Amid the Fun on His New Album, Luke Bryan Also Turns to 'More Mature-Type Subject Matters'

So how much of a country boy is Luke Bryan?

He doesn’t have to think long or hard about that question. On this particular day, he recounts how he spent the morning at the bow shop jawing with a bunch of other hunters. His best kind of evenings, he says, are “rockin’ on the porch” with his wife and boys and doing some sunset watching. He mentions the bass-fishing lake on his property, where he regularly drops a line with the kids.

Then for good measure, this son of a peanut farmer adds one more bona fide: “Just talking to my mom and dad once a day is about all the country affirmation I need.”

No doubt Bryan has earned the right to call his latest album — out on Friday — Mind of a Country Boy, and of course he has a country boy’s heart and soul, too. The album, his eighth, is chock-full of all the countrified themes that hold sway over his life: good times, the outdoors, the love of a good woman and devotion to family.

Yes, he assures, he’s still the guy who can easily turn an arena concert into a giant party with the flip of his ballcap. But as he closes out his fifth decade — he turned 48 in July — he’s also feeling increasingly drawn to what he calls “more mature-type subject matters,” and family is squarely at the center of that.

This impulse can be heard in the nostalgia of “Pair of Boots” and “Fish on the Wall,” two standout tracks that highlight father-son moments. But Bryan turns even more serious in two other memorable songs: “Jesus ’Bout the Kids” and “For the Kids.”

The father of two boys, Bo, 16, and Tate, 14, and the custodial uncle of 22-year-old Til Cheshire, his late sister’s son, Bryan says the lyrics of “Jesus” squarely hit home: “I used to talk to my kids about Jesus / Now I talk to Jesus ’bout my kids.”

“When you become a parent, the anxieties of getting them through this life never go away,” says Bryan, speaking to about a dozen reporters at a recent Nashville news conference. “There's only so much you can do. You got to turn it over to Jesus, or your higher power, to look after them, because at the end of the day, that's what you have to kind of plant your flag in — that God and Jesus are looking after them.”

Bryan himself lost his beloved older brother to a car accident in 1996. Now 16-year-old Bo is driving, and Bryan says he and his wife, Caroline, constantly say their prayers for his safety.

 “She won’t go to bed till Bo rolls in the door,” says Bryan (though he confesses that he tends to “conk out”).

Bryan has a writing credit on “For the Kids,” and he reveals he was the one who brought the idea of an unraveling marriage to co-writers Justin Ebach and Old Dominion’s Brad Tursi.

“I'm like, guys … I feel like it’s something that we gotta write,” Bryan recalls. “We [married couples] do all these things for the kids, and we pour all our energy into these kids. And the next thing you know, you’re kind of married for the kids. … So this song, I think, really touches on that as real as anybody or any song I’ve ever heard.”

The three songwriters also have made sure the song ends on a hopeful note, and in the times that Bryan has performed it live, he says, he’s been able to see couples “wake up” as they’ve recognized themselves in the lyrics.

“That’s the beauty of country music,” he says. “These songs can enter into people's lives and help ’em through ups and downs.”

But is this Bryan’s story, too?

He quickly dismisses that notion: “It’s funny. When I wrote ‘Do I,’ Caroline and I just got married, and everybody called us going, ‘Are y’all OK?’ I'm like, ‘It’s a song, y’all.’ So I'm sure everybody will be checking on us when they hear ‘For the Kids,’ but everything's OK in that world.”

Still, he adds, when he played the song for his wife “it really hit her hard. I think she understands the art in it and how well done it is. It’s a tough thing ’cause she’s like, ‘People are gonna think we’re like that.’ I’m like, well … we can’t control that. But I think she appreciates it for a great song.”

The serious side of perhaps country’s finest joy maker can show up for only so long: Bryan fills out the 14-track album with the kind of fun-loving music that fans have come to expect, including his latest top 5 hits: “Country On” (a chart-topper), “But I Got a Beer in My Hand” and “Love You, Miss You, Mean It.” The album’s title song, also the name of his current tour, is a foot-stomping romp through country boy life, and “Kansas” and “She’s Still Got It” show off Bryan’s deft way around a love song.

While the album’s more reflective music reveals “a lot where I’m at,” Bryan allows, “that doesn’t mean when the right big ol’ party numbers come along, I’m not gonna still say yeah to them … My biggest challenge is trying to put music out that catches people’s ear.”

The new project has been a long time coming for Bryan — it’s been four years since his last album — and even he can’t believe how much time has passed.

“When you go do a Vegas residency, and [American] Idol and all that, your mind gets a little scrambled,” Bryan says.

Indeed, his successful two-year Las Vegas residency just ended this past January, and he’s completed seven seasons as a judge on American Idol. At the moment, he’s in the midst of his Mind of a Country Boy Tour, which runs through October; his two-week Farm Tour, his 15th, wraps up at the end of this month.

For the next season of Idol, premiering in spring 2025, Bryan will be joined by former Idol winner Carrie Underwood, who replaces Katy Perry, and Bryan says he’s excited that he and Lionel Richie will be welcoming another country artist to their panel.

“Our love for country music and the brand of country music really line up,” he says of Underwood. “Obviously, I’m more like” — Bryan bugs his eyes, stretches his hands and emits a crazy “AAHHH!” — “and Carrie is more very graceful and elegant. So, we’ll see how she handles me. … She’s certainly got all the qualifications to do a great job. You look back at her hosting days on the CMAs. She knocked it out of the park. And even now, after I’ve hosted CMA,” he adds with a laugh, “a lot of fans really want her back!”

(Bryan has hosted or co-hosted the awards show for the past three years, and he and past co-host Peyton Manning are widely expected to be tapped again this year.)

Doubtless, Bryan’s life is busy and full. But he also notes that what fills his life now is much different than his early career, when he was doing up to 320 shows a year. Now he makes sure there’s time for family porch-sitting and taking his boys hunting or fishing.

Bryan is grateful that he’s in such a rare and enviable spot: “I came to this town with goals and dreams and expectations, and somehow, I pulled it all off and made all of ’em happen.” Still, that hasn’t stopped him from pushing himself: “If I can finish a tour and be a little better on piano and be a little better on guitar or be a little better of a performer every year and grow a little bit, those are kind of my goals.”

Success also hasn’t stopped Bryan from dreaming: “I still got a lot of cool stuff that I'm thinking about.”

One tug, he says, is toward movies. He reveals he’s turned down some acting roles, but he’s also written “a little movie idea” that might turn into something someday. “If it happens, it happens,” Bryan says, adding that a book may be in his future, too. In fact, the only thing he rules out — with a hearty laugh — is “swimsuit modeling.”

Whatever he does next, you can assume this country boy will be having fun doing it.

“I know I had fun when we were broke,” he says. “I had a blast in a 15-passenger van. We all were having a blast. And we’re having a blast today.”