- 3 days ago
Luke Bryan joins Katie Neal to dive into his latest album, 'Signs,' plus the Country star explains how evaluating talent on 'American Idol' has changed his own perspective on music.
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00:00You recently hosted us out at your house to listen to your new album, Signs, which we're
00:05going to talk all about.
00:06But first, we need to talk about the lovely parting gift you sent me home with.
00:10Yes.
00:10Where does it rank in the scheme of text?
00:13I mean, after we get done, I'm going to have to show you the video of how it has all
00:16come
00:16together.
00:16It really finished the wall, honestly.
00:18Like, it looks so good.
00:21But it's this white otter.
00:23Yes.
00:23Which, tell the story behind the white otter and where it came from.
00:26Well, it's a white otter that, you know, otters, if you're trying to have a bass farm to where
00:33you want beautiful, healthy, large-mouthed bass, who was Superman's nemesis?
00:43Lex Luthor.
00:45Oh, my God.
00:48Large-mouthed bass, they're Lex Luthor or otters.
00:51Uh-huh.
00:52And they do not, they're not welcome at LeBron's farm.
00:54They are not our friends.
00:55No.
00:56And this one just happened to just come down the wrong little trail, and he happens
01:04to be albino.
01:05You know what?
01:06I actually looked this up.
01:07It's not considered albino because its eyes aren't red.
01:09Or were they red when you traveled?
01:10What is it considered?
01:11It's called, like, oh, God, now I can't remember.
01:13It's, like, leucidus, leucistus, leucistic, a leucistic otter is what it was.
01:19That's it.
01:19And I was like, because somebody, when I posted it, was like, that's not albino, it's leucistic.
01:23And I was like, forgive us.
01:25I mean, only you.
01:26That's where the world's at.
01:28You get hate from otter.
01:30Right.
01:31I mean, like, the miss, oh, God, the not proper definition of what your white otter is.
01:40Yeah.
01:40But it was so funny, because I was laughing, looking at everything.
01:44I, like, did a taxidermy tour the other day, and I was like, the two things up there that
01:47have been, like, trapped and killed are from your house.
01:51The coyote and the otter.
01:52I got you.
01:53See, we're...
01:54Yeah, you are winning for the most donations to the taxidermy loss.
01:57We're so thankful for that.
01:58Well, just in a short amount of time, there'll be more things trapped, stumble in the wrong
02:05hole, fall in the wrong well.
02:07Oh, my God.
02:08I can only imagine.
02:09All right.
02:09Well, let's talk about signs.
02:10Love it.
02:11This album is so much fun, Luke.
02:13I really, like, had such a great time listening to it.
02:15There's something about it that's, like, a little bit nostalgic, but, like, still feels
02:18like you today.
02:19Like, it's more confident you and even more fun you.
02:22Do you feel like that?
02:23Yeah.
02:24I mean, I try not to get wrapped up in, like...
02:30I mean, to promote a new album, you gotta put snippets of songs out there, and then
02:35when you do all that, you're offering yourself up for a lot of comments on the
02:41snippets of songs, and then people are loving or hating snippets of a song, you know, that's
02:4820, 30 seconds, and so...
02:49But either way, I'm proud of it, and I think when, you know, when you hear the whole thing
02:58going down and you hear the complete...
03:00You know, when I wrote a couple, and then I found a bunch of songs from some of the best
03:04writers in Nashville, and I went, and it's...
03:09I really enjoy it.
03:10I mean, I've got some songs on there that I've went to places that I never have with subject
03:16matter and stuff like that, and then I've got songs that are...
03:20You know, I have recorded these songs that are all these thought-provoking things that
03:25I thought I was going to win Nobel Peace Prizes over, and a lot of people don't even...
03:30You know, I think people just want to hear me being me, and I think I get the best responses
03:40out of my career when I'm really being me, and I think there's a lot of me on this album,
03:47and yeah, that's the best way I can put it.
03:52When you mentioned, like, putting out snippets of songs and opening yourself up to the commentary,
03:55I think the song that you're talking about that got the most commentary was Fish Hunt
03:59Golf Drink.
04:01Right.
04:01And my question about that is, if your wife Caroline was going to add another word to that
04:08to describe you, what would it be?
04:10Fish, golf, hunt, drink, grill.
04:16Ooh, okay.
04:18Grill Master has been out there this year.
04:19What are you grilling?
04:20Oh, well, I mean, what do you want?
04:27No, I mean, we...
04:30It's...
04:30So, my nephew, Teal, he lives literally like a driver for seven hours.
04:38And I aren't out our back gate, which is very close to the house.
04:43So, one thing that's really fun is when I do get up, when I'm touring a lot, I get off
04:48the road, and we try to grill, like, either...
04:51So, my Friday, Saturdays are Sunday, Mondays.
04:57Yes.
04:58That's when you're home.
04:59That's when you're time.
04:59Right.
04:59That, like, my Sunday night is like...
05:02That's your Friday night.
05:03It's...
05:04Well, and it's a little tricky because sometimes I overdo it on those nights.
05:11That would be shocking to me that you would do that.
05:12And then while the world is...
05:15Functioning.
05:16Functioning.
05:17You know, I'm like, what have I done to my brain?
05:21I mean, why did I have that last giant glass of red wine after I grilled?
05:27But Teal, my nephew, and I, like, Sunday or even Mondays, like, sometimes even Sundays,
05:34I'm not.
05:34I'm still busy.
05:35So, Mondays, he'll call me, hey, what do you want to do tonight?
05:38And we'll start planning our meal.
05:40And, you know, I'll go get the steaks from this spot.
05:44And he'll swing by this and get the...
05:45Get this.
05:46And we'll build it all together.
05:48And then next thing you know, we're four vodkas in and, you know, grilling up.
05:52And I think my children would eat steak four nights a week.
05:58Same.
05:58Yeah.
05:59Why would you not?
06:00Especially from the grill.
06:01And then I'll cook...
06:03We'll cook a lot and then Bo, my gigantic, crazy football player, he'll eat them through
06:09the week.
06:09But, anyway, so grill is a very important night at the Brian home.
06:16I love this.
06:16And then let's talk about current single, Country and She Knows It.
06:19Yes.
06:19This is such a fun song.
06:21Like, I love this song.
06:22What made you, like, when you heard it, you were like, this is mine, no one else is cutting
06:25it.
06:25It's going on the record.
06:26Well, yeah.
06:27I mean, I think...
06:28I think...
06:30Yeah.
06:30I mean, I think guys get in the habit of, like, oh, I'm country.
06:34I got all my country stuff.
06:35Well, I think this is fun for girls to be like, you know, this is kind of their moment.
06:41But at the end of the day, I think this is a song that girls are going to want to
06:46dance,
06:46have fun to, not be overly serious about.
06:50And, you know, I don't think it's like being like, I'm like gawking or being gross about
06:56this girl.
06:56I think it's all very flattering, you know, when...
07:02I mean, there's nothing more fun when, you know, you see all these girls coming to concerts
07:09and they got their white cowboy boots on and their little short skirts and they got their
07:13little outfits dialed in and they...
07:15That's what they pick that day to wear to the country concert.
07:19And then they may go to a...
07:20You know, they may go to another concert down the road and dress completely different.
07:24So true.
07:25Maybe at a nightclub they wear this, but when it comes to coming to one of my shows, they
07:30got their...
07:31So all that stuff's fun and I just felt like it had all the magic things for being a big
07:40fun summer hit.
07:41There is also a song on here with Luke Combs.
07:44Yes.
07:44Talk about Finder's Keepers and how you brought Luke in.
07:47I can't say enough about Finder's Keepers.
07:49It really checks all the boxes for me when I heard it, what I want out of a song from
07:55just...
07:57It's just right down the pipe on being something that I'm excited about.
08:04And I recorded it.
08:05I did the full thing.
08:07Love the song.
08:08I don't really...
08:09I always felt like from day one this thing was a contender to be an up-tempo single for
08:15me.
08:15And then I text it to Luke.
08:17And I said, hey man, are you...
08:19You know, I did the whole, sorry to bother you.
08:21No pressure.
08:23I'm uncomfortable doing this.
08:24But you just got to hear it.
08:26And if you want to do it, I'd love to have you.
08:27And he goes, I'm in.
08:29And I'm like, oh crap.
08:31And I start calling everybody.
08:32He's in.
08:33He's in.
08:34Get him in.
08:35You know, so it was a mad dash and he got in the studio and we're just, I don't know,
08:40I'm just fired up of the song.
08:42When you were telling us that story and we were out at your house, it made me laugh because
08:45you were like, he texted me back immediately.
08:46And I don't know if you know this, but anybody else that I've interviewed, it's like a 30-day
08:50text back from Luke.
08:51People are like, I sent it and I was just waiting, waiting.
08:53See, well, I don't know that.
08:55And he responded so quick to you and I was like, he must have really liked that.
08:59Well, and you know, and listen, I mean, if I...
09:01No news for me is no news.
09:05Right.
09:06Like, I mean, if I, if somebody sends me something and I'm not like...
09:09You're like, oh, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna forget the response.
09:12Well, and then, you know, listen, I mean, you always want to be honest in those scenarios
09:17and you always, yeah, I mean, is it, but when he responded that way, I was super fired
09:23up.
09:24And then since then, he's been like literally the best, like, he's just like, no, man, I'm
09:31as excited as you about it.
09:32And I'm like, shut up.
09:33No, you're not.
09:34And then he's like, yeah.
09:35And I'm like, all right, well, thank you.
09:36I love you.
09:37I love you.
09:38The two Lukes.
09:39I love it.
09:40You can just have all my name.
09:41Oh my God.
09:42You can just have Luke forever.
09:43Right.
09:43There's another song on the album that is very serious that I do want to talk to you
09:47about.
09:47Cause I also thought it was just like a beautiful song and it's killer.
09:50Right.
09:51Which is like something very different, but I've never heard a song.
09:53I think from this perspective, talk about the perspective that the song is.
09:58Cause I had to listen to it a couple of times where I was like, whoa.
10:01Well, I think the beauty of the song is the first verse.
10:04You have no idea what the hell's going on.
10:07Yeah.
10:07You're like, what, what is this?
10:10Is this a waste of my time?
10:13And then you hear the hook.
10:16And right when you hear the hook, you're like, oh my God, I got to stop it and back
10:20up now and listen again.
10:22Because the song is written from the perspective.
10:24The song is written from the perspective of the gun, what the gun's thoughts are.
10:29If the gun were a real conscious object, and then you go into the second verse, which
10:36is a whole nother thing that goes on.
10:39And then you go to the bridge.
10:40And so the song just keeps layering, layering, and like taking you on a journey of like, what
10:49in the heck is going on here?
10:51And when the first time I heard it, when I heard that the payoff line and they said killer,
10:57I mean, I was like, it stopped me in my tracks.
11:01And, you know, knowing all of the potential of what you can, you know, face by putting
11:08a song out that talks about a gun in this scenario, it still didn't outweigh the fact
11:14that I had to record this song.
11:15And, you know, at this point, you know, my skin is a Kevlar vest at this point.
11:23So, you know, I'll just see what people say about it.
11:28But I think it's a masterpiece.
11:29I think it's a really, really great song.
11:31Yeah.
11:31It's really, like I said, I think it's going to take people a minute.
11:33But when you get it, you get it.
11:35Yeah.
11:36I'm glad you got it.
11:36But we are hoping very much to see you back on the next season of American Idol.
11:42I was curious if you feel like being on Idol, has it made you more critical of your own
11:47music?
11:47Like when you think about all the feedback that you guys give to these kids every week?
11:53It kind of has.
11:54I mean, I don't think you got to get so overly critical about your own music.
11:58I mean, at the end of the day, I have to record the stuff that really speaks to me
12:02that I'm ready.
12:03You know, the only thing that I've noticed through the years is being critical.
12:09You know, yeah, I don't need to go out there and just lay eggs on my album.
12:14I mean, you want to be relevant.
12:15You want your music to be good.
12:17Because I am in a position to where I am telling things to these kids.
12:22And you don't want the kids to be like, well, this idiot just made the worst song in the
12:26history of the world.
12:28But, you know, I mean, like I said, I mean, through the years, we're seeing a lot of kids
12:34come through there.
12:35And some days they're auditioning and they do a bad song and we react.
12:39And then we see them later down the road.
12:41There's a kid that auditioned that made a couple rounds.
12:45He's got a song out now.
12:47Colton.
12:49And I'm blanking on his last name, but he came through and he didn't really get a great
12:54response from us.
12:55But now he's on country radio doing something.
12:58That's great.
12:58And I'm like, so that makes me want to go, well, was I off that day or was he off
13:03that
13:03day?
13:03So, I mean, I want to, it's a position of judging people that I don't take lightly.
13:12You try your best to get it right.
13:15But, you know, when you're the general manager of a NFL football team and you had the first
13:23pick of the draft, you don't get that right all the time either.
13:26Exactly.
13:26You know, you're trying your best.
13:29And you're like judging someone on the performance and the information that you've seen in front
13:32of you, right?
13:33For one performance.
13:33For one performance, yeah.
13:34So it's like based on the information that you have, you make the best decision and give
13:37the best advice they can.
13:38I think if you'd have judged me on a song that I would have done in American Idol or
13:42where I was at at the time, it wouldn't have gone well.
13:45And, you know, and even through football, you know, the whole thing in football is, are
13:50you a one-star recruit?
13:51Are you a five-star recruit?
13:52Are you, you know, who's recruiting?
13:54I told myself, I said, Bo, when I moved to Nashville, I was a zero-star recruit.
13:59Nobody would have ranked me anything.
14:02The only way I got to where I was at was just, you know, not listening to what I was
14:08and
14:08just being me.
14:09So, but I think, yeah, Idol keeps you sharp on your toes in a lot of ways.
14:16And it lets you see what young kids that are wanting to dive into music, what they're dealing
14:21with in life.
14:23A thousand percent.
14:24Something else I wanted to ask you about, just because this just happened, but losing
14:28Dolly last week was obviously like such a blow to the world and the country music
14:31community.
14:32I'm curious about like, you know, did you get to spend any time with her that was like
14:36memorable to you thinking about her after all this?
14:40I was in the room with Dolly once at a charity thing when it was the old Wild Horse Saloon.
14:46She was, I was up backstage watching her perform.
14:50I could have walked down there and jumped all in her world, but I didn't because I was like,
14:54I don't even know what I was going to say to her.
14:56There was some interviews where they were like, what is your, what's one wish?
15:00And I think I'd said, one of my biggest wishes is for Dolly Parton to pinch me on the butt.
15:05She had heard that.
15:07And I think she had said when we got to meet that she was going to do that.
15:11And, but I hadn't had the chance to ever spend time with her.
15:19But, I mean, her, her mark that she left on my life, I mean, so many memories of me.
15:25I mean, I was a kid of the 80s and her movies from nine to five to like Rhinestone Cowboy
15:31and all that were, you know, that was back when like, if you were lucky enough to have
15:35HBO, they ran those movies about every, every other hour on the hour.
15:39But, but even from like, um, you know, just when you think about just, just how great her
15:48music was, how great her songwriting was and just how great her personality was and what
15:52she, what she embodied for country women.
15:56I mean, she, she was the first one that ever stepped out there as a country woman and said,
16:02Hey, you know, I done had some work done and I ain't ashamed of it.
16:06And, you know, if you want to go get you a little bit of something done, a little nip,
16:09a little tuck here, go do it.
16:11You know, back then country women were put in such a box, buttoned up box proper, you
16:19know, you, you, so she really broke a lot.
16:22She, she broke a lot of those molds and, and I'm sure you as a woman can even explain
16:27me, me trying to explain where Dolly helped women out.
16:31It's not a cool thing to do, but you're nailing it.
16:33Uh, I mean, you know, now that she's gone, you can really sit back and look at her whole
16:39body of work as a human and it's, it's no one can, no one can compare.
16:47No, absolutely not.
16:48It really is amazing.
16:49Um, before we wrap up, we want to do a little bit with you that we actually came up with
16:53when we were in Georgia after Jason Aldean was complaining that you can say anything and
16:58get away with it.
16:59Oh, we came up with a bit of Luke Bryan delivers bad news.
17:03So I came up with these 10 lines that I want you to read and they're like, but they would
17:07be bad news.
17:07They would be hard to hear.
17:08Okay.
17:08But I can get away with it.
17:09I think coming from you.
17:10Is this is kind of like the, the trend of where you say this phrase in four different
17:15ways.
17:15So you can look at the camera and you can just rattle those off.
17:20Your baby is ugly.
17:25Um, we have a group chat without you in it.
17:32You're, you're aging poorly.
17:38Um, no one likes your boyfriend.
17:48The florals at your wedding were hideous.
17:54These are great.
17:57Your breath smells awful and it has for a while.
18:05You're fired.
18:09Are y'all going to do this?
18:11Am I going to be doing these things for y'all?
18:13Just when somebody comes to the office, you just play me.
18:15You just play me.
18:16You're fired.
18:17You don't have to do it.
18:19Just like we can't do it.
18:20But you know, we let Lionel, you know, I'm dying.
18:25We let Lionel send away the kids that aren't going to Hollywood.
18:29Because he does it the best.
18:30He does it such a good job that the kids are actually like, they're like, that was amazing.
18:35And then they gather in like, Oh, we're not Lionel.
18:38So we call it.
18:39Yeah.
18:40Lionel's kind of the same way.
18:42Um, uh, your kid is not gifted.
18:51You peaked in high school.
18:54See, I mean, like, how could you be sad hearing any one of those things?
18:56Those look so good.
18:58Oh my God.
18:59Luke Bryan.
19:00The new album is amazing.
19:01Now you gotta let Jason do all these.
19:02Oh my God.
19:03Can you imagine?
19:03See how bad they are.
19:05Just how they have a black cloud over them.
19:07You are so right.
19:08We're going to do it.
19:09We'll do a side by side.
19:10I promise.
19:10Your baby.
19:11Your baby is ugly.
19:13Your baby is ugly.
19:13This is what, no matter.
19:14Ha ha ha ha ha.
19:17You are so right.
19:20You're so right.
19:20You