About Hometown (feat. Zac Brown & Danielle Bradbery)

This one was kind of crazy. I originally wrote it with Sam Hunt, and he put out a record called “Kinfolks” which stole the chorus from us. I was like, “What are you doing, dude?” He was like, “Oh, I don’t remember…” So I got another singer to sing it, because I thought the songs were different enough to where it was still awesome. I had been talking to Zac Brown for years. He actually flew his jet to see me and Skrillex play in New Orleans because he’s just a big fan. We hung out at Voodoo Fest. He started doing DJ sets. We got along. I hit him up when I had the song finished, like, “Hey, you want to sing this?” He changed some parts, and he crushed it. It became this mellow groover. He’s also kind of a Nashville outsider, you know? Almost on the jam band side of things. His shows are enormous.

Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ, songwriter, and record producer based in Los Angeles, California. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD with Sia and Labrinth, a member of electronic duo Jack Ü with producer and DJ Skrillex, and a member of Silk City with Mark Ronson. He founded and manages record company Mad Decent, as well as co-founding the non-profit organization Heaps Decent. Among other jobs, he has worked as an English teacher in Japan and a school teacher in Philadelphia. His 2013 EP, Revolution, debuted at number 68 on the US Billboard 200. The EP's title track was later featured in a commercial for Hyundai and is featured on the WWE 2K16 soundtrack.

During his rise to fame, Diplo worked with British musician M.I.A., an artist who is credited with giving him exposure in his early career. Later, he and fellow M.I.A. producer Switch created a Jamaican dancehall project and cartoon series titled Major Lazer.[4] Since then, Diplo has worked on production and mixtape projects with many other pop artists, such as Gwen Stefani, Die Antwoord, Britney Spears, Madonna, Shakira, Beyoncé, Ellie Goulding, No Doubt, Justin Bieber, Usher, Snoop Dogg, Trippie Redd, Chris Brown, CL, G-Dragon, Bad Bunny, MØ and Poppy. His alias, short for Diplodocus, derives from his childhood fascination with dinosaurs.