On the latest episode of Essentials Radio on Apple Music Country, Luke Bryan joins Kelleigh Bannen for an interview to discuss his hit songs — such as “Drink a Beer,” “Strip it Down,” and “Drunk on You” — and explain the impact they’ve had on fans, as well as on his own life. He also discusses the beauty of simplicity in country music, the importance of live shows living up to the album, expressing emotions in his music, and more. Listen to the full episode on-demand here.
Luke Bryan Tells Apple Music About His Song“Drink A Beer” and Opening Himself Up to Conversations Around Loss…
I think it’s always tricky for me. I think me talking about the loss, like I said, if it makes people go well, he’s battling through, and so can I. And I think with anybody with their struggles, I think even last year taught us that a lot of people are struggling, and hiding it and keeping it in is the wrong thing, and talking about it is a good, is better. And I think “Drink a Beer” really…The beauty of “Drink a Beer” is it makes the good old boy that don’t want to talk about losing their grandfather or their buddy, it makes them think about it and talk about it, and it helps them heal because nobody wants to express emotions. Like a guy like my dad don’t want to tell you he’s hurting. And the construction guy and the hardworking, they don’t want to show weakness. And “Drink a Beer” really, when I look out and I’m doing “Drink a Beer” and I’m sitting out there on a dock and I see just a good old boy out there hugging his wife and they’re crying, that’s a beautiful moment. And that’s what music, in my opinion, that’s just what music is all about.
Luke Bryan Tells Apple Music How He Chooses Songs For Radio vs. The Live Show…
You know I write for the live show period, and I pick songs for the live show. And then, I think that’s just the way I’ve always been. I envision everything I’ve ever done on ‘What will the crowd do?’ Period. I feel like if the crowd is crying on ‘Drink a Beer’, they’re going to be crying in their car on the radio.
Luke Bryan Tells Apple Music Why Simplicity Is The Beauty of Country Music…
Yeah, it’s not a complicated. When that’s the beauty of how good they wrote, anytime you write a song so simple and the simplicity makes it. The simplicity, that’s the beauty of country music, really. Country music has been able to do that historically better than any other genre, is the simplicity of… how the simplicity creates the emotion even bigger and better.
Luke Bryan Tells Apple Music About Being Unsure About Cutting His Hit Song “Drunk On You”…
Well, what’s happening with me is “Drunk On You”, I wasn’t crazy about it. The speakers go, boom, boom. I would say, and Jake Owen and I have talked about it, we couldn’t determine whether that was cheesy or not, and it was throwing us.
Luke Bryan Tells Apple Music About Maintaining and Building Upon His Career Success…
With me, my thing that I lay my head, with me, I’ve had fun at it. So I was never deep, dark, depressed. So I was always like, “Well, what’s the next fun thing we’re going to do?”
Luke Bryan Tells Apple Music About The Importance of His Live Shows Living Up To His Albums…
Well, here’s what you got to prove, and this is a big deal. This is a big deal. When you come to a concert and the person actually sings better than you anticipate, then you cooked the best filet mignon on the planet, right? When people go to a show and somebody… They’re out there going, “Yeah, they don’t sound good at all,” then you probably just lost that fan.
