Citizen journalists: Welcome to “Interviewing: A Basic Tutorial.” Assisting us are Tyler Hubbard, 28 (the Georgia native), and Brian Kelley, 30 (the Florida son), comprising Florida Georgia Line, the bro-country twosome with hits including “Cruise,” “This is How We Roll” and “Get Your Shine On.” Catch them during the Route 91 Harvest country music festival, a three-day, 34-act blowout also boasting such headliners as Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum and Waterloo Revival.

How to proceed?

1. With two interviewees, find the commonality. Pre-interview research reveals they were inspired early by church music, helping us form a picture of their musical perspectives. Let’s get quotes to flesh that out: “We experienced music on a different level,” Hubbard says. “To learn how to play guitar and experience leading a crowd in music is something we fell in love with at church. It was a vital part of our influence. The music is very emotional, very sincere. It serves multiple purposes. We learned that at church.”

(Note: We’re on a tight schedule as other journalists wait for us to finish, limiting us to 15 minutes. Asking the same question of both is wasteful. So we shift to Kelley for another angle.)

2. Find the unique tidbit. With Kelley, he’d envisioned a baseball career. Let’s ask why: “I played all the way through college and it was a dream of mine to get drafted and play a year professionally no matter what. But God had better things in store. I put everything—all my time and love and energy—into music. Around that time, Tyler and me started hanging out.”

3. Perfect segue. Research says they met at Nashville’s Christian-oriented Belmont University in 2007, in a campus worship group (consider it a bro-mance, this being their “meet-cute”). Ask Kelley to expand: “Tyler introduced himself. I saw him perform at a writers’ showcase. He saw me lead worship for this college thing. We knew after that meeting we were supposed to do music together. There was this magic happening when we’d write. It was like we were brothers.”

4. Hubbard interrupts. Let him: “It was a combination of friendship and growing up in the same atmosphere with great family, great friends, listening to the same music growing up. We lived together for a few years as roommates and connected on all levels.”

(Note: Having established their origins, we know in the story we’ll include their career rocket ride: After teaming in 2010 and inking a contract in 2011, the duo placed on Billboard’s country charts with only their second EP. Since then, they’ve joined the 2012 Country Throwdown Tour, opened for Luke Bryan and released other EPs and singles, consistently topping pop and country charts.)

5. Identify another unique angle: Listening to their music and researching them uncovers their blend of styles called bro-country, informed not just by the obvious—Christian rock group Casting Crowns and country superstars Garth Brooks and Kenny Chesney—but rappers Lil Wayne and Eminem, and rockers Nickelback. Let’s ask Hubbard why:

“We’re passionate about multiple genres. As creative guys and the way our brains work, it was appealing to us as songwriters. It’s just fun to take them all and let them affect your music.”

Kelley wants to expand on that. Let him: “What we were doing was always different from day one. We didn’t want to put ourselves in a box or sound like anyone else. Our motto is it’s all about the songs. We put our heart and soul—our childhoods, everything we are, who we want to be—on tape.”

6. Wrap it up with a question summarizing their view of success. Kelley answers: “You dream big and crazy things can happen. We get to sing country music, dude. Nothing in the world beats that.”

That concludes our basic interviewing tutorial. Thanks for attending. (Also available for private tutoring at reasonable—OK, exorbitant—rates.)