Tyler Hubbard on Why the Message of ‘Way Home’ is as Relevant as Ever: “Carrie Underwood Said It Best”

With Tyler Hubbard releasing a faith-filled new song, ‘All I Need is You’, in honour of the new season of The Chosen, some fans of the Georgia half of Florida Georgia Line might assume this is a new move into the Contemporary Christian space.

But Hubbard has always made a point of expressing his spirituality through his music, both through FGL and in his solo material. One of our favourite THubb gems is still the heartfelt and deeply vulnerable ‘Way Home’, which appears on Hubbard’s self-titled debut album.

During a conversation with Holler when he was gearing up to drop his sophomore effort, ‘Strong’, Hubbard touched on how he still sees the message of ‘Way Home’ as something we can all learn from.

Hubbard underlines, “Man, I love that song. It's got so much truth to it, and sometimes we forget that truth in this crazy world with the speed that everybody's living at and all the noise”.

The ‘Dancin’ in the Country’ hitmaker goes on, “Whenever I play ‘Way Home’ live, it's a good reminder of who's driving the car, and the freedom of being able to sit in the passenger seat”.

Hubbard credits Carrie Underwood for capturing this same core message in her now-iconic hit, ‘Jesus, Take the Wheel’, “I think Carrie Underwood said it best, but let Jesus take the wheel and just be along for the ride. There's a lot of freedom in that, and sometimes I can forget that. That song has become that reminder for me, and hopefully for others as well”.

With Hubbard seemingly gearing up to release a brand new solo album following his much-loved singles, ‘Land’ and ‘902180’, we think it’s safe to say he’ll be touching on his Christian faith on this project too. Ultimately, it was the inspiration behind him getting into music in the first place, having largely learned to sing in Church.

Hubbard has often spoken about how, when starting out with Brian Kelley as FGL, he’d have conversations with Jesus wondering whether he was doing the right thing in pursuing a ‘secular’ music career.

But as ‘Way Home’ and so many other moving, spiritually-driven odes in Hubbard’s catalogue highlight, he’s reached a point where he’s able to use his platform to share his faith and the lessons he learns from the Bible through his music, while still crafting undeniably ‘country’ songs.

It’s something he showcased when he teamed up with Chris Tomlin for his 2020 country-Christian crossover project, ‘Chris Tomlin & Friends’.

With Contemporary Christian Music trailblazer Brandon Lake now preparing a country-leaning record, and Hubbard being a part of his Nashville writing sessions earlier in the year, we can’t wait to hear what these two have been cooking up. Few artists in country are able to capture the comfort, reassurance and warmth of faith without it straying into territory that some might interpret as overly prescriptive, but Hubbard does this beautifully. We’re looking forward to hearing what’s next.