Mind Of A Country Boy

Mind Of A Country Boy

Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024

Luke Bryan

Luke Bryan has long been one of country music’s biggest party-starters, with hits like “One Margarita” and his early smash “Country Girl (Shake It for Me).” On this eighth studio album from the country superstar and American Idol judge, Bryan reminds us that his softer side is just as compelling as his wild one, serving up a collection of tunes about parenthood, marriage, and faith. The record opens with its title track, a lighthearted but sincere glimpse at the kind of country culture that makes Bryan tick, like “dirt-road daisies” and “old-school Alabama.” Other highlights include the sweet and sentimental single “Love You, Miss You, Mean It” and “But I Got a Beer in My Hand,” a breakup anthem that nods to Bryan’s wilder roots. Bryan closes the album with “Jesus ’Bout My Kids,” a tender and vulnerable snapshot of Christian parenthood.
Bryan tells Apple Music that he sees these more emotionally revealing songs as opportunities to connect with his fans on a deeper level. “I think, naturally, those are the ones that rise to the top and the fans believe it's me and that's the ones that they gravitate to and that's what country music fans are,” he says. “That's what it's about right there. Because you're not going to slip nothing by them.” Below, Bryan shares insight into several key tracks.

“Pair of Boots”
“Buy a boy a pair of boots, he'll wear them until he wears them out. He won't know it yet, but he's a step ahead before they ever hit the ground. I mean, the fact that you train—not train a kid, but you get a kid working outside. Like [my son] Tate went through a sweet corn patch phase where all he did was go throw on muck boots and go pick sweet corn. That's what we wanted them doing. Now, listen, they play Fortnite and they play the video games and Tate's got the Oculus and he's up there doing the virtual stuff, but we want them to be outside wearing boots, hunting, doing the stuff. And I think this song really embodies what the country deal is.”

“For the Kids”
“I think if you ask a hundred married couples married for 40 years, they're going to go, ‘Oh my god, if we had no children, we wouldn’t have lasted three years in our marriage.’ In my opinion, this might be my best song I've ever written from top to bottom. What's funny is, okay, there's this couple out there that you don't know, but one of your friends goes, ‘Oh, Billy and Susie, they're getting a divorce.’ And what's the first question you ask? ‘Do they have kids?’ And if they're like, ‘No, they don't have any kids,’ you're like, ‘Wow, whatever.’ But if they have four kids, you're like, ‘Oh my god. Oh, what are we going to do for Bobby and Susie?’ Because when you make it through the gamut, when you run the gamut of this crazy life with kids, yeah, those are the ties that bind.”

“Jesus ‘Bout My Kids”
“We spend [time] as a family talking about Jesus, talking about the meaning. And we don't get to church as much as we should, but we do some cool stuff, like every Easter I bring somebody in to do an Easter sermon at our farm and it's, like, awesome. I mean, that's the only thing that gets us through, in my opinion, is the belief of the next place together. And I feel sorry for people that don't have that deal. And, God, you want to help them and get them there. I think overall it'll make them approach life with more of a hopeful situation. So yeah, that song, the second I heard it, I was like, ‘This is the right thing.’”