Florida Georgia Line lead pack of bro-country bands

There are some music acts that take years to climb out of obscurity, toiling away in minuscule clubs or working as the opening act for bigger stars.

This hasn't been the path for country's Florida Georgia Line, the duo of Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard. The act's major label debut album, 2012's Here's to the Good Times, contained the mega-hit "Cruise."

Now the group has released its second album, Anything Goes, and is already headlining major tours. Florida Georgia Line will play Saturday at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock. Thomas Rhett and Frankie Ballard are the opening acts.

Kelly and Hubbard started their musical journey together when enrolled in Nashville's Belmont University. The two wrote songs together and eventually played smaller clubs while still in school. They put out an EP called Anything Like Me in 2010 and began to wander outside the confines of Nashville as word spread. They concentrated their playing efforts on the southeast part of the country -- home territory, as it were. Kelley calls Ormand Beach, Fla., home and Hubbard comes from Macon, Ga., explaining the origin of the band name.

No doubt the duo found their way to mainstream country at precisely the right moment. In 2012 Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan had put themselves at the top of the country heap with a guitar-heavy sound and songs soaked in tailgates, beer and women. While country had long since abandoned the raw honky-tonk sound of Hank Williams and George Jones, this new strain seemed especially distant from country roots and heavy on the bros. Fans were clamoring for bro-country, and Florida Georgia Line arrived just in time to provide it in spades.

Though it might seem like Florida Georgia Line will forever be associated with "Cruise," the group has remained on the charts with other hits, including "Stay" and, most recently, "Dirt." The popular remix of "Stay" with rapper Nelly was another indication that Nashville was only an address where Florida Georgia Line put out records.

In its short time in the spotlight, Florida Georgia Line has raked in cash hand over fist and picked up some heated detractors along the way. A 2014 review of an Aldean and Florida Georgia Line concert by the Dallas Observer went viral when the reviewer said that he would rather contract the Ebola virus than listen to another concert by the two acts. He said the performers "danced on the grave" of an "American art form."

Lesser-known country duo Maddie & Tae released a popular single, "Girl in a Country Song," that offered direct criticism of bro-country's tendency to make scantily clad women the center of the songs. Florida Georgia Line's Kelley was asked by the Chicago Tribune what he thought of the dust-up.

"All I'm gonna say about that is, I don't know one girl who doesn't want to be a girl in a country song," Kelley said. "That's all I'm gonna say to you. That's it."

Weekend on 01/22/2015