THE BANJO PLAYER HAS MAGENTA highlights in his hair. The drummer is wearing sunglasses andaMotley Crue T-shirt. In the firstsong,there'sabass drop: The sound brieflystops,and when it stormsback in,a meter atthe sound board spikesto nodecibels. Welcometothe2014version ofcountry music. "Motherf-in' bucket list," Tyler Hubbard,27,of Florida Georgia Line shoutsafew minutes earlier, raisingashot of Fireball Cinnamon Whisky backstage asthe bandgetsreadytoplay its second nightatRed Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver,oneof the world'smostbeauti- fulvenues.There'sacake and candles for his fiancee, Hayley Stommel,onher 27th birthday. Tonight, FGL's second full-length album, Anything Goes, is still four weeks awayfrom its releaseon Oct. 14,but the duo-Hubbard and Brian Kelley,29-has had lots of victoriesto toastand Fireball shotsto tossback. The pair's first full-length, Here'stothe Good Times,wasthe sixth -best-selling BLOG CALLED THE DUO'S NEW SON album of2013(topping Drake and Katy Perry,amongothers) and itsmomentum carried into2014,when itwasthe loth best-seller in the year's first half, accord- ingtoNielsen SoundScan. The duo's first four singleswent to No. 1 onthe Country Airplay chart, and thetwothat followed wereNo.1 onHot Country Songs.FGL's signature,career-making hit, "Cruise," Kacey Musgraves, Miranda Lambert,Ashley "Iwas afan [of grownpredictable and boring. Even Scott holdstwomajor distinctions: It's the Monroe and Angaleena Presley, plusPistol Nickelback). You Borchettapresident/CEO of FGL's label, know they hada tonof - best-sellingcountrydigitalsongof all Annies,a groupcomprising the latter three great songs, so that Big Machine-recently told NPR, "We time, with sales surpassing7million, and singer -songwriters.Butit's the bros who comparison [with FGL) can't keep talking about Fireball and Coors is fine,- says Kelley itspent 24weeksat No. 1 on Hot Country control the radiopowerand the ticket sales. (center) during the band's Light and having the tailgate down." Songs (the longest reign in the history Themoststinging criticism of Florida preshow "ritual" with But Borchetta-who calls the band's friends, family andcrew a of the chart,tally that dates to 1944), Georgia Line's music isn't that it's not backstageonSept.18. music "country/hip-hop"- sayshewas assisted byaremix that featured Nelly. traditional, but that it's redundant, and directing hiscomment at everyone except Lots of country artists have released portraysSouthern lifeas aseries of drunk, Florida Georgia Line. "Because Tyler and partyanthems; Florida Georgia Line built horny Saturday nights. Recently, the [Brian]ownthat. We don'tusetheterm'bro a careerfrom them. For the last fewyears, thoughtful bloggersatCountryUniverse. country,' but they do it better than anyone." Nashville has been ruled by "bro country," corndismissed the titlesongof FGL's What's striking about AnythingGoes is adisdainful nickname for loud, rock- (and newalbumas"a piece of trashsoshame- how closely it duplicates FGL's previous evenrap-) influenced tracks about drinking, lessly awful" that it "barely qualifiesas records. One example: It'z Just What We skinny-dipping, hot girls and trucks. These countrymusic." CountryUniverse isone Do,FGL's2012digital EP, hada songthat days,mostof the daring and creativity in of the sites leadingabrocountrybacklash, rhymed "party" with "Bacardi," Here'sto country comesfromwomen:Brandy Clark, but lots of people believe the style has the Good Times hada songthat rhymed

46 BILLBOARD I OCTOBER 18, 2014