The Eli Young Band came on the Texas Country Scene long before the release of their first two albums “Eli Young Band” and “Level,” back when they were still students at University of North Texas. A few minor award nods and small-hit singles came from a record deal with Universal Republic that produced their 2008 junior effort “Jet Black & Jealous.” But, the band became a national craze this year with the release of their newest single “Crazy Girl” last March.

FrontRow caught up with Jon Jones, the band’s bass guitarist, to see how the newly found spotlight is treating the self-proclaimed small town kids.

FrontRow: You’ve changed record labels since your last album, from Universal Republic to Republic Nashville. What has Republic Nashville done differently that has fed into this record’s success?

Jon Jones:  Their hunger and their attitude. Nothing against the label right before, but it was a much bigger roster over there and so they were spread kind of thin. Here I feel like it’s a great little lineup where no one’s competing with each other. It’s just us, the Band Perry, Sunny Sweeney, and Martina McBride. So, everybody kind of fits a different niche. From the top down, from Scott Borchetta and Jimmy Harnen who have the label, there’s just this energy like they have something to prove. They kind of have the same mentality that we have, which we love. And also, they let us go in and record the record we wanted to make. They totally dig what we do and just want to take what we do and make it as big as it can be.

FrontRow: What can fans expect from “Life at Best”?

JJ:  It’s the best record we’ve made in our opinion. In some ways, it’s a little more raw than our last record was, but there’s still quite a bit of steel guitar in there, which has been a sound we’ve always loved. If you look at our other records, they kind of capture a moment in time. “Level,” for sure, you can tell these are guys getting out of college and ready to move on. And “Jet Black & Jealous” sounds like that next phase of life. [“Life at Best”] is more about telling our whole story. There’s a good range of up-tempo and slow songs, and a wider range of emotions than we’ve ever had before on a record. There are some songs that are a little darker than we’ve ever done before. A couple of songs are a little more vulnerable, and I think we’re getting to that age where it’s ok to be a little more vulnerable. No matter what your mood, you’ll find a song on the record that you can really identify with.

FrontRow: How did you write and choose the songs for the record?

JJ: When we got in the studio, we started with a pile of about 50 songs—things we had written and then some outside songs that we had found. I think it’s probably a 70-30 mix, and this record really spans a long period of time. A few of these songs were written back when we were recording “Level,” and they just didn’t feel right at the time to put out. But readdressing them for this record, it just seemed like time. A few of the songs were even getting finished while we were recording, so there’s really a six-year time span on this record. It feels like the most autobiographical record we’ve ever put out.

FrontRow: “Crazy Girl” was one of those outside songs you found. What about it caught your attention?

JJ:  That was actually one of the first outside songs that we found for the record. It was written by Lee Brice and Liz Rose. Mike and James had heard Lee’s demo of Crazy Girl and just loved it and sent it to Chris and me. Lee was in a process of recording his own record and was thinking about putting it on there, so we kind of had to steal it away from him. And we’re very glad that he let us borrow it. We’ve always been big fans of songs that have a love theme, but we love something that is unique and new and love the twist. Not to mention, it’s a waltz—in 6:8 time—there aren’t too many of those on the radio.

FrontRow: Your music started in the Texas country scene, but definitely has a much heavier sound, a greater presence. How do you define your sound?

JJ:  We definitely have those Texas country roots, and a lot of our influences were and still are Pat Green, Cory Morrow, Robert Earl Keen, and Jack Ingram. But where we started the band, Denton, TX, was kind of a different scene. There wasn’t a whole lot of Texas country music coming out of there. When the four of us met, we came from four different places musically, and got to really incorporate all of those influences. So, I think there’s some of that Texas country in there, but also traditional country, as well as a lot of rock and roll. We all grew up in the eighties and nineties, so there’s a lot of that rock and roll music that is more reflective in our sound.