God, Your Mama, and Me

Album: Dig Your Roots (2016)
Charted: 46
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Songfacts®:

  • This Josh Kear, Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson penned pop ballad finds the FGL duo declaring unwavering devotion to God, their mothers and their wives. Tyler Hubbard said:

    "'God, Your Mama, and Me' is just such a well-written song. A song that when we heard it, we fell in love with it. We never really heard it said that way, you know, and heard it put that way, but it's so true and that's how we felt about our wives and just naturally drawn to that song."
  • The song features the Backstreet Boys, who contribute some of their trademark harmonies. The boy band was influential in both FGL members' younger days. The Backstreet Boys was Brian Kelly's first ever concert that he attended, and the first CD that Tyler Hubbard bought was one by the vocal group.
  • The Backstreet Boys didn't add their vocals to the track until it was already completely finished.

    "That was a song that was done; we put all our vocals on it, and it was turned in, mastered," Brian Kelley told reporters. "We got to develop a relationship with Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys. He was in town, at CMA Fest, he ended up on our bus, and we got to playing some songs and played 'God, Your Mama and Me,' and he fell in love with it. Next thing you know, he's playing it for the guys, and Joey [Moi], our producer, and Seth [England], our manager, were flying out to LA; they were laying down their vocals."
  • The video poses a problem, since the FGL and Backstreet Boys guys were scattered all over the world (also, do we really want to see seven guys singing to each other?). Director TK McKamy came up with an innovative solution: he gave each of the guys GoPro cameras and had them record something for their wives. The footage was used to make the clip.
  • This was the Backstreet Boys first Billboard Hot 100 hit since "Inconsolable" reached #86 in September 2007.
  • It was Josh Kear who suggested the title during a songwriting session with Gordie Sampson and Hillary Lindsey on September 18, 2015, in the third-floor office at Yellow Dog Music in Nashville. Kear's daughter had turned 6 just weeks before, and he had a father's unwavering love in mind when he conceived the phrase, "God, Your Mama, and Me."

    "It wasn't until I tossed the title into the room with Gordie and Hillary and heard them talking about how appropriate that sentiment was for partners, friends, et cetera, that I realized that it was just a great thing to say about anyone you loved," Kear noted to Billboard magazine. "Who doesn't want to be loved unconditionally?"

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