Hailing from Texas, the Eli Young Band has done a lot in their 14 years of activity in the country music scene.

After being charted eight times on the Billboard country charts with three number one hits, the band is far beyond the borders of the lone-star state.

They released their fifth studio album, “10,000 Towns,” Tuesday and recently began the “True Believers Tour” with veteran country star Darius Rucker.

Mike Eli, the band’s front man, took some time with The Sunflower to discuss their new record, tour and their upcoming show on March 8 in Salina at the Bicentennial Center.

How do you feel about the new record?

We feel great about this one. It’s an important record for us following “Life at Best” — it was an epic work for us and gave us our first two No. 1s and so it was really important that we didn’t mess this one up.

We had a ton of songs to pick from and we really feel like we got the best group of songs that we could write.

How do you feel that it stands up against your previous work? How do the fans feel?

I think fans are going to love this record. There’s some old-school Eli Young band in this record, even more than the last album.

I think that this record is a really fun one to listen to. The few that we have been playing (live), the crowds have been really responding well to it.

What meaning does the album title, “10,000 Towns” hold for you guys?

I feel like it tells everybody who we are. We’ve been this road dog band for so long — you know, we go out and play as many shows as we can in front of as many people as we can so that we can make one fan at a time.

What’s it like being on the road with Darius Rucker?

It’s been cool, man. Darius is a great dude. Hootie and the Blowfish stuff was kind of our soundtrack when we were in high school, so that’s kind of important to us — being able to get out on the road and play these shows with him is pretty neat.

Have you ever been to central Kansas before? How’s it different from playing in New York or L.A.?

Absolutely, man. We love Kansas — we always have. It doesn’t matter where you go, we all party the same.

While we’re all a little different, we all have a whole lot in common.

What’s your favorite part of being on tour?

Just playing shows, you know what I mean? That’s why we did this — we started this band so we could go out and play shows. I always say, man I’d get up on stage for free.

How does being on the road so much affect your personal life?

It sucks, man — they fight each other. You’ve got your personal life and you’ve got your career, which is your dream, you know? Now that I’ve got a little one at home, it’s tough for my wife and I because you’ve got to figure out that balance.

It’s tough to leave home these days.