--- description: There's a schism in country music title: Florida Georgia Line's 'Anything Goes' and the State of Bro Country image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2688dae81ccc9275/69876083cd1bba86076f29a7/florida-georgia-line.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 'Bro Country' Is Still Thriving, Even If Everyone Hates It by [Adam Carlson](/author/adam-carlson/) ## Adam Carlson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 14, 2014 2:00 PM CUT  From left: Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line perform at the Georgia Theatre on March 20, 2013 in Athens, Ga. From left: Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line perform at the Georgia Theatre on March 20, 2013 in Athens, Ga.Chris McKay—WireImage/Getty Images by [Adam Carlson](/author/adam-carlson/) ## Adam Carlson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 14, 2014 2:00 PM CUT On Oct. 14, “bro country” duo Florida Georgia Line will release their new album, _Anything Goes._ Rarely has something that sounds so relaxed been so fraught. For the uninitiated: bro country is all about booze, boys, and the girls they’re eyeing across the party, often featuring more guitars than fiddles. It’s slicker, it’s bigger: more Daughtry than George Strait. The subgenre was crystallized with the success of Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise,” which spent more than 20 record-shattering weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country chart. The song was first released in 2012, then benefiting from a second life last year with a Nelly-assisted remix, and that cross-pollination bore a lot of fruit: it made superstars of its singers and, as superstars, the band and their music were suddenly important enough to attack. “Civil war” — that’s how musicians, critics, and journalists [described](http://music-mix.ew.com/2013/10/01/country-music-identity-crisis/ "undefined") an industry seemingly divided between “old farts” and frat boys. “I don’t care how many of these old farts are around Nashville going, ‘My God, that ain’t country!’” Blake Shelton [said in January 2013](http://blog.gactv.com/blog/2013/01/24/blake-shelton-explains-his-controversial-comments/ "undefined"). “Well that’s because you don’t buy records anymore, jackass. The kids do, and they don’t want to buy the music you were buying.” More think pieces followed. [_New York_‘s Jody Rosen said](http://www.vulture.com/2013/08/rise-of-bro-country-florida-georgia-line.html "undefined"), “We may look back on ‘Cruise’ as a turning point, the moment when the balance of power tipped from an older generation of male country stars to the bros.” Zac Brown said Luke Bryan’s “That’s My Kind of Night” was the [“worst song I’ve ever heard.”](https://soundcloud.com/93-7-jrfm/zac-brown-interview "undefined") To that, Jason Aldean [replied](http://instagram.com/p/eYuUnkn1pJ/ "undefined"), “nobody gives a shit what u think.” _The Atlantic_ declared in July: [“The Bro-Country Backlash Is Here.”](http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/07/girl-in-a-country-song-maddie-marlow-and-tae-dye-the-bro-country-backlash-starts-now/373982/ "undefined") Still, that may be overselling it. Six of the 10 singles topping _Billboard_’s Hot Country chart [right now](http://www.billboard.com/charts/country-songs "undefined") are classifiably bro country: Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line, Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Chase Rice (a _Survivor_ runner-up, really!), and Jason Aldean again. What’s telling is who _else_ tops that list: Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert — Underwood actually shows up twice, including on Lambert’s “Somethin’ Bad” — and Kenny Chesney. The bro country debate doesn’t just split purists and pragmatists; it also divides men and women, making impromptu culture warriors out of debut phenoms like Kacey Musgraves, whose 2013 hit “Merry Go Round” became “a rallying point for country fans unhappy with the current direction of country music,” as [EW’s Grady Smith said](http://music-mix.ew.com/2013/10/01/country-music-identity-crisis/ "undefined"). Chesney is the _other_ kind of country superstar, a proto-bro behind breezy megahits such as “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems” and “When the Sun Goes Down.” But his newest release, September’s _The Big Revival_, is after something else — what _Billboard_’s Melinda Newman called [“country salvation.”](http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6259245/kenny-chesney-the-big-revival-album-review "undefined") In [a recent interview](http://radio.com/2014/09/09/kenny-chesney-reclaims-his-soul-cover-story/ "undefined"), Chesney said one of the album’s tracks, “Wild Child,” is a reflection of the kind of woman that doesn’t get much attention in these days: “If you didn’t wear cut-off jeans or a bikini top, or sit on a tailgate and drink, then you really weren’t worthy … ‘Wild Child’ is telling some girl out there that’s got dreams, that’s a free spirit, who’s smart and interesting, that she has a chance, that she is worthy.” That is to say: the alternatives are thriving, even if they don’t dominate. Dig deeper into _Billboard_’s Hot Country chart and you’ll find not just Underwood and Lambert (on the heels of her excellent fifth album, _Platinum_), but duo Maddie & Tae’s meta-debut “Girl in a Country Song” at No. 12 and Dierks Bentley’s “Drunk on a Plane” at No. 19, which is like bro country if it allowed itself even a trace of irony. To that, it’s also worth considering Jennifer Nettles’ album _That Girl_ and Eric Church’s _The_ _Outsiders_, which might make this whole conversation moot. As [Church himself said last fall](http://www.cmt.com/news/cmt-offstage/1716778/eric-church-says-genres-are-dead.jhtml "undefined"): “I think genres are dead. There’s good music. There’s bad music.” Where bro country falls is up to the listener to decide. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3502546/florida-georgia-line-bro-country/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3502546/florida-georgia-line-bro-country/"},"headline":"'Bro Country' Is Still Thriving, Even If Everyone Hates It","datePublished":"2014-10-14T14:00:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:45:05.217Z","description":"There's a schism in country music","url":"https://time.com/3502546/florida-georgia-line-bro-country/","keywords":["Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2688dae81ccc9275/69876083cd1bba86076f29a7/florida-georgia-line.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Adam Carlson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/adam-carlson/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2688dae81ccc9275/69876083cd1bba86076f29a7/florida-georgia-line.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"From left: Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line perform at the Georgia Theatre on March 20, 2013 in Athens, Ga.","caption":"From left: Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line perform at the Georgia Theatre on March 20, 2013 in Athens, Ga.","creditText":"Chris McKay—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3502546/florida-georgia-line-bro-country/","name":"'Bro Country' Is Still Thriving, Even If Everyone Hates It"}}]}] ```