, oh, it's just
you know, yeah, they go distress, but it's not really

(06:39):
changing who I am. I almost wonder if one of
those stages that you talk about almost pushes you or
forces you into like a cool stuff discovery stage of
life where you're like, you know what, like who am
I other than just the person that's in grind mode?
All the time figuring out How'm gonna pay my bills
and hanging out with my buddies, you know what I mean.
And then it's like, Okay, how do I manage the

(07:00):
life with it? Just it forced me into like sort
of like how do I manage life with uh, less
stress but more stress in different areas, you know? And
then it was like, well, how do I manage life
being a homeowner? Well? How do I manage life being
a husband? And then it was just like you know,
it kind of it kind of at least for me personally,
and forced me into kind of like growing up as
well as more self discovery. You know. Yeah, I think

(07:23):
due to how I grew up in my personal life,
there are parts of me that had to grow up
really early, like right. But I think now I'm just
into some of that area where I'm just married and
I'm still trying to figure it out totally, and not
just the married thing, but also the I've just been
so selfish in I've only been focused on me, not

(07:43):
selfish and keeping everything. I think for me, it's a
bit of the opposite of that, but it's like I've
only been focused on me and it's really hard and
I'm trying to figure out who I am as like
a human because I've never had to figure it out
because I've only just had me to care about, and
i just cared about working and breaking that cycle. And
so as you say that, it resonates with me. I'm going, Man,

(08:04):
my wife's like trying to get me there too, and
she's like, I don't just value you for your job.
As a matter of fact, I don't care anything about it.
Like we cannot do it. We can, We're good, Um,
so we I struggle with that, but I have her
as kind of a shepherd to lead me through and
and it gets a bit. It's uncomfortable for me at
times because I'm working fifteen sixty hours a day and

(08:26):
she's like, you gotta chill Outney Man, with you? What about? Yeah?
You and Haley like, because you guys, a success hit
hard quickly. No, I can totally relate to you because
those years, those those first you know, five six seven
years from probably two thousand twelve to two thousand and
six things. I guess that's not that many years, but yeah,
it was a grind mode, only thinking about work, getting

(08:49):
to the next show, paying the next bill. You know,
figuring it out and uh eventually getting to that point
of a little bit of comfortable, a little bit of success,
and then and then uh yeah, navigating this season now
has been I mean it continues to change and evolve
in different responsibilities and priorities. But for me, it's really

(09:10):
uh just checking myself on, like keeping a balance, man,
you know what I mean. And and that's always shifting too.
So that's why I say it's been a journey. It's like, well,
once Haley came into my life and then and then,
like you said, you realized, oh man, my all my
value isn't in just what I do or just the
songs I write or the shows I play, um, and
really that's not what I want my whole life to
be about. You start thinking about building, you know. Or

(09:33):
for me it was about kind of building the legacy
and starting a family, and you know, what's the next chapter?
What's the next chapter? And so uh so yeah, and
I'm still growing and learning, and I mean we're still young.
We've been married, we just celebrated seven years and uh
we have three kids, and essentially I'm starting a brand
new career. So it's very it's very much still that
in the career and the things that I'm doing for

(09:54):
work is very much enjoyable for me. I love doing
what I do, So, like you said, I can catch me.
If I'm not careful, I'll definitely over work, you know. Um,
but it's pretty quick that that I'm aware, Like, all right,
you need you need to chill out this week or
you know, find a better balance. I definitely want to
talk to you about having it in a sense start over,
not not all the way because you do have some

(10:16):
equity starting over with benefits. Yeah, yeah, you definitely have
some equity, but you are doing a lot of things
in a start over way, So we want to get
to that in a second. Uh, just you know, talking
about humans and having to grow and weird. This is
one of the scariest things to me, and it's a
bit counterintuitive. One of the scariest things to me was
money because I didn't know anything about it, never had it.

(10:37):
Was scared of it, was scared I started to make it,
scared of screw gonna screw it up. I mean when
I look at my first three or four years here,
I mean that to me, scared money and people that
were just wanting to hang out with me because they
thought they could use it as a as a way
to get ahead. But the money thing was why to me?

(11:00):
I never saw it, didn't know anybody who ever had it,
so I didn't know what to talk to. And so
I'm I'm having to figure out who can I even
ask for advice on where to get advice? Yeah. So again,
when you guys were lined out of a cannon, more
so than almost anybody that I've seen in my ten
years here, Um, that seemed from the OUTSI I didn't like.

(11:23):
It came quick like that success and all of a sudden,
all of a sudden, you're you're rich, and it's just
like what's happened? Yeah, I mean I can totally relate
to that. I tell the story occasionally. I might have
told you this story, but I'll never forget one of
the pivotal moments that I'll never forget. I'll tell my kids.
But I remember being over in berry Hill recording our
first album and we were literally working on Cruise um,

(11:45):
which you know, who did know at the time that
that someone was gonna do what it did? Um? And
I was coming back from lunch and I was sitting
in the parking lot literally checking my bank account and
I had twelve dollars left him in my bank account,
which was you know, and at the time, you know,
I didn't I didn't have of a resource to go
to other than what where is the next car I'm
gonna watch, you know, And so for me, I knew

(12:06):
the next day I can't go to the studio because
I gotta go work because I'm I'm down to pretty
much one bill left and so and that was in
two thousand and eleven. I mean, that was right before
it all took off, and that's kind of the that's
all I sort of new for you know, college was
like that obviously, and it's kind of like that for
a lot of people. And then that that was three
years out of college. So I'm you know, I'm sitting
there with a degree and and just grinding and trying

(12:27):
to figure it out and really just trying to not
get a real job so that I can, uh or
continue to be self employed, I should say, so that
I can pursue songwriting, you know, because that was the
ultimate goal. But yeah, I mean to think from that year,
I mean a year after that, I mean, the stress
level went way down and the money was coming in
and it was like, oh man, the patients and the
and the uh in the grind was starting to pay off.

(12:49):
And but yeah, then there was that point of like, Okay,
how do I manage money? You talk about college when
you went into college your freshman year, what what did
you think was gonna have? Un do you upon graduation? Oh?
What did you want? What? I think? Actually, honestly, my
freshman year of college, I had no idea. I just
knew that I wanted to be far away from home

(13:10):
to where it wasn't like a weekend trip or you know,
it wasn't like it wasn't thirty minutes away, which was
U g A, which was where a lot of my
friends went, or even an hour away. So and I'd
come to Nashville once or twice and as a little
bit younger and knew that I liked Nashville, and I
just thought, well, great place to go to school. Um,
why did you come here? Was it just well? I knew, uh,

(13:32):
Belmont had a music business program, you know, like as
a kid, like was it a family vacation? No it wasn't,
or was it? Actually it was in high school? It
was for a passion conference, which is like a big
Christian conference that Chris Thomin and a bunch of the
guys play at, and uh, I came up here for that.
That was That was a pretty big moment. I was like,
I love this town. I mean, we were staying downtown
and yeah, I wonder when you kind of fell in

(13:53):
love with it. So that was part of it. And
then there was a trip where we came up here
with my parents too, and I believe that was in
middle school and I just remember being like on music
row and I just have like cool memories of of
just being like, Wow, there's a lot of history in Nashville.
This is a cool cool At the time, it wasn't
a big city. It didn't feel like a big city.
It was like it was a big city for me,
but a large town, you know, and it was I

(14:15):
really liked it. So you got a college here, you're
a freshman, and freshman is always interesting because, yeah, you know,
in many ways you're lost, even if you kind of know,
you're still lost because the roads very long ahead of you. Well, okay,
what do you think you're gonna major in? If you didn't, well, honestly,
the only thing that got me even interested in going
to college was well, first of all, I felt like
I was gonna miss out because originally I wasn't gonna

(14:37):
go to college. I thought I was gonna be like
my dad and I was just gonna work for myself.
And I owned a card telling business that I just thought,
you know, I'll just work for myself and I'll just
grow this business and you know. And then I started
seeing friends going to college visits and doing the thing.
And I went to a few visits and I was like, oh,
this is like, this is not like high school. This
feels like freedom and fun. And I don't really like school,

(14:58):
but I think college would probably be prett fun. So
what am I interested in enough to get me through
four more years of school? Music? You know. I started
playing in church and I thought the songwriting was interesting.
I did not know at the time that that was
actually actually a career, um, but I thought music. Music
holds my attention, and I'm I'm intrigued by it right
now and I enjoy it. So maybe if I study

(15:18):
music and can still get a business degree, I could
potentially work for myself or do whatever that may lead.
So the only place that had it was like Butler
in Belmont or something like that. So I thought, Nashville
is perfect. If I get into Belmont, that's my sign
I'm going to Nashville. So I ended up getting in
UM by the grace of God something somehow, and we're
you a good student, because you're shaking your head like
maybe you was decent, but I never It was honestly

(15:40):
a surprise when I got in. I didn't have the
kind of grades, you know, and I wouldn't like a
superior athlete, you know, or anything like that. So I
really just took it as a sign like, all right,
that's we're supposed to go. Came up here and realized, oh,
pretty quickly, I don't know. My freshman year well, actually,
I first realized that everyone at Belmont was super good,
super talented. They were all into music or nursing, and

(16:00):
I was just like, oh my gosh, Like I was
fairly intimidated. And I also have this thing about me
where whenever everyone else is doing something, I tend to
I tend to really steer away and want to do
something else. So I kind of did. I kind of
put my guitar away for the first few years and
just sort of hung out with uh athletes and rode
my motorcycle around campus and just sort of had you know,

(16:22):
kind of jumped around different crews and hung out with
a bunch of people. And one of the things my
dad told me when I went to college was really
good advice I think looking back now, was Hey, I
don't care if you make straight a's. I want you
to pass your classes, but the most important thing I
want you to do is get to know everybody in
that school. And uh so that's kind of what I did. Man.
And then once I realized songwriting was a career and

(16:44):
that that's something, I was like, Okay, that's what I
want to pursue. That's what I want to do. He
said something where and I and I probably do it
for a different reason. I'm not sure, but you said,
you see everybody doing one thing makes you want to
do another, and so I have a similar thing. But
I I, after a lot of therapy, I think it's
because I'm so insecure or that I'm not going to
be as good as everybody else that's doing it. So

(17:04):
I go, I'm just gonna be cool and do this
other thing. In reality, I'm going, man, I'm not as
good as them, right, so I don't want to get
involved and feel even lesser than So that's me. I
think that was me. I mean, there wasn't too many
people riding around on cross rockets at Belmont and uh,
especially being silly on them, you know, and I thought, well,
I'll be I'll be the cool guy that pops Willie's
on campus. Nobody else is doing that. Come to find out,

(17:26):
it wasn't as cool as I thought it was. But uh,
but yeah, that I think you're right. I mean, I
think that was a big part of it, where it's like, man,
there's maybe I'll hode out in my dorm room, which
I didn't do. I didn't do until later on. But uh,
and try to get better. But there's a lot of
great people in this school, and I'm I'm not trying
to embarrass myself. Who did you meet that's still here?
And maybe nobody, But was there anybody at school at

(17:48):
the time that you're like, Okay, you're good and we
kind of feel the same way about things, let's be friends,
and uh, they're still hanging around in the business somehow.
You know. The first person I met when I went
to Belmont, uh as a guy named Jason Knicks. Do
you know who that? Man? He's an awesome guy, huge songwriter,
actually just had a big number one last year. And uh,
and so he's still like in the mix. You know,

(18:11):
we're still we still hang when we see each other.
It's just like, um throwback, man, I love Jason Knicks.
And then one of my best friends, Kanan Smith, is
also a friend from We probably met a sophomore year,
but he was one of my best friends in college
and still to this day, you know, really close. Um,
but there's a there's a it's been fun, man. I
mean a lot of the people I went to school

(18:31):
with her kind of venturing out and doing different things. Um,
some of my friends are playing with c c wanas
who was you know, you know, yeah, just a bunch
of different circles in Nashville. It's it's really cool to
see you start focusing more on songwriting, focusing a good word, yeah,
like trying to learn also actively getting better at the

(18:52):
same time, right and occasionally yeah, which, so what were
you doing more than all through college? Were you playing
a little bit or were you writing? I really wasn't
playing much, man, I was just sort of just goofing
off and and and having fun, uh and you know,
working out, playing basketball, intermural basketball, and just kind of
doing the normal thing. Occasionally I would start writing in
my dorm room by myself and just because it was

(19:14):
kind of therapeutic for me. Um. And I lost my
dad my sophomore year, so there was probably a lot
of uh shifts going on and needing to express emotions
and feelings, and so I started probably doing some songwriting
on my own. But it really wasn't until junior or
senior year, you know, when I when I really started
writing and thinking, all right, I really want to pursue

(19:35):
getting a publishing deal because I knew I had four
years to figure it out. I knew I wanted to
graduate college. UM. Not that I thought my career was
gonna take off so drastically that I was gonna have
to drop out, but I did know like Thomas Read
and these guys that did that, and I was like,
you know, I'm just gonna I at least want to graduate. UM,
So I buy myself some time and just have a
good time in the meantime. It sort of not put
too much pressure on myself. UM. But my senior year,

(19:57):
for sure, I knew all right. I don't want washed
cars too many years. If I can help it, and
if I could pay the bills and write songs, that's
the ultimate for me. So when did you start to
feel like you were good enough, not to be great,
but good enough to be good enough to pay the bills. Well,
we started, I would say senior year. Um, I ran
into b K. And at that time I was starting
to play like writers rounds and stuff. I was starting

(20:18):
to get enough courage to like get out, and I
had written a handful of songs that I was proud
enough to play at writers rounds. So I started kind
of doing that and starting to Uh, I wouldn't say
getting a bus, trying to you know, trying to get
a buzz going, but starting to have some people that
would believe in me. And um that I met b
K and we started doing our thing together and writing
songs and playing writers rounds together. Scott Belmont, Yeah, he

(20:42):
played baseball, and uh, so we kind of connected dots
and realized that we both liked writing songs. On the side,
we both let's get together and hang and see where
it goes. And so we started playing like Hotel and
to go together quite a bit um as a unit
or just Tyler. And at first it was just me
and b K. And then like we would get another
eight or two, we just do like around. And then
eventually as we wrote more songs together, we had enough

(21:04):
to be like, hey, let's just me and you do
the round. I'll sing some of yours, you sing some
of mine. Will sing the ones we did together, and
then and then uh, and then eventually we ended up like,
why don't we pull the stools away and stand up
and turn into like a you know, but it never was?
It what never was? We're now we're gonna go and
pursue this from ground zero. Um, because it sounds like

(21:25):
you're writing, I would say. After college we graduated, we
had a handful of songs we had written. We knew
we loved writing songs. We knew we and started to
really enjoy playing them and these writers rounds, and we thought,
why don't we, um, why don't we spend the next
couple of years and just I have a trailer, you
have a you have a tahoe, and let's just travel
the southeast and see if we can book some shows.

(21:47):
And so that's what we did. We started calling clubs
and acting like we were booking agents and we had
this band that we come and they did you have
a different name? Did you name it different things? No?
We we we landed on Florida Georgia line pretty quick. Um.
But that was when it was one night after an
hotel end Togo riders around where we were hanging out
and drinking with some friends at the house and somebody said, hey,
you guys should start a You guys should make a

(22:07):
name and and start a thing, you know, and that's
what well, what would it be? Well, let's, you know,
let's have something that represents who we are and where
we're from. And that was about That was about as
simple as it was, and it stuck. So does it
feel like as you look back and you know you
can sit and remembering it, you really can't sit when
it's coming at you so fast? You know, like you

(22:28):
mentioned earlier, because even when you're grinding and you're not
making anyone, you're going extra hard. Um, does it feel
like it hits you fast? Definitely in times it did.
Once two thou twelve hit it definitely, did you know
cruise was out? It started taking off and then uh,
but taking off like I mean it I can outside
in I'm talking just from my perspective, and I was back.

(22:50):
I was in the pop world at the time, and
I the Nelly version. We were playing it on our
station and I was like, God, dang, this is I mean,
out of nowhere. It was just as sive al right,
you're living it. So probably didn't feel out of nowhere
to you. But did it feel like a rocket ship?
Did feel fast? You know? We didn't have anything to
compare it to. Yeah, I guess that's my question. It's like,

(23:12):
but you know, there was times where it didn't feel
fast either, because we were in we were determined not
to get on the tour bus until we could afford one,
and so we were in a you know, there was
a time we were on the Country throw Down tour
in the on the in the summer at two thousand twelve.
We were the only band in a van driving ourselves
around the country following this tour, and we were the
barbecue band and we were roughing it and it was

(23:33):
a long summer. So yeah, I would say at times
it felt like forever and we had, you know, we
we couldn't get there fast enough. But looking back now,
I was like holy cow, that was super fast. Were
you guys, and forgive me for not being completely educated
on this part of it. Were you guys signed? Whenever
you wrote and recorded cruise or did you was that song?

(23:55):
Did it hit? And like go and get played on streaming?
Wasn't a thing get played on satellite? And then everybody,
it's a bidding war. Then what happened? It took off
on its own before we got signed, and then it
was and then it was a bidding war. That's pretty cool.
It was fun. And we were also, I mean nothing
against being in town and doing the coming here and
trying to get a deal first thing. But we we

(24:15):
literally had a like a motto that was like, hey,
we don't need a record deal. We're gonna do this
on our own. And when when we do need a
record deal, the record labels will be here and they'll
be asking us to sign. So when we when they
start coming to us and we'll know. And then they
started and then yeah, it all took off and they
all started coming and and we were just looking at
each other the whole time. We still have this kind
of attitude like man, like, we're doing it on our own.

(24:38):
If you'll want to join us and do it our way,
then let's go. But we're I mean, at that point
we were rocking, you know what I mean, and they
were and they could see dollar signs so they came
running and we were just kind of like, ah, but
you know, it's part of the part of the process.
But it was nice to build the fan base and
build our thing and have that confidence with going in
to signing a record deal and be able to say
this is who we argue, aren't really going to change

(24:58):
it because we have left. I was scared of that too,
that's very much. You know. You hear all the horror
stories and we were we were so scared of that.
So we were just like, nah, we're not we don't
want to play the game. Well, I mean, the truth
is I'm British and I had to change the coming
to country so now I got it from Arkansas. But
they made me they signed me before and They're like,
you're not going to be a hill building and I
was like, okay, you guys didn't have to go through that,
so that's good it. Let us be us. Have you

(25:25):
um played any shows by as you by yourself? Yet?
I played one show weird? Uh? No, it was a
little I was definitely nervous, but once I got out there,
it felt it wasn't too weird. It felt really good.
It was a Spotify house show and during the c
m A Fest. It was a small show. Um at
oh Red did part of I guess what's part of you?

(25:49):
I mean, it just feels natural. You've done it so
many times, like you didn't have anybody right there, I
mean that safety net or not always a net that
that's not there. You know, I would say it felt
different for sure. Um it was a small stage, so
it probably didn't feel as odd as it may feel
on a big stage. But I still had my band

(26:10):
and uh the crowd was basically right on top of
me too, so it was you know, it just felt
like a big party and it felt natural. And how
long was it that fun? It was like, Uh, it
was only a thirty minute set too, so it was
easy quickly. It was also a little nerve wracking because
all these songs are brand new. You know, I never
probably when I'm just like all right, uh, here we go.
But it was it was a good It was a

(26:31):
good uh good first show. The analogy that I feel is,
you know, I do my my morning show, and I
got these are all my friends had you know, never
done radio. We've all we come up all together. I
brought him with me, um similar you know to you guys,
you did this together from college. And then I go
on stage and I'll do an hour of stand up
at a theater and you're just you're just alone. And

(26:57):
when it when it's going right, it's it's freaking easy
because you're just killing. It's going right, you don't need
any But whenever things there's no there's nobody there and
I'm in for a while. When I first started really
pursuing doing comedy or doing you know, motivational talks, things
would crack or it would be an audio problem, or
I would bomb a joke. I was used to go

(27:19):
in and being like, well how about that and getting something,
but it wasn't there. So I wonder, you know, since
you've been doing it so long, because that will happen
at some point, right, And of course it's a it's
a really interesting, scary but awesome feeling. Once it happens
a couple of times and you're like oh yeah, no, no,
like yeah, I'm good. You're like you're like yeah, I'm good,
So that would be that'll be fun because you're going

(27:39):
out on the Keith tour, which I saw, and that's
a that's a lot of people have. It's a much
bigger stage, a whole lot of people. And I guess
you still have your band, right do you have all
the guys? It's the guys. Um Tom our bass player
moved on and ended up taking a gig with Luke Bryan,
so he's he's rocking. But yeah, all the same guys.
I na him, and uh, it just feels right when

(28:00):
after this fall will be will be in a group,
but this fall will be the you know, it'll be
fun because it's it's like it's all brand new and
all exciting and yeah, like you said, there's that added
fear or nervousness or excitement or whatever the feeling is
there all the above that you're like, Okay, yeah, it's
gonna be different. I don't have a bi k there.
You know, we're not playing off each other and um,

(28:22):
but but the crowds they're still and be honest, if
they're there, it's like, man, that's it's easier to play
off them than anybody else. So I'll probably be leaning
on them quite a bit, you know. And the Keith Keith.
I know, I think Ingrid's on the tour to so
where are you playing? Is it Ingrid? You Keith? And
then how long as the main support? How long do

(28:42):
you get a set? There? Sixty minutes you get an hour? Wow,
that's jumping right in the deep end. So when you geez,
that's awesome because you have to you have to get
it quick. We'll be yeah, exactly. That's why I say,
after this fallt tour, like I'll be ready. So when
you play your sixty minutes set and they're like, here's

(29:03):
Tyler Hubbard. Obviously, I was talking to Ronnie down this
morning about it, because you know, he's like, he's like,
I gotta I'm gonna go and play some shows from
my solo now. And he's like, but I'll always play
some of the Brooks and Dunes always. He's like, it
doesn't matter, like people know me from that. I gotta
stay true to that, even though I'm gonna do this
new projects. I think it comes out next Friday. And
you know, he said kicks the same thing, like there's
a there's a respect and appreciation we go out. So

(29:25):
what is your goal there, because regardless of let's have
twenty number one in a row, you're still part of
Florida Georgia line how you were introduced to folks. So
is your dream to not play those songs solo? No, No,
It'll all be kind of depending on the amount of
time that I have. But I definitely want to have

(29:45):
a moment in this show that will probably be uh
rooted in my songwriting, you know, and I'll get to
play some we can call him covers now, but songs
that I've written, whether it's an out Dane song or um,
you know, any of the songs I've written, or f
g L songs, you know, So like cruising meant to
be in a little bit for example, Like we can

(30:06):
just take those three and say, all right, I'm just
gonna And I'd also just like to pay Yeah, I want,
I want in my show. I wanted to tell my
story and that's a big part of my story, so,
you know, and being a part of writing those songs,
and so I think it'll be fun to, you know,
within the context of telling my story, going to play
a few FGL songs. But ultimately, I don't know if
the key set is gonna allow it, because we were

(30:27):
having rehearsal last week and we were kind of working
through it and we're like, man, you know, we've we've
worked up like thirteen of the new songs and it's
just like really hard to not want to play those
new ones. And so I'm not exactly sure what we're
gonna do yet, whether whether or not we're gonna play
you know, some covers in the sixty minutes said or
wait and do that, you know next year. But I
mean there's medley, that's the word. I know, a little medley,

(30:48):
a little verse course for four minute, fifteen second medley
of four or five songs. And so people are like, oh, yeah,
you did. I remember I just went to r M
once um, and I was super because I didn't get
to see the r M was you know, when I
was young, young. R a M was massive and you know,
early nineties, and so then they kind of went off

(31:09):
and they came back and I was like, heck, yeah,
I want to go watch r M and had great
season and they never played one of their older and
I was like, I was like, what just happened here?
I didn't get one one hit. They just played a
medley for like four minutes of what's frequency again it
everybody would have been okay, But it's good feedback to
have as I'm trying to figure it out, you know,

(31:30):
I just I just left going. I spent all these
years listening to so much of their music. I just
needed a nibble. I just wanted to feel a little
bit of that. Yeah, So I'm gonna play some of
these songs here because you're putting them out pretty good.
Every time I look at I knew someone coming out.
It's like Tyler always got a new song. I think
at three out. Now let's play five ft nine and

(31:52):
then this is the single, right, all right, here we
go God Me five and Small True Dead make Whiskey

(32:12):
makes good stuff. So as this is a single, who
are you with? Label wise Universal? Okay, that's not the
same label, new label. So what's that? The whole swim everything,
that's a big deal. The management SWI I mean, the
label swich is significant, but even the management, which because

(32:34):
that's who's with that's every day. Yeah, and that was
a big um. That was a big need for me.
I mean to be honest, you know, the last couple
of years of the f gl thing. You know, it
was pretty um undermanaged, and I knew, I think my
biggest fear and my biggest hesitation in doing any of
this solo stuff. Um, before I met my new management

(32:54):
team was was just that like that I'd be feeling
the loan, you know that I'd be trying to do
it micromanager every little aspect of it, and you know
how many aspects there are and how many moving parts,
and it's it's impossible for one person to do. So
I met them and I felt so much more equipped
and supported and actually like that was when I actually
decided like, all right, I'm gonna do this. I can

(33:14):
do this, so if to the folks listening, I didn't
know what a manager was either until I had to
have one. And so even today I did. Uh. I
did a radio show and then we did my kid's
books out and so we did a whole online signing
and then I'm here. So but my manager overseas all
that everything that I possibly do. It doesn't matter in
what world it's in, what space it's in, Like they
are part of everywhere, your labels, your music, But my

(33:36):
managers dealing with the tour, the little so that is
such an intimate that's a that's a person you have
to really trust or people you have to really trust.
But it's a very intimate part of your career and
even your personal life honestly because it is someone who's
very close to you. So you I mean, that's a
lot of change, man. How do you pick a new label? Well,
the uh, my manager helped me navigate that, you know.

(34:00):
Oh and we um, we only we knew that it
was between a couple, you know, and then we we
just uh took a couple of meetings and I honestly
just felt really at home, you know. Um. I met
with Mike Dungan over there and uh played the music
and their level of excitement, you know, I just uh,
you know, and then after meeting their whole team, I

(34:21):
was like, yeah, this feels this feels like the right
team and the right um, the right move for me. Um.
So yeah, it was. It was pretty simple. It was
actually a lot more a lot less complicated than it
had been in the past. I'd be so neurotic. I
was so neurotic about everything, Like I Yeah, I just
like I I hold up with people, even professionally to

(34:42):
my detriment sometimes and like, that's it, that's it. You
haven't stolen from me, you haven't stabbed me. We're good
forever and that that again I And at times that's
not good for me. So I commend you for just
going all right, this feels good, it feels natural, let's go,
because I I don't have that growth yet. And they were,
you know, there was there were people that I mean
everybody in my previous career, if you want to call

(35:03):
it that, my last ten years f Gail chapter. They
were great. But but a lot of people I think
UM had a difficult time, uh fully wrapping their head
around the fact that we were moving on and doing
different things and had a hard time with the transition
and or or accepting the transition in general. So I
think it was necessary and beneficial just to have UM

(35:25):
kind of a clean table to be able to rebuild
a little bit. New eyes, new years, new perspective, because
you have new eyes, new year as a new perspective,
so you need teams got to match it. Yeah, thirty
five little more. When you're writing, I'm assuming you wrote

(35:53):
all these songs. Did your first project did? Yeah? So
you've written as a writer for and sometimes probably specifically
for people. Right, You've written as a writer just trying
to write a great song, you don't know where it's
gonna land. You've also written for you, but you wrote
for you as part of a unit, so when it
comes to you're not creating in a different way. But

(36:14):
my question is did you write these songs for just
you or they just really good songs you thought are
for me? So like half the album, um, we ended
up recording eighteen songs total so far. So I'd say
about half of those were songs that I had written previously,
either for somebody or like you said, just to write
a write a song and see where it lands. And uh,

(36:34):
several of them are songs that I pitched other artists
or that, um, you know, they got passed on, and
it just stuck around in my phone and and and
even started to resonate even more with me and become
more true to who I was. And I was just like,
once I accepted and kind of decided that I was
going to put an album together, there was a handful
of them and I was like, yeah, this these belong
on my project, you know. So uh so there was

(36:54):
that and then once I made that mental shift into
knowing that this is what I was doing. My writing
change where it was like I go to a room
and they would say who were writing for and I
would say me as opposed to you know whoever, and
uh and then it was cool because then I got
to really dive into uh a little bit more that,
like I mentioned, like self exploration and really what do

(37:17):
I want to say? How do I want to tell
my story? And you know, how do I want to?
Now I can connect with fans on a deeper level
and they can get to know me more, like you said,
more of who I am personally and individually as opposed
to a band or a brand. Did you feel more
vulnerable when writing for just you? Yeah, I think so,

(37:38):
but I try not to also overthinking and ultimately we
were still just trying to write great songs, but I
was trying to integrate my own personal, uh you know,
stories or inspiration into them, and so uh, yeah, there
were times where I definitely felt more vulnerable. Um, but
it was I think that's necessary there when you're writing

(38:01):
a lot of these kind of songs, I think I
can just outside in perspective. I think if you're writing
because I've written books that are specifically about me. I
know that's about me, and everybody's gonna know that's about me.
If I'm writing with other people and it's really about me,
I can always just act like it's not. I mean,
as long as no one's just gonna we're like, hey,
it's a very personal song for us, and who knows

(38:23):
which parts about who. I think there's a little bit
of shelter there. And even if you are vulnerable, people
not knowing where to attach the vulnerability, so it's a
lot easier and you don't feel as like your rib
cage is wide open. I think when you're writing and
it's your own stuff, it's only you. Like what you're saying,
the feelings that people are feeling from you, that's all
attached to you now. And I just you know, when

(38:45):
I say vulnerability, like it's like if you put it
out there and it it's you, it's now you. And
there was that I was gonna say, there was a
pretty uh. I mean, there was a big shift and
a lot of I think just me you trying to
fully process, like, oh, when I put a song out,
when I quote record a song, now, this doesn't say
Florida Georgia line which is actually a brand that people

(39:09):
that I was probably guilty at times of just kind
of saying, oh no, that's an FGL song, or that
can be I would justify maybe making certain decisions, or
maybe the quality wouldn't be up to par, or something
that maybe I wouldn't have potentially signed off on if
it has said Tyler Hubbard, Does that make sense that
there's this extra pressure I'm saying, and now you have
to have your personal name is attached to stuff. I

(39:29):
even considered, like do I come up with a stage name?
Do I do something that I was like, you know what, No,
I'm gonna put my name on it. It's gonna be
my story and it's yeah, and there is gonna be
the added pressure, but I'm gonna try to let that,
you know, I'm gonna try to channel that pressure into
great music and uh hopefully a deeper connection. I'm gonna
place them away home. But before I hit this one,
this is one I'd like for you to kind of, um,

(39:51):
just elaborate a bit on when you were in the
room right in the song, what you'r what your what
your point was in that room in creating the narrative
and recording the song way Home Cool. Yeah, I mean
this was this was actually we talked about that moment
where I decided that I I was going to make a

(40:13):
project and then I wanted to start intentionally writing for
me and telling my story. This was one of the
first songs that I wrote. I wrote it with Corey
Crowd and Kanan Smith and we went to the lake
for the weekend and we just sort of made a
goal to write a few songs that were, um, that
would be for me, you know. So this was one
of those. And it really is very an autobiographical. I

(40:34):
mean very you know, you don't have to to to
look too deep and to understanding what the song is
about and who I am and part of my childhood
and how I was when I was younger and hopefully
how I am now and you know where my headspace
is at and where you know, it feels a little
bit more mature, but um again, it's it's really a
first taste, in my opinion of the fans getting to

(40:55):
uh no, more of my personal story, you know, and
and where my head's at. Uh So, Yeah, it was
a lot of fun and liberating writing and it was
cool too to start to to shift my perspective, my goal.
Maybe attaching too much to this, But when you say,
you know, one of the first songs that you wrote
when you're chasing just you and you're writing with Canaan,

(41:18):
is that because again, Canan feels safe and is a
good writer, and that's why you wrote with him, because
you're like, it's a big change and probably a little
nervous and probably and let's talk. Let's spend three days
out of the lake. Let's talk about what this looks like.
Let's let's not put too much pressure on ourselves, but
let's be intentional in Crowder is the same way. I
mean Canon and Crowder and two of my closest buddies

(41:41):
and my most highly respected songwriters in this town, um
and producers. So I knew we would leave this lake
with a great demo, a great song or two, and
we did. We wrote three songs and two of them
made the album. So so yeah, it was very beneficial.
But it was helpful to have those guys that that
I could trust us and that I could just you know,

(42:02):
just be real with the card, the the easy, the
fun and the tough. So it was it was great.
Here is way home. Dating life is a how way.
Now I puts myus on my more than one time

(42:23):
out to the wrongs of Lane, just letting my horse
and all a while. Yeah, I got along until I
got found who Now that it's well in my soul,
I just right in seeing this, Jesus suddenly know the

(42:45):
way home? Will there be again? It's you. I know,
faith is very important to you. Do you feel like
there'll be a little more of that since it's your
story and your story actually is a lot of faith,
And yeah, I mean there's always been little nuggets of
that within the f GIL stuff because it's a big
part of b Cana's story right together. Even I mean

(43:08):
I met v K to worship service where he was
leading worship, you know, so that we've actually led a
worship together before. So um, so that was a big part.
So I don't think it will really change a whole lot,
and there won't be a whole lot more, but yeah, um,
it's still a big part of my life and a
big part of of who I am and where my
joy comes from. And so I love to sing about
it and you know, talk to the world about it.

(43:30):
But it'll still be dynamic. You know, I wanted this
album to uh to showcase all the sides of who
I am, you know, and that is a big, a
big part of who I am. But the more I've
learned about myself, the more I've learned there's a a
lot of sites to who I am, you know, which
is was great as a creative and an artist to
get to slowly showcase all those you know, different size

(43:52):
and let people more into who I am. What's happened
with you today? So far? You wake up? What? How
do wake up? Man? Today was well, the kids and
my wife out of town, so it's different than typically
I wake up like six, but I slept into like
seven thirty, which is pretty epic, and I was still
able to have some me time, you know, in the morning.
So so yeah, I had my coffee. I uh probably

(44:15):
just I caught up on some emails. I probably got
into my work a little quicker than I should have,
but I was super sore, so I did a little
stretch in the day and ran a little bit. I'm
trying to get my cardio back up, so I did
a little exercise and then uh man, I just kind
of chilled this this knocked out a few emails, had lunch,
and came over here. Has it been they'll, uh, let's
let's remove the pandemic, because I think for everybody that's

(44:36):
odd situation. Has it been a bit more? I will
use my um uh, it's a lot more thinking than
doing right now because you're strategizing what's coming up. Has
it been a lot more of that since you're not
really traveling and touring yet, then it would have been

(44:56):
otherwise if you're still in fl Yeah, because you're rebuilding something,
you know, it's not something that we're just trying to
maintain at this point. We're rebuilding, we're re establishing, We're
re relationships, were re reputation where everything, you know, we're
re defining who I am as now a thirty five
year old married man with kids who was install writer

(45:18):
and an artist, you know, um as opposed to who
I was with F g L, which was quite frankly
a twenty five years and it's ten years ago. You know,
it was we're all as we've you can imagine how
much growth happens in ten years between thirty five. But
but yeah, it's been. Uh, it's been amazing because it
really caters to my personality to have someone or a

(45:39):
team that I can really strategize the nuts and bolts
in the details of every movement. You know, every intention
between behind every release and every video and every you know,
what's the purpose, what's the narrative, what do we want
to say? And all those kind of conversations were not
conversations we ever had before. So from so for me
it's like, oh man, this is highly uh, this is

(46:03):
highly efficient and effective way to do business. And and
it really speaks to my personality, my my o c
D attention to detail and just uh, maybe that's a
control thing. I don't know, but it's nice to have
a team that thinks and is align with me on that.
And I was wondering where and not that I thought
Haley was coming with you, But I guess Haley and
my wife had message messaged something and she was she

(46:24):
was like Tyler's coming over to do it, and so
I guess I thought she would may come with you.
I told Helen and said, hey, they may come over too.
So but if they're out of town, it makes sense
she's not sitting in the car. I thought maybe locked
her in until it was you cannot go to Bobby
said it was, or she's just out there waiting for
the call. And then so three you got three kids.
Now you're obviously a dad. I guess my point is

(46:46):
in Florida Georgia Line, you were and even in your
mind like that's a twenty five year old person project,
this is a thirty five year old person project in
Florida Georgia Line on stage. I guess I didn't picture
part of that unit as a dad. Did you have
songs that listen? Did you have any father songs without you? Okay,
So my question is you're more mature as an artist.

(47:09):
Is that going to be part of it a bit,
just referencing the growth as an adult and having kids.
I think underlying for sure, whether it'll be really directly
um uh you know out there, I'm not sure, but
I do think the fans will feel an evolution or
growth or maturity. I've even had a fan. One of
the coolest things that someone said recently to me was

(47:30):
thank you for your knee music. I'm so glad you're
doing this because it allows us to continue to grow
with you. Because yeah, when you when we were all
coming up with your music and f g L and
which'll were doing, we were also kids and we were
young and we were out wanting to go party and
go to the bars and listen to f G music. Well, now,
you know, we're all a lot of us are in
the season that you're in where we you know, we

(47:50):
have young kids, were exhausted. Life got a little bit
different perspective. We still want to go out and have
a good time occasionally, so there's still gonna be that,
but there's more depth. There's more you know, just inspiration
from even or from even my kids, you know, like
Inside and Out for example, as a song that's not
directly talking about my daughter, but I was definitely had
her in the back of my mind when we were

(48:12):
writing that song, and just the beauty of um, you know,
the beauty that she has inside now and that's the
message that we constantly want to tell her and the
boys for that matter. But um a message that maybe
not everybody gets to hear. And yeah, there'll be there'll
be some more depth to it that hopefully makes an
impact in the world for more than just you know,
selling beers and uh having a good time, but there'll

(48:33):
still be having a very public personal life. Again, it
just goes back to as a unit. It's different than it.
Neverboy knew Tyler and b K, but they knew f
gl more than they do Tyler and b K. People
know Dan and Shay more than they know Dan. I'm
very close to Dan, but Dan himself can kind of
live a life Dan and say camp they're they're mat so.

(48:56):
But here you are now and you're solo and you
have a personal that's you know, pretty public, do you
consider more of a spotlight on the direct hubbards now?
You know, we've talked about that, Haley and I, you know,
and and I. I'd be silly to think that it's

(49:17):
not going to change a little bit from me now
that it's like my name and my face as opposed
to because a lot of times somebody might say, hey,
they're Florida Georgia line. It's like, well, actually I'm not
Florida Georgia Line. But sure, so yeah, I mean I
expect a little bit of a shift, you know. Um.
But also we're trying to be intentional with man, like
how much do we eat? Because it's so hard because

(49:39):
our kids are such uh bringers of joy for us
that you give us so much joy and they're so
funny and they're entertaining and there this and that. That's
so we're always constantly like sending videos to our friends.
We're wanting to post videos for the fans because it's
just so entertaining and that you know, everybody loves it.
So we're trying to now find this like, Okay, well,
we need to be careful a little bit here, because

(50:02):
how much privacy do we want to have because we
don't need to you know, we need to keep some
of this private. We need to and we need to
showcase what we want to showcase, but it needs to
be again, intentional and thought out, and we don't need
to just be um putting them on blasts all the time.
They don't know that, you know, they don't they're not
old enough to know. So anyways, Um, again, it's something

(50:22):
we're constantly trying to navigate and figure out and and uh,
we try to back off from that a little bit
and just stick to you know, the music and the
branding and the purpose behind what we're doing. And Haley's
got a you know, um platform herself, and so she's
and it's around motherhood and stuff like that. So there's
a little bit of overflow there with a personal life
and but she's also kind of especially lately, really trying

(50:44):
to be you know, trying to be focused more um
on outside things and outside of people other than other
than our family and our kids. But we just love
our family so much that makes it more difficult. For sure,
what do they know? How old your oldest kiddos? Our
oldest is live and she's four, Okay, so she ight
doesn't still grass. You would be very surprised. I swear

(51:06):
sometimes I think she has a brain of a twenty
five year older. It blows my mind. She probably grasped
quite a bit more than a lot of four year olds,
and I wouldn't have I wouldn't be able to say
that if it didn't have two boys to compare it to.
So it's drastically different. So I'm like, okay, um, but
for her, I mean, um, like what dad does, but

(51:26):
also who these people are. If you're somewhere and somebody
that she doesn't know comes up to you, like, this
is all normal to her, but it's not normal, right,
So how do you have that conversation? Yeah? Well everything
is is exactly that, just a conversation, right, And I
try to keep it simple for her, But I try

(51:47):
to inform her because she's super intuitive and also really aware,
like way more than I ever thought about being. But
Hayley's more like that. So she's really and sometimes I
don't even have to tell her. She just gets it.
She just knows, like, oh yeah, they're a fan of
Daddy's music. Oh yeah, and they know they've known for years.
Daddy writes songs and Daddy plays shows and Daddy makes music.

(52:07):
That's what Daddy does, and so they're super proud of that.
They love my music, which makes me feel good. But there, um,
they've also become kind of my I mean, they'll tell
me if they don't like a song too, so they're
kind of like my and our team unsolicited uh opinions.
But um, but it's great and and right now it's
it's a really a fun season where we hadn't had

(52:27):
to navigate to too much of that, you know, um,
the fame thing. I mean, honestly, the pandemic really protected
us and allowed us to live a very very normal, simple,
just you know, um life. Um, but I think now
that we're getting back on tour, they'll be and she's
getting a little older and um, but a lot of
it just comes with living life. She's super observant and

(52:50):
just having conversations, and she'll ask the questions when she
doesn't when she wants to know something, she'll ask. So
it's really just being prepared to know how to answer.
What does more music coming out this year? I mean,
what does that mean? Um? Well, I'm going on this
fall tour. I know I need more than three songs
out to play, and I probably won't be able to

(53:12):
put all the songs out that um that I'll be
playing on the tour, but I'd love to have some more.
So we're gonna put some more songs out throughout the
fall and just keep them coming and then we're gonna Um.
As of now, at least the plan is to put
to put an album out in the beginning of next year.
So will you play songs? And I guess you're gonna
have to, but let me ask a questions like a dummy.
Will you play songs that aren't out? Yeah? Yeah, that

(53:36):
I'll play for you for sure sixty minutes if you
only got three songs out, unless you're playing like the
Big Dave Matthews Band jam fish jam style, you know.
So I think I'm gonna have like eight or nine.
I'm gonna try to have like eight songs out um
by the time hopefully. I don't know if it'll be
right when tour starts, but anyways, it'll be it'll be

(53:56):
top of fall, you know, at some point in there,
and then just so I can have some more familiarity.
But even though songs will be brand new, they probably
won't be known, so it'll be different for sure, playing
songs that people hadn't heard. So and we're getting close
to the time here, and I appreciate you hanging out
and talking for an hour. Um, what does indefinite what's

(54:16):
the term you guys use indefinite hiatus? What's what was it? Yeah,
because I'm sure official my official uh thing was we're
not breaking up, We're just taking a break, you know, Um,
which was which it is that? But at the same time, UM,
you know, these careers that we've chosen to pursue don't
happen overnight. You know, it's not like you're just gonna

(54:38):
there's a building process and there's a there's a journey
that happens if you want to pursue a uh launching
a different career and so or another career. Um, so yeah,
for me, I mean I told b K, you know,
let's we're gonna give this adent and we're gonna both
build something great and then we can reassess when when

(54:59):
you know, five ten years down the road, we can.
But I'm not taught. Yeah, but for me, this is
the thing that I'm gonna be doing for for a while.
You get a million bucks to play a wedding together?
Uh uh probably not? Probably not right now. It's that
important to you, And I'm not saying it is a reason,

(55:19):
but I'm just it's that important to you to really
focus on the Tyler Hubbard. Yeah, and I'll tell you why,
because UM and I and I have had to turn
down some dates because if you don't cut it off completely,
it will always be there and it always creates more
UM confusion for the fans. They don't know what's going on.
They think you know and not. Well, it's multiple, there's

(55:40):
multiple things to it. UM. At this point I needed
to fully fully stop one thing to be able to
fully focus on another, UM because it really does take
all the capacity that I have, all the creativity, all
the schedule, all the time. UM. Because you have that
wedding date that you just mentioned there would have been
something that popped up that I needed to go do
that I would have had to say no to last

(56:02):
minute or you know what I mean, just something and
so um, so yeah, we've just decided to um completely
pushed pauls on all that. Starting in Septembers are last
f g L date and then we're are you're still
playing shows? Yeah, we're playing f GL shows through the
summer festivals that we've committed to, got on the books,
and we kind of wanted to get to play some

(56:23):
shows before we well I commend you guys were sticking
with that. I mean I no contractually, but yeah, still
we wanted to. We thought we were going to get
to do more, honestly, and we ended up having to
cancel some tours and it was trying to get back
into it after the pandemic was hard for us. So
to get to have some shows for closure wasn't was important.
You know, well, you do a final shows, and you

(56:44):
do a purposeful final show, Uh like this is it
the last one will be the last one. But it's
like it's like a schedule to have a special log
huge you guys get along right now? Yeah? Completely, I mean, yeah,
we don't hang out on the weekends. Uh. Yeah, we
when we get together and play shows, it's just like
all right here, you know you still hang like like

(57:06):
my show, we don't hang out. I mean we both
literally we both have our own bus. Even before all,
I mean for the last five years, it's really not
like we you know, I don't go antiquing with b K.
I don't completely get the thirteen years. Right, it's important
to have each other. We used to hang out all
the time. We don't anymore together all the time, right,
That's how we That's exactly how it was a Bekna.

(57:27):
And then now that we live in different states, you know,
it's it's it's not like it used to be where
we're hanging out all We used to live in the
same house together, right, So so yeah, it's shifted. But
uh and we're both in different seasons of life. But ultimately, um,
b K is my bro and I love him and
we've you know, created a lot of life together and
when we get back together and play shows, it's it's
a good time for sure. I get off that. My

(57:50):
final part of this is a lot of people and
you probably heard it yourself, say those guys do not
like each other, that's why they split up, or or
it was political you know. Sure you've heard that too.
And if I don't ask this, people gonna kill me online.
I'm glad you are. Was it a political division that
caused you guys to go, we can't do this as
a unit anymore. I'm so glad you asked, because nobody

(58:13):
does ask. And the problem is, UM, at the time,
we didn't want to talk about what was going on internally,
or I should take that back. B K did not
want to talk about what was going on. I wanted
to talk about the shifts that were happening, the decisions
that were being made, the conversations that were being had.
I really wanted to sorry in the band, within the band,

(58:34):
but but I also wanted to respect b Kay's desire
not to talk about it, and so I didn't feel
like it was my place to tell his story with
his decision and his you know everything that you know,
he's the one that initiated this whole solo thing in
the first place, so I didn't feel like it was
my job or my responsibility UM, And so basically nothing

(58:56):
got said. So it created confusion in which everyone to
creating their own narrative at that point, to have something
to try to understand why in the world would these
guys not be you know, why would they want to
go do their own thing? And so at the time,
it was in the middle of the big political It
was actually literally around the same time that the um
that the election happened and all that, and so that

(59:18):
was kind of people just said, well, it's political, you know, um.
But ultimately, no, it was never political. Me and b
K don't. I mean, we definitely don't see out on
every single thing, but we don't have any animosity about it,
you know what I mean, we totally agree to disagree
on certain things. We talked about it. We've never had
any beef over any kind of politics. I'd like, I mean,

(59:40):
I literally I'm personally not a political person, so it
kind of it's just sort of humorous to me. And
we've never up until the election, we never even had
any conversations about politics that did you hear that people
were going, you guys are fighting. Oh. I would see
it all the time. I still do, because people say
why are they breaking up? And then someone else will say, oh,
it's political, and I'm like, which kind of bothers me.
I'm just sid of decided like not to let it

(01:00:01):
bother me. But I'm like, because they gotta they gotta
um blame it on something other than they can't just say, oh,
the guys really just want to have some individuality and
do something different. They've been doing this for ten years
like um so, so yeah, I mean, we can blame
it on that if we want to, But ultimately it
does bump me out because I'm like, no, that's not
the narrative. That's not the story. Um and and quite honestly,

(01:00:24):
I don't I don't care enough about politics to let
it affect my life, especially my career. So I was,
you know, I was a little bunned that that was
a narrative. But at the same time, again, like I said,
I didn't feel like it was my place to to
buddy in. But when anybody asked me, I'll gladly talk
about it. So say a million bucks no wedding, that

(01:00:48):
we can't do it, I'll just be tight we could
do it, yeah, and I'll pass crap. All right, Well, listen,
I you know, I commend you for a few bucks
about a wedding. I love. That's that's what stood out. Well,
I mean the question is, you know, is this a
line of all right, that's that, this is this, We're

(01:01:10):
not mudding the That's a great way to ask it. Hey,
million dollars yes or no, and probably not. I'm like,
all right, well I get it. You are respletely dedicated.
If it's your September, nope, call me, call me on
the personal number and I'll come for half at Tyler Hubbard. Um, yeah,
I appreciate you sharing that, and you know, you know
as well as I do. People are gonna pick up

(01:01:33):
that back part of that especially, and that's going to
be in lots of places going. Hey said it wasn't political. Um,
I think it's good. I think that's I think that's
a good thing, and so good luck. Man. It's cool
to see. You definitely could have just gone, you know,
I'm good for a while. Chill. I tried that, bro,
I literally did. I'm like, I'm just gonna write songs

(01:01:53):
and literally just chilling my family. But what what was?
What was itching? What that was? It? To get on
a stage? Was it? It was? It was to make it.
It was to see if you could do it by yourself.
It was all the above. It was to tell my
story to see if I could do it by myself,
to record songs that I loved and and you know,
maxing master songs that I love and have a project

(01:02:13):
and then yeah, I'm mistouring like crazy, and so yeah,
all those things that I thought I could do without
for about six months, I realized pretty quickly now that's
a big piece of the puzzle that that's what that's
part of what makes songwriting so much fun. You know.
It's also and will end on this It's gonna be
a fun humble not that you need it, but I've
had it in a way too of you having to

(01:02:35):
be you're the second act. You're now the guy that
they didn't buy tickets to see, you know, and you
have to kind of win them over. And that's kind
of a new world that you've seen for acts that
you've brought on and now you got to go back
and do it. And it's just getting to appreciate that
again because once you're in it, you're like, oh, dang,

(01:02:55):
you know, for me to have like my own radio
show or TV show and then for me to have
to drop down and go and be on American Idolize
not the main I'm second. I'm the second line. It's
Ryan and Luke and Katie Lionel. Then it's me and
it's like, man, this is all I'm used to and
it's great, but it's like, yeah, it's I had to

(01:03:16):
adjust and go, well the same about me, and that's weird.
But it was great for me because it's perspective that
I lost a bit when I was only worried about
running the show. So it's good man, I I'm I'm
super pomph for you. You know your song is doing
really well right now. I looked at it before you

(01:03:36):
came over, think maybe like nineteen or twenty or twenty
one or something. Are you watching it? No, I just
look at my weekly update that I get, which is
that's watched just enough, just enough to know what's going on,
but not to get obsessed with it, because yeah, it
will it could. I can see it over taken. When
you gets is that when you start to go probably
top ten, probably six, yeah, because then you know, well,

(01:03:57):
some more requests. There's gonna be some work tied to
the rest of this this pool here, so yeah, you
guys follow Tyler at Tyler Hubbard Three songs out now,
but as he said, it'll keep coming and then he'll
be out with Keith uh this fall. That's it. You're
doing it. You're doing it. It's a different stage and
I'm super excited for you and it's an honor coming
here and hang out with you. It's always fun. Thanks

(01:04:19):
for chatting with me, and thanks for the support. Dude
means a lot. Read Anything you want to say to Tyler,
you've been what you've been? Reads a big you know,
music guy. He runs all the digital, but he usually
has a question. He's been just itching to ask. All right,
let's see here. Um, how often do you find yourself
recording at home? Like do you have a home studio?
I do? Um, that comes in waves for me. You know,

(01:04:42):
I'll take a few weeks off and then I'll you know,
I'll feel creative and want to get on there and
make tracks and try to record some demos. Um, but
just enough for me not to get good enough to
want to do it on the regular basis, because I'm
there's so many great guys in this town that it's
you know, it's it can be frustrating, um, because they
make it look so easy and it's not always that

(01:05:03):
easy so, but I do enjoy like tracking vocals and
getting to kind of have that outlet if I want.
That's awesome. I like it really good job, I've had,
Jealousy you Have. That was the first song to listen to.
I just got a new vehicle. I'm not trying to
flax or anything. It's got a new whip, all right, Tyler.
Good to see abuddy too. Bro. Thanks