The Eli Young Band started out as college students. (Photo courtesy the Eli Young Band)

We should all take a lesson from the Eli Young Band’s attitude about the pursuit of success.

Instead of fretting or complaining about not making it big 10 minutes after their first album was released, the band has always set its sights on attainable goals. And they came by success the old fashioned way: They earned it.

"When we started out in college, success was just getting a gig within a 30-mile radius of where we lived," Chris Thompson, EYB’s drummer, said by phone. "Then it became, if we could get a gig in a couple cities in Texas, we were successful, then if we could get that gig in Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico, we’re doing pretty good. We’ve been climbing this stairway of success and every step has felt good and right. We believe if we keep working, we can make it to that next step. I guess we’re just optimistic people."

Directions, invite a friend

It took 11 years for the band – Mike Eli, James Young, Jon Jones and Chris Thompson – to score a No. 1 record, but the first single from the band’s fourth album, Life at Best, was as big as you could get in 2011. Crazy Girl, was Billboard’s Country Song of the Year, and the most played song on radio. You’ll surely hear it when EYB plays the South Florida Fair on Wednesday.

"Take the theme of love and give it that little creative twist that strikes a chord with people and you have a hit on your hands," Thompson said. "When we meet people, guys always say, ‘That’s my girl,’ and girls say, ‘I wish a guy would sing that to me.’ It’s really an endearing way to say something we all feel. The success is truly a credit to the songwriting."

Written by Lee Brice and Liz Rose, the song says, "Crazy girl, don’t you know that I love you/and I wouldn’t dream of going nowhere/Silly woman, come here, let me hold you/Have I told you lately I love you like crazy, girl."

Life at Best has 14 solid songs, nine of which were written or co-written by the band members, along with a team of Nashville talent. This music is like a soundtrack for normal life. It’s love and life and heartache the way normal people experience it. But these are songs with substance too: Songs about never giving up, facing your fears, forgiveness and, of course, love.

The second single (Keep on Dreaming) Even If It Breaks Your Heart, "sort of describes our career," Thompson said. "That’s almost been like an anthem for us, and we have an underlying optimism in our band and in our own lives that has really kept us going."

After 11 years together, the band has long since ironed out the rough spots.

"I think a lot of the reason we’ve done well is we’ve always been friends and this has always been fun. It’s never been a job for any of us. When you get the opportunity to start a band in college and basically hit the road with your three other best friends, I just can’t imagine doing anything else.

"Fortunately we got a lot of the really big fights the fights that break bands up out of the way early in our career. We got the fights about money and personal issues out, we talked about and argued about them before there was any success," he laughs. "We all knew where we stood when we started this.

The members met in college in Texas, when Eli and Young were matched up as roommates. All four were born within a 15-month period. And Feb. 4, they’ll all be old married guys. Mike Eli married in 2010 and Thompson and Jones both married in 2011. Holdout James Young will marry next month.

"It definitely has changed our priorities," Thompson said. "We all married women who understand what we do and what it takes to have a career in the music business."

Being gone for six out of seven days, and sometimes more, can certainly take its toll but it also makes you grateful for simple pleasures.

"I ran into an old friend at the grocery store and he asked what the highlights have been, and I remember thinking that being at the grocery store was one of the coolest things I’ve gotten to do all year, because we don’t get to have a normal life. But we’ve had a lot of really cool moments too."

With success come perks, and for a band, one big perk is getting a better bus.

"We actually bought our first tour bus last year," Thompson said. "We’d been leasing buses before. Our bus driver likes to tease us, ‘What if we got another bus?’ But none of us would want to ride on the other bus without the others. For better or worse we’re a unit and we stick together."

If you go:

Eli Young Band

Where: On the Pepsi Stage at South Florida Fair, 9067 Southern Blvd., suburban West Palm Beach.

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

Tickets: $10 reserve seats, general seating is free with fair admission.

Info: (561) 793-0333; southfloridafair.com