Eli Young Band, Lee Brice Celebrate ‘Crazy Girl’ in Nashville

The Eli Young Band experienced another first in their careers on Monday afternoon (Jan. 23) as they sat in the spotlight at their very first No. 1 party in Nashville, honoring their recent chart-topping single, 'Crazy Girl.'

The feat was a long time coming for the Texas-based band who started their musical journey well over a decade ago. "I'm kind of glad it's happened the way it has, just because we've been able to develop our craft of songwriting," the band's guitar player James Young told Taste of Country prior to the party starting. "We've just had a lot of fun learning how to be a band for the past 12 years. This is just icing on the cake."

"I think with everything that goes along with having a No. 1, we wouldn't have been able to deal with it [if it happened right away in our career]," added frontman Mike Eli. "We would have had deer in the headlight looks ... it would've been horrible [laughs]!"

'Crazy Girl' was the Eli Young Band's first single from their album 'Life at Best,' which they released last year. The album debuted at No. 2 on the country albums chart after its release, and 'Crazy Girl' set the band up for a whirlwind of success to follow. Besides topping the charts, the song was also certified platinum for sales exceeding one million digital downloads, was named Billboard's No. 1 Country Song of 2011 and earned them slots performing on the 'Late Show With David Letterman' and 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.'

Not only was the song special to the band, but also to the song's two writers -- Lee Brice and Liz Rose. Both Brice and Rose are no strangers to penning chart-topping hits. Rose is responsible for co-writing two of Taylor Swift's biggest hits, 'White Horse' and 'You Belong With Me,' while Brice made history by being one of the three writers on the Garth Brooks smash 'More Than a Memory' that debuted at No. 1 in 2007.

"This [No. 1] is a really cool thing," Brice said at the party Monday. "That whole Garth thing was a special thing for me because I was such a huge fan of Garth's, but it happened so fast. It didn't really feel like this does, because I got to watch this thing ... watch them work it [and] watch it go up the charts. [This song's] just a bigger deal [for me]. Garth is Garth. I think he could make anything a No. 1 song, so I think I was lucky to have that. I think this is something I was fortunate to have, too. Everybody worked so hard. [Liz and I] were just fortunate enough to be in the same room that magical day and wrote a magical song."

During the party, a full Mexican spread was available for guests to enjoy while plaques were handed out to the band members, Brice and Rose. Among others showing their support for the Eli Young Band's exciting career achievement were singer-songwriter Rhett Akins (who is also celebrating a No. 1 this week with Luke Bryan's 'I Don't Want This Night to End'), newcomer Ashley Gearing, Lance Miller, Jeff Middleton of the Dirt Drifters and songwriter Phil Barton (who is a co-writer of Brice's latest single, 'A Woman Like You').

Watch the Eli Young Band 'Crazy Girl' Video