If you ask a typical college student what he or she knows about the band Sister Hazel , he or she usually remembers “that one song” that everyone knew in the late ’90s. Everyone knows the tune of the song, some people know the name of the song, but most people don’t know much about the band behind the No. 1 song off the group’s only platinum album.

Hailing from the popular college town of Gainesville, Fla., singer/songwriter Ken Block describes the local scene as “really supportive.”

“Every semester there’s a whole new influx of [students with] creative ambitions that come to Gainesville,” Block said. “And the scene helped a lot growing up. The students and the locals really latched onto bands, but what allowed that to happen was that there were a ton of clubs and a ton of venues that would allow you to play original music. You didn’t have to just play cover songs to get a gig.”

Twelve years after the release of that one song, “All For You,” off 1997’s …Somewhere More Familiar, Block, backed by bassist Jett Beres, guitarists Andrew Copeland and Ryan Newell and drummer Mark Trojanowski, released Release, a 12-track album created through an interesting writing process that Block describes as “a nice evolution.”

“Everybody had a collection of songs, and [we] came in with what [we] thought were going to be the strongest songs on the record,” Block said. “If I brought a song, I had a vision of what I wanted it to be. and it was everybody’s job to put their fingerprints on it. But at the end of the day, whoever brought in that song would produce it.”

Block particularly enjoyed this method of writing and recording, because the band members “brought some different colors and textures, different things sonically.”

The two tracks donated by Block were created through different means of inspiration, as are most things he writes.

“I find inspiration everywhere, whether it’s something I’m going through, or whether it’s something around me I see going on,” Block said.

One of the two tracks, “Walls and Cannonballs,” was written about how communication, and the lack thereof, can affect relationships between people. Block said it “can be really, really challenging, and sometimes it seems as though people are polar opposites when all they really need to do is step back and just allow each other to be.”

Block shows listeners a more personal side of his writing in the other piece he contributed to the album, “See Me Beautiful.”

“We’re our own worst enemy, sometimes,” Block admitted. “I know if I live too much in my head, well, it’s an awfully dangerous neighborhood to hang out in. So it’s about how somebody, through all your faults, all your fears and defects, can see you as beautiful.”

Artists such as Pat McGee and Emerson Hart also contributed artistically to this album, but when asked what it was like working with them, Block simply laughed and said, “Oh man it’s like calling up your brothers and saying, ‘Come on over.’ We have a pretty reliable extended family, guys like Emerson and Pat. It’s always a great time whether we’re sitting down to write a song or just hangin’ out to have some laughs.”

The band loves playing college towns, Block said, because it gives them a good chance to expose everything they’ve got to a crowd that was almost too young to appreciate the music when it was at its peak of popularity.

“For people who have never seen us or seen a live show [of ours] or only heard a couple of songs on the radio, [the show is] a great opportunity for that, and of course a good time.” Sister Hazel will be playing at the Majestic Theatre on Thursday, March 18 at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $25.