Princewill Pius
While Brian Kelley grew up in Ormond Beach, Fla., and Tyler Hubbard in Monroe, Ga., the two came from similar backgrounds. Both Baptists, the guys enjoyed typical southern hobbies like fishing and listening to Garth Brooks — as well as some atypical southern hobbies, like listening to rappers like Eminem. By 2008, they finally met at Belmont University in Nashville. Recalling his first memory of Hubbard, Kelley told Billboard, “[He was driving his pickup truck] windows down, blowing diesel smoke, listening to Lil Wayne. And I was like, man, that’s how I grew up.”
At school, Hubbard and Kelley knew each other from campus worship. Kelley, who was a star high school athlete, said he skipped baseball practice one day to go watch Hubbard play a musical showcase. From there, the classmates started to make music. “The first time we ever wrote together, we were finishing each other’s sentences,” Kelley said. “No record label, no one other than the man upstairs, can put something like that together.”
So the story goes, Hubbard and Kelley met up at McDonald’s toward the end of their studies to hatch a plan for the future, and “decided to give themselves two years to make it as a duo,” while making money any way possible. “We knew when it was time for a record deal, they would come running to us,” Hubbard said. Boy, was he right.
Written by: Nicki
