Monthly Archives: July 2011

Luke Bryan feels like he’s on the verge of something big with “Tailgates and Tanlines.”

The Georgia-born singer’s third album comes out Aug. 9 riding the momentum of 2009′s gold-certified “Doin’ My Thing” and its No. 1 country hits “Rain Is a Good Thing” and “Someone Else Calling You Baby,” as well as a pair of Academy of Country Music Awards and a CMT Music Award. “Country Girl (Shake It For Me),” the first single from “Tailgates & Tanlines,” is already Top 10 and certified gold. And anyone who’s seen Bryan opening for Tim McGraw this summer has witnessed a mania that indicates only better things once the album is released.

“It certainly feels like we’re in a spot where we’ve always dreamed of being and wanted to be,” Bryan, who co-wrote eight of the new album’s 13 songs, tells Billboard.com. “You just hope you can seize every moment and make every moment come together, and you hope you have the songs to make it all happen. We’re right where we want to be and we’re happy to be here and certainly loving the fact that the fans are coming on board. We’re just enjoying each moment as they come and having a blast with every opportunity that presents itself.”

“Country Girl (Shake It For Me),” which Bryan describes as “a fun summer song that has really got this album off to a big start,” has certainly provided more than a few moments on tour, as the country girls — and even some boys — in his audience have been shaking in all manners of ways for him.

“It’s fun to see your unexpected characters from time to time, the older ladies that surprise you with wanting to shake it a little bit,” Bryan acknowledges. “The main thing is you see a lot of people out there having a great time and just truly, truly, having a blast and letting their hair down and not worrying about what people are thinking. Me and my co-writer (Dallas Davidson) sat down to write a song that got people up and wanting to dance and have a good time, and that’s what’s turned out to happen.”

As for the rest of “Tailgates and Tanlines,” Bryan says he and producer Jeff Stevens primarily sought out “those magical songs that will put you over the edge at any moment,” sifting through Bryan’s own material and scores of songs submitted by other writers.

“Each time I make an album I always want to get smarter and remember things you did right and remember things you did wrong and make sure you don’t make the same mistakes twice — and have a great time making that album,” Bryan explains. “That’s kind of where we went with this one, and we were certainly proud we were able to put the songs together — some outside songs, and we wrote some songs — that we really stand behind and really feel great about.”

Bryan will be on the road with McGraw into mid-August and then is slated to headline the 10th annual CMT On Tour show this fall with Lee Brice and Josh Thompson. Dates are expected to be announced soon.

“It will be fun,” predicts Bryan, who shot a “CMT Crossroads” episode with the Doobie Brothers this year. “It will be just like what we always do, trying to put on a great live show and work our butts off.” Having toured with the likes of McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean and Rascal Flatts, Bryan adds that he’s looking forward to applying some lessons he’s learned on the road, too. “You watch guys that really know what they’re doing and you watch them thrive and be great and you just try to take notes and see what they’re doing and see how they make it work and apply it to what you do,” he says.

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Capitol Records Nashville artist Luke Bryan is the cover subject of “Nashville Lifestyles” August issue, their annual “Hot List” issue. The magazine will hit newsstands today.

In the story, Bryan discusses what he thinks is hot about Nashville and a music career that’s firing on all cylinders including his excitement for his new album tailgates & tanlines, due in stores August 9. “There’s a great vibe to the whole thing,” says Bryan. “Some of the album is stuff I’m known for, but I think it also really shows growth. I’m ready for folks to start listening.”

Bryan’s tailgates & tanlines CD is the follow up to his GOLD-certified album Doin’ My Thing, which produced three back-to-back #1 singles- “Do I,” “Rain Is A Good Thing” and “Someone Else Calling You Baby.” The already gold-certified lead single off tailgates & tanlines, “Country Girl (Shake It For Me),” is his fastest rising single to date and debuted at #1 in U.S. country digital singles sales with 105,498 downloads its first week. Bryan performed the song on the CMT Awards in June and received rave reviews from fans, media and the industry. He has toured with Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean and is on the road this summer with Tim McGraw’s “Emotional Traffic Tour.”

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Sitting down for a Kmart exclusive interview; Luke Bryan shares what star he’s been trying to write a song with, his experience at the CMT Music Awards, why he chooses to give back, and whether or not his two boys have been following in his footsteps.

Luke Bryan is soaring up the charts with his latest single, ‘Country Girl (Shake It for Me).’ The tune, admittedly a sharp deviation from his previous hits, including ‘Rain Is a Good Thing’ and ‘Someone Else Calling You Baby,’ is not only a strong contender to be the Georgia native’s third No. 1 in a row, but has also garnered him an entirely new fan base, thanks to its infusion of rock and rap — and a sexy performance on the CMT Awards that made him the most-searched term on Google following the awards ceremony. Luke sat down with The Boot to explain the inspiration behind this career-changing song.

Me and my co-writer, Dallas Davidson, often times we’ll sit in a songwriting room and we’ll pull up fun rap and dance songs. I’ve been in so many honky tonks where right when I get off stage, they put on rap music and the dance floor fills up. I’ll never forget, I played a private party one time, and it was a pool party for some young kids who had some money. Their parents wanted Luke Bryan to surprise them, and the time I got done playing, they put on dance music and rap and the pool party was just rocking! I was like, “I’ve gotta try to write some music that maybe some kids like that will want to rock at their pool party or play at a honky tonk.” I told that to Dallas, and we went on that. We didn’t have a title. If you had told us the title, ‘Country Girl Shake it For Me,’ we’d have said that’s too cheesy.

I’m not naive. I get the song. It’s just a simple, fun little song. But I will always stand behind how cool the verses are on the song … all that stuff is really fresh. Dallas and I were really excited about what we had. We did the chorus (hums a bit of the chorus), I was like, “Dallas, is it just this? It just seems kind of cheesy and not right.” We wrote it, and I still wasn’t sold on it, but Dallas was like, “It’s it.” After going home and humming and singing, “Country girl, shake it for me,’ I knew it was it.

I’ve been out with [Tim] McGraw all summer, and I watch him do ‘Please Remember Me,’ and songs like ‘Angry All the Time,’ that are just masterpieces, and then I watch him do ‘I Like It, I Love It’ and ‘Indian Outlaw.’ So this is my chance when I can do a simple fun song that lets people have a good time, and then I’ll have my day when hopefully I’ll have a Song of the Year, ‘House That Built Me,’ type song. That’s what’s fun in country. You can have all those and put them in a show and take your audience on a fun ride.

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Luke checks out the campgrounds at the Jamboree in the Hills in his ’72 Bronco. See who he runs into and what he gets into.