Luke Bryan on new album and ‘American Idol’

We are in for a treat this afternoon with a big performance coming your way. Our next guest is the winner of, get this, more than 50 major music awards. Yeah, you all know who he is. That includes five wins as country music to entertainer of the year. You also know him as a judge on ABC's hit series, American Idol. Please help us welcome singer, songwriter and just superstar Luke Bryan. I got to make sure all my 50 awards made it to the house. I'm not sure they're all there. I'm short a few. Your wife has them tucked away. Maybe they may be out in the, you know, the Amazon guy left it out by the mailbox. Congratulations. I mean, you have so much going on right now. How are you doing it all? Well, can I say maybe a little vodka in the evening? Just a little bit. Yeah, just, you know, just a little bit. Now, you know, I grew up in a hardworking family where we were busybodies, even on on days off. You know, we were doing yard work for enjoyment or something. So we're really a real busy family. But yeah, October is like because we're doing idle. I'm wrapping up my farm tour. And then when you when you throw an album into the mix for late September, October, when you put an album out. So it's pretty busy. But then I'm going to get into mid-October and slow down a little bit and then hopefully chill out a little bit in November. But then we got CMA Awards at, you know, I think November 20th is the day. But you can rush next year. Well, maybe that's what I that's what I tell myself and my wife. But she's like, I don't believe you. Quit giving me that nonsense. So this is your first album since 2020. And it's a mind of a country boy. What was the inspiration behind this? Well, the the inspiration was, oh, my gosh, it's been four years since I put an album out. So I better get I better get busy. But over the four year period, well, let's just let's just cancel off 2020. You know, we we we all have a rough year for all. Yeah, we we weren't in the studio singing and all that. But but about every four or five months, I would go in the studio and record four or five songs that I had either heard or written. And so after, you know, seven or eight songs this year, seven or eight songs second year, we would we would compile these songs and put them in files. And I would start say, oh, that's definitely going to be on the album. So I've been working on the album. It's not like four months ago I ran in the studio, made the album. So it has been a slow work in process, a slow work in progress. But the main inspiration was just finding songs that really speak to me where I'm at in life. I mean, this song has I mean, this album has songs that kind of talk about fatherhood and they've got everybody expects me to get, you know, get ready for the next country girl. Check it for me and let's get everybody party in which I've kind of checked a lot of that off. You know, I've certainly checked that box. But this album has a lot of depth and a lot of songs I'm really, really proud of. And but yeah, it reflects kind of where I'm at. And I love the kind of the maturity of this album. And so, yeah, we hope the fans respond to it. Listen, I can love it all I want, but now it's it's it's out there to the world. It's up to the people. So now I got to hear what the people say. I'm sure the fans are going to respond. Well, you casually brought this up, but this year you're stepping in for the third time as the host of the CMA Awards. Do you ever get jealous? Do you ever get nervous? You know, anytime you're walking out to host, you know, you you want to represent country music in the best way possible. And when you're walking out first year, I hosted it by myself completely, which was pretty, pretty nerve wracking. You want to get it right. You want to be comfortable in the role. And so now that I've got Peyton and now Laney, you can kind of you can kind of spread the anxiety or the anticipation. You could spread the responsibility. Yeah, you can spread it around. You know, it's not on your shoulders. I never will forget me and Peyton's first year. We had done all this rehearsing. And when you're walking out on stage, there's all these, you know, there's tape marks and little cues where the cameras are supposed to supposed to hit you. And Peyton and I are walking out top of the show. And we both blanked on our stopping mark. And Peyton, I'm like, dude, you've won. Like, you read defenses, you know, you know where people are blitzing. And you forgot because Peyton looks at me. He goes, is this our mark? And I was like, I don't know, is it? So we landed. We landed where we were supposed to, I think. But, you know, it's those little moments that throws you off. You know, you don't want to overthink. You know, anytime you start overthinking like a song or your monologue or, you know, you you you can start tripping yourself up. So just get caught. And that's what I love about early in my career, like even sitting here, I would have been so nervous in this moment. I couldn't you almost can't enjoy promoting or interviews and stuff like that because you're so overwhelmed by being on TV in these big moments. So now that I'm, you know, in front of a camera on American Idol, 13 hours a day and he's a pro, baby. I've learned how to self edit myself. We don't rely on the on the editors to make me make me shine. But it's nice being comfortable coming out here and doing this stuff. So let's talk about the docuseries that you've been a part of. It's all country. You're telling the backstories of these big country stars. Who were you most surprised about? Was there something about one of them that you didn't know? Well, yeah, Peyton came to me and, you know, he started the Peyton's Places where he interviewed, you know, Hall of Fame football players. And he said, Luke, I kind of want to do this with country music singers. And and I learned real quick, it's impossible to tell Peyton Manning. No, I'm like, dude, I'm so busy. I need to be home. But I don't think I can tell, you know, and we laugh about that. But really, the you know, I called Peyton and I said, man, I'm really enjoying sitting down with these artists. I mean, I got to spend a day with Kane Brown and Wyoming and Winona Judd. And we got to have real conversations. It wasn't super scripted to where it felt real. And I tell you, the craziest thing is we're walking in to do one day of taping. And that particular day, I was going to interview Sheryl Crow. And we had some young artists on the show that day. And they said, yeah, we've got a new artist called Shaboosie. And I was like, shoo-hoo, and and they were like, yeah. And I met him and spent some time with him. And then he goes, he goes, yeah, man, I got this I got this song coming out with and he sent it to me. But the file that he sent me, like it didn't really go through good. So I heard it. And then literally three weeks later, you're hearing it all over all the, you know, the socials. And I text him and I was like, man, buddy, this thing's he's got it. You know, this thing's fixing to be huge. And so to watch him go from just meeting me and and trying to get to where when you hear Shaboosie, it's just a household name, you know, in which I love it. You know, that's what that's part of the allure of a of a beginning artist when you come up with a creative name like that that sticks. And and so so those moments. And then, you know, I got to spend the day with Luke Combs, and I'm going to try to remember all the artists. Mickey Guyton got to be in the studio with her. And so, yeah, I think any time what I love about documentaries and spending a day with somebody, it's not rushed. It's not forced. You can spend your day and keep it chill and and really let these artists tell their stories and their journeys and their different nuance, because everybody's got a different path. Everybody's got a different way that they made it. I mean, I had my path that it was the only way I knew and the only way it could work for me. So when you when you get to hear of even like Kane Brown, there was stuff in his childhood that really I didn't know he had dealt with. So when you could hear everybody's ups and downs and struggles, it really makes you connect with him even more. And real quick, we're coming up on another season of American Idol. We talked about it at the top of the segment. So we also have auditions this week here in New York. How excited are you? And any advice? Well, pardon, but I'm. Sorry, but I'm. You know, being here in New York and and being I guess this is my ninth season of season of Idol, which is really hard to wrap your brain around. And then I'd have Carrie Underwood coming on board. She'll be she'll be amazing. I mean, nobody knows like the the ups and downs of trying to make it through the show and winning the show more than Carrie. So, you know, my advice for the people at home is, you know, we're the judges. And when you look at Lionel and Carrie and I and even Ryan, you know, our careers are our careers and we're blessed. And like, we've got crazy lives that I can't believe that my career happened. And I think the show ultimately will always be about the magic, the magic of the contestants. That's what makes the show special, because, I mean, I remember the year that he came on. I mean, when he walked through the door, the ratings just exploded because of him. And so we can sit there and do confetti shenanigans and all that. But it's really about finding that, you know, it's about finding the talent and us telling the story of that talent that makes America come on board and start pulling for him. So every year is a really it's it's not as easy as just walking on, turn on the lights. You know, we really want to we really want to. We really want to find the talent to to really make the show great. And if the talent is found and the talent goes on to become superstars, then we're like it was worth it for us. It validates our reason for those long audition days because they're long. You're about to perform for us one of the new songs from your album. It's called Country Song Came On. We're listening to it this morning. It feels very nostalgic. So I'm curious what songs do that for you? Well, when I mean, every time I'm on my farm, like riding around on my, you know, Polaris side by side and I'm playing classics, it's like classic honky tonk songs that I used to ride around with my dad. It makes me, you know, makes me revert back to like old school country. And I think through my music, I mean, like I said, I mean, I've had I have fun with my music. I love to like I want to see people dancing and letting loose and having fun. But this this particular song, when I heard it, I was like, oh, that's that's like an old honky tonk song. And I never will forget. I was at dinner one time with Jason Derulo. He goes, Luke, what is a honky tonk? And and, you know, he goes and I went through like a one minute painted the picture for him of a honky tonk. He goes, all right, I understand it now. And this song is really like that classic old dim lit. Go get you a beer and listen to classic country music. And, you know, either because your heart because your heart broke, you know, your dog ran off and you got cheated on. I think that's I think it's some point in explaining it to Jason Derulo. I think I said, your dog ran off. You got cheated on and your heart broke. All right. One more time, everybody. For Luke Bryant. Be sure to pick up the new Mind of a Country Boy album. It's out right now. And for everyone at home, you can listen to our GMA three playlist by scanning the QR code on your screen.