Tyler Hubbard is fully immersed in his solo career. With only three more Florida Georgia Line dates on the duo’s tour calendar, perhaps forever, Hubbard has already released “5 Foot 9,” “35’s,” and “Way Home,” all from his forthcoming Dancin’ In The Country album. Hubbard will also join Keith Urban in September, serving as the opening act, along with Ingrid Andress on Urban’s The Speed of Now World Tour.
Although Hubbard feels immense gratitude for the 12 years he and Brian Kelley were a part of FGL, the 35-year-old says he may never go back to being part of a duo again.
“I think the traditional mindset of people, when they hear of a band or duos breaking up and they’re going solo, it’s, ‘Well, okay, that’s cute. They’re going to have fun doing their solo stuff for a little while, and it will be what it is. And then they’ll go back and do their thing [together],'” Hubbard shared with Everything Nash and other outlets during a virtual media event. “But. I think that challenge really pushes me to not be the statistic. I truly feel that Florida Georgia Line was just a chapter in the book, an important chapter, and one I’m forever grateful for. But it’s not my whole story. And so I am really excited and committed to giving this all I got.”
Hubbard has found both a freedom and a burden to make sure that all of his music is as authentic to him as it can be, and not just another extension of Florida Georgia Line. It’s a mindset that permeated each of the songs on his forthcoming album.
“I really wanted to reestablish myself as an artist, as an individual, and differentiate myself from FGL,” Hubbard maintained. “But also, FGL is such a huge part of who I am and especially who I was that I didn’t want to get too far away from it, because it was and is really authentic. And I really wanted to channel that, but maybe even go deeper in writing to have songs that were more personal. So that was very intentional with this project, and it was an opportunity for me, like I’ve never had before, to get to write songs from a different perspective without worrying about, ‘Does this fit under the umbrella or the brand of FGL? Or does this cater to BK as well? Does this fit our story as opposed to does this fit my story?'”
Hubbard is embracing both the creative freedom and deep responsibility that come with being a solo artist, something he has never experienced before, until now.
“It’s been really liberating and really cool, and sort of a season of self-exploration as well for me, because it was so unexpected,” said the singer. “I had to sit down and really figure out, ‘Okay. What do I want to do? What do I want to say? And who am I, outside of FGL? Now, as a husband, as a dad, as an artist, as a writer, what do I want to say? And who do I want to be and what legacy do I want to leave?’ So it was nice to have the opportunity to somewhat reset and reestablish, because I feel like I’ve grown quite a bit in the last ten years, and sometimes it’s hard to evolve and grow a brand at the pace that you may be growing personally. So it was really fun to get to have a clean slate and give the fans an opportunity to know me on a deeper level.”
Hubbard recently played a solo show at Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville, and has a handful of other shows on the calendar before he joins Urban on the road. After spending more than a decade as one of the biggest acts in country music with Florida Georgia Line, seeing fans turn up for Hubbard’s own music, on his own, is a gift he is fully embracing.
“It means even more now than it would if I was still doing FGL, and we were just putting out another single, our 20th single, and the expectations there,” Hubbard reflected. “With this, there is no expectation. There’s actually the expectation that this is not going to work. So for me, I’m like, bring on the challenge. I love that. And I really do hope that I can build this, to at least the same arena that FGL was playing in. I’m really determined to do that.”
Find music and tour dates at TylerHubbardOfficial.com.
