Their musical journey has taken then across the country and back, living in New York, L.A. and Nashville as well as their native North Carolina. They've scrambled through the underbrush where country, rock, soul and other musical styles meet and mingle. Now, though, with the release of their debut country album for new label Stoney Creek, those years of exploring and honing their sound have paid off handsomely.

Parmalee consists of brothers Matt and Scott Thomas, their cousin Barry Knox and their longtime friend Josh McSwain. The four of them started playing together in the early '00s in a barn in the North Carolina town of Parmale (they modified the spelling slightly so it's easier to pronounce).

While the band has flirted with rock styles here and there, they've always felt country was their home — a sentiment you can hear clearly in their current single "Carolina," which just this week became the group's first-ever No. 1.

"The song is about home," lead singer Matt Thomas told Radio.com, "and how the people you love can make you feel at home," whether you're there in person or just talking to them on the phone. "They just put you back in that comfort zone."

"We're always gone, away from our families," he continued, noting that in recent years they've spent a lot of time on the road. And so "coming home was always a big deal," which is "how that song came about. We were out in California for a while, and we came back to North Carolina. And I just had this thought, and we parlayed it into a relationship song. It fit, and I think it's a great embodiment of us as a band, me as a singer and our sound in general."