Big MachineIf Florida Georgia Line’s latest hit sounds a bit familiar, it’s because it was inspired — at least partially — by one of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band‘s biggest hits.

Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley gathered at Tyler’s farm late in the fall several years ago to work on a new tune with co-writers Nicole Clawson and Jordan Schmidt.

“I had told Jordan to make kind of a modern day ‘Fishin’ in the Dark’ track, and he showed up with that…” Brian says, referencing the Dirt Band’s platinum-selling #1 from 1987.

“Nicole had the title for ‘Smooth’…” Brian continues, “and I remember Tyler came in with that hook on the chorus, ‘Good Lord Almighty’. And that kind of got us going down the chorus. We just wrote real hard that day and had a lot of fun.”

In the end, the foursome came up with a track that Brian says is one of his favorites from Dig Your Roots:  “It’s something that it’s a little swampy it’s a little woodsy and it’s right where we’re at, really fun to play live.”

“Smooth” just broke into the top 20. It’s the fourth single from FGL’s third studio album. The three previous releases all went to #1.

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