Remember Hanson? The three brothers from Tulsa, Okla., never stopped making music after worldwide success in the late '90s ("Mmmbop" came out more than 20 years ago), and while their next new album — release date TBA — is certifiably not country per middle brother Taylor, who knows what the future will bring?

"No, the next project is not a country and western project ... but [in the future] there’s no rules," Taylor, 36, told Taste of Country at an event celebrating the Recording Academy in Texas this summer, at which Midland and Asleep at the Wheel also attended as performers.

“We are a band from Oklahoma and I live in the country, you know?" youngest brother Zac, 33, adds. "Could we make country music? Uh, I feel like the genre that we are made a lot more sense in the ‘90s. And today, is there even a pop-rock kind of genre? Maybe we are a country band just by default because country is the only format that has both harmonies and guitars and real drums."

At the time of the interview, oldest brother Isaac was working on mixing a local (Oklahoma) country act's album and admitted he's really grown to love pedal steel. In an age where pop sensibilities have come to make sense on country radio, Hanson just may fit like a well-worn boot.

"Would the Eagles be country today?" Zac ponders.

"If the Eagles would be country today, I think someday we will make a country record," he continues, "Because I would like to make a record that was maybe inspired by the Eagles or bands more in that style, where it’s more Americana ... it still maintains that love of harmony, but it just sort of comes at it from that dustier, dirtier perspective."

Hanson's last album was 2018's String Theory, and before that, 2017's Finally It's Christmas. They're touring holiday music again in 2019 — the Wintry Mix Tour starts in November.

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