Production is such an essential element to the hits of
Florida Georgia Line that their 2012 breakthrough single, "Cruise," turned into a hit a second time when it was remixed to feature the rapper
Nelly. Subsequent singles didn't highlight their hip-hop connection quite so heavily, but each of
FGL's records were coated in modern digital gloss, a production style that helped keep them at the top of the charts throughout the 2010s. Because of their reliance on aural tricks, it would be easy to think of
Florida Georgia Line as a creation of the studio, a notion that
Acoustic Sessions seeks to puncture. Delivered in the waning months of 2019,
Acoustic Sessions finds
Tyler Hubbard and
Brian Kelley revisiting 17 of their songs, including all their greatest hits. All the trickery has been stripped away, but it's hard to call something this crisp and clean raw; they're merely highly polished studio renditions of familiar tunes, not rearranged reimaginations. That's not a surprise, necessarily. Slickness is a trait that defines
Florida Georgia Line, and it serves them well on
Acoustic Sessions, helping these versions glide by with ease. If these acoustic renditions don't differ greatly from the hits, they do reveal how sturdily constructed the songs are, and that helps make
Acoustic Sessions more than just a gift for fans. By illustrating that
Florida Georgia Line have performing and writing chops, it helps put their decade of success in perspective. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine