Luke Bryan can’t hide his country on American Idol. As he talks to the contestants on the reality singing show, his accent suggests he’s all Georgia from his head to his boots.
Yet, the country star worries that his fans believe he might be too Hollywood. That’s as if a time zone change can upend his roots. It’s why he’s talking up the country in his new country album.
“I’ve got songs that are really country songs,” Luke Bryan told PEOPLE magazine in a recent interview. “For fans who think the album isn’t as country as they wanted, these songs tell an outdoor country story. And (they) really say who I am and where I’m at as an artist right now.”
“Obviously I want them to hear these songs and go, ‘You know what, Luke’s still pretty doggone country. I think people see me on American Idol and they think, ‘Oh, well, he’s gone all Hollywood,’ and all this. But in the core of what I am, the core of me is I just want to go drive around my farm and put my boat in and do some fishing — do a lot of the same things that I grew up doing in Georgia.”
Luke Bryan Is Releasing New Deluxe Version of Recent Album
Next month, Luke Bryan is releasing the deluxe version of Born Here Live Here Die Here. It initially was released last August. And fans loved it. The album, his seventh from the studio, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard country chart. And it spawned four top singles. They were Knockin’ Boots, What She Wants Tonight, Down to One and One Margarita.
One Margarita also was the most downloaded country song for two weeks in a row.
Bryan is anticipating that the song Waves will capture the fancy of country music fans. Other new songs are Country Does and Drink a Little Whiskey Down.
Luke Bryan told People:
“When I came out with the original album of Born Here Live Here Die Here, we had already had three No. 1s off the album before we even released it. Now, we can go on and build and add new songs to the album. I look at a song like “Waves” — which is something that I really think has the potential to be a big, big summer hit — but I’ve got songs that are really country songs. “
Bryan also added: “I think a lot of these songs tell that story of a rural, small upbringing. … Obviously, I have to have music that hopefully pushes the envelope with different styles. I want music that really, really speaks to who I am as someone that loves being out in the country and singing music about it and telling the story of that.”
