Songfacts®:

• Aldean stays true to his Georgia roots on this ode to small town life. He explained the inspiration for this song in an interview with Reuters: "I grew up in Georgia, on the outskirts of Macon, surrounded by a lot of farmland. That's what I know. For any artist, if you can sing about things you've experienced, then you can convey that message to your fans.
  
  (For instance) that song 'Fly Over States' - I heard those kinds of comments when I was flying out to promote my music. I'd hear businessmen from one of the coasts comment as we flew over some small town, 'I wonder why anyone would want to live there?'"
• The title references the term flyover country, which is often associated with the Midwestern United States. The phrase is sometimes used in a dismissive manner, which is why Aldean says he felt so strongly about the pro-heartland tune in the first place. "One of the things about my music is that people who are from middle America, the heartland, that's kind of where I grew up. Those people have always related to what I was doing, and this song speaks directly to those people," he told The Boot. "The song is absolutely real, and when you tell a story like that and you deliver it in a way that it's real and you're not trying to sugarcoat it, people respond to that and relate to it. That's what this song is, and why it's become popular."
• The song's music video was shot in an airplane hangar at the Army National Guard facilities in Smyrna, Tennessee. It was filmed 200 yards from where director Wes Edwards also shot the "Tattoos On This Town" clip.
• The song was Aldean's ninth country chart-topper and the fifth consecutive single from his My Kinda Party album to reach the peak position. "I've always loved this song, and I really hoped it would be a single eventually," said Aldean. "I didn't know we would get to put out five songs off this album, let alone have all of them go to #1. It totally blows my mind."
• Aldean actually heard the song for the first time during the recording process for his 2009 Wide Open album and considered making it a last minute inclusion. "We got the song kind of late, after we had almost finished recording the album," The Boot reported him saying, "and we ran out of room to put it. I started kicking myself immediately for not cutting the song because I kept listening to the song over and over. I knew we'd made a mistake by not putting that on the record."
  
  Aldean kept the song in mind and it ended up being one of the very first things he cut for My Kinda Party.
• Before Aldean recorded the song, "Fly Over States" co-writer Neil Thrasher offered it to Rascal Flatts member Gary LeVox. Thrasher, a frequent Rascal Flatts collaborator, always pitched him stuff first, but in this instance, much to his regret, LeVox passed on it.