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A friend introduced them and they found they had similar backgrounds and interests. More important, they meshed perfectly when they picked up their guitars to write together that first time. "We wrote our song and thought, 'This is pretty cool,'" Kelley said. "'We've got something special here.'" Nelly heard that something special from his labelmates when the duo's management pointed out the then-countrified version of "Cruise." Asked why he got involved, he smiled and said, "I love hits." "They're great kids," he said later. "They're great guys. They're young. They have energy. They're excited. I told them,
'Enjoy being the new guys because you only get to be the new guy once.'" They're trying to take that message to heart while ensuring they progress past that new guy phase. But every once in a while, the distance they've traveled at light speed over the past few years catches up with them. Not so long ago they lived together frat-style with three other people. They awoke in the morning and wrote songs, then would head off to paint houses or wash cars before returning to the house to write more. Saturday night they'll play those songs for 65,000 people at one of country music's signature events. "It's definitely a God thing," Hubbard said. "We've definitely been blessed the last few years." ___ Online:
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