Florida Georgia Line getting deep

Recording new music had Florida Georgia Line, country music’s carefree party boys, looking to the past.

The duo’s new album, Dig Your Roots, embarks on a mature sound reflecting on family life and marriage, including sentimental tracks such as While He’s Still Around, about Brian Kelley’s father, and Grow Old, which Tyler Hubbard played during the first dance of his wedding last year.

Those songs were written years ago, but the duo says they felt they were in a better place now to truly emote on the songs. As Hubbard put it: “Almost like we wrote it in the future. It’s wild.”

Grow Old is “really old. Like four-laptops-ago old,” Kelley, 31, said.

“Like before-B.K.-and-I-knew-each-other old,” said Hubbard, 29. “It was an old work tape and we went into the studio and re-did it . ... I got to surprise Hayley, my wife, with that.”

A similar story was told for While He’s Still Around, a classic-sounding country guitar track that could induce tears. (Hubbard’s father was killed in a helicopter accident in 2007.)

“I almost lost my dad,” said Kelley. “We just wanted to kind of hopefully put that in words. The message is while your loved ones are still around, make sure you’re calling them, letting them know you love them, you support them.”

Dig Your Roots, the band’s third album, is a departure from its anthemic and lighthearted tunes, which include the megahit Cruise to This Is How We Roll. And while the new album has its fun moments, the duo is happy to sing romantic and spiritual songs, from Lifer, about commitment, to the piano tune H.O.L.Y. — AP