Though A Thousand Horses are still in the preliminary process of creating their second studio album, the band assure that it's going to be just as strong — if not stronger — than their freshman.

Much has changed since the release of the group's Southernality album in 2015, but one element that hasn't is their desire to make amazing music. "There's a lot of growth," lead singer Michael Hobby admits to Taste of Country. "Our lives have changed personally and professionally. It's going to be a good, fresh taste of what's to come for us, but yet it's still going to be what people love about a Thousand Horses."

A Thousand Horses have been on the road for multiple years, opening for the likes of Jason Aldean and Darius Rucker.  Their growth as artists, and as people, will be chronicled on the new record, which will also incorporate essential elements present on Southernality. The upcoming album's first single, "Preachin' to the Choir," is a strong indication of what's to come.

"Our lives will definitely come through on the record. That was one thing about the first album that was so great, is every song on the Southernality album was a true story of something that happened to one of us or collectively all of us," Hobby says. "So when we perform those songs, it really is coming from us as a true place and I think our plans really react to that, and that's the kind of relationship we want to have is an honest one. So for the next record, I think it'll have those exact same elements just magnified, bigger, badder."

Southernality includes the group's No. 1 song, "Smoke," which made them the first country group to top the charts with a debut single since Zac Brown Band's "Chicken Fried" in 2008.

When it comes to the recording process, the band takes all the time they can get in order to ensure the project is where they want it before release. "One thing about us, we go hard on writing and songs basically 'til they tell us to stop," Hobby says. "'Smoke' was written two days before we started the record and it was the first song that we recorded, which became our first debut No. 1. So you never know what's going to come in in the 11th hour and we kind of always keep that mentality — it's not done 'til it's done."

See Pics of A Thousand Horses' Show With Jason Aldean

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