In a world always ready to point out our differences, the Hoodbillies do the exact opposite.

“We're like real brothers,” Krizz Kaliko explains of his Hoodbillies bandmate Colt Ford. “We haven't even known each other that long, but from our first phone call, that dude was like my best friend. We meshed so well just in life that it just translated to the music to me.”

“And I think you can actually hear our happiness and the fun that we're having through our music,” Ford continues. “It just transcends a little bit musically. It's something that can put the smile on your face. Right now, we could use more smiles on our face instead of some of the other stuff we got going on.”

And it's certainly difficult to not crack a smile while listening to the Hoodbillies’ sonically addicting song “Hits Different,” which serves as the duo’s new single from their upcoming self-titled EP.

“It feels like a fresh drink of water for country music, for pop music, for hip hop music,” says Kaliko. “It don't sound like George Strait, but it's not supposed to. We have George Strait. I mean, that's the whole point. Be creative and do something different."

Indeed, these two aren’t chasing a sound.

They are making their own.

“We just make the music that we love, what we think other people that like what we like would love,” continues Kaliko. “The vibe is so good. We both understand who we are as artists and as people.”

Hammering down on that feel-good vibe is the accompanying music video for “Hits Different,” which premieres exclusively on Taste of Country and features two sweet-looking cars.

But they aren’t theirs.

“I wish they were,” Kaliko says with a laugh of the cars featured in the music video, which they shot in Nashville. “I drive that exact Dodge Ram, but that one wasn’t’ mine. But yeah, we love trucks.”

Bonding over similarities is what the Hoodbillies do best, but don’t be fooled into thinking they don’t have some strong feelings about what they are seeing playing out in the country music genre now, most notably the tension surrounding Jason Aldean’s current single “Try That in a Small Town.”

“I'm a black dude,” adds Kaliko. “And I don’t even know what the hell everybody's talking about.”

“My dad used to tell me all the time that you can find the negative in anything, if that's what you choose to,” says Ford, who has writing credits on Aldean's No. 1 hit "Dirt Road Anthem."

“There are some very serious issues happening to our planet and happening to our country. All we need to be doing is trying to move forward, not trying to move back. But the negativity is so loud.”

And one more thing.

“I know (Jason) Aldean very well,” says Ford. “Jason Aldean is not racist. It's not who he is.”

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