“My fans have naturally kind of made me the guy that they go to to have fun,” says Luke Bryan. It was with that thought in mind that the country superstar picked the songs for Signs, his ninth full-length studio album that comes out Sept. 18.
But as the artist who brought the world such good-timing party anthems like “Country Girl (Shake It for Me)” and “All My Friends Say,” ponders further, he notes that his fans equally respond to beautifully reflective songs like “Drink a Beer.” “A big thing you always hear from fans, too, is they want to hear songs of mine that throwback to where I was right when I came out and I feel like there’s several songs on this album that could be considered throwbacks,” he says. “But there are also songs that reflect a more modern side, such as the title track, that gravitate towards pop-country.”
So maybe, the American Idol judge figures, with Signs, he’s made an album that ticks all the boxes. Bryan, who co-wrote two of the tracks on the set (“Fish Hunt Golf Drink” and “Crooked Rows of Corn”) says, he’s “really, really blessed. By the time I make an album, I’ve had a lot of songs land in my lap [from outside songwriters]… But you know, the main thing with me is to just truly enjoy the process and try to make a well-rounded album, and I certainly feel like this is [one].”
Bryan, who again played stadiums this summer with his buddy Jason Aldean (as well as arenas on his own Word on the Street Tour dates), talked to Billboard about making the album. He began rolling out the track listing on Aug. 18 via a dedicated album website, and Billboard is exclusively revealing two more song titles, “Killer” and “Woods.” First single, “Country and She Knows It,” stands at No. 15 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart dated Aug. 29.
Billboard is announcing two more song titles on the new album, including “Killer.” That’s a song unlike any you’ve ever done before, from the perspective of a bullet in a gun.
It’s really deep subject matter, a really dark song — and really one of more well-written songs I’ve ever been a part of. These boys [Davis Corley, Mark Addison Chandler and Nate Kenyon] that wrote this song really wrote something very unique and special, and they went out there on a limb. Obviously, anytime you bring up guns — certainly in music and movies and art — it’s a slippery slope, and [there are] so many different polarizing opinions. This is just a story told from the perspective of a gun.
I don’t think it’s my job to start some pro-gun or non-pro-gun awareness campaign, but when you hear a song like this, I just think the song is so great somebody needs to sing it, and I just said, “I’m gonna be the guy that does it.”
What did you think the first time you heard it?
It took my breath away. When I think about my reaction the first time I heard “Drink a Beer,” and how it just floored me, I think this song does the same thing. I think it’ll take the listener on a ginormous emotional ride. It just gets better and better with every listen. It’s just a tremendous thought process of a song.
The other one song name we’re revealing is “Woods,” which feels very much in your wheelhouse.
This is one of those songs that I feel like my fans, when they hear me perform this, they’ll be like, “Oh yeah, that sounds like the Luke Bryan that we know. It just describes how important the relationship [between] the woods and a kid from the country is. It just really marries that relationship. I didn’t write the song, but everything in that song spoke to me as if I wrote it, and I think it’ll speak to everybody out there that has grown out in the sticks, and the way we lived. This song really embodies that.
You turned 50 last month. Though the album was likely finished before your birthday, are you selecting any songs now that you wouldn’t have selected 10 or 20 years ago?
I don’t know if I think about it. Mentally, I think I’m 30 anyway. I don’t necessarily know if I think about stuff in that context. My biggest challenge as an artist that’s been doing this for close to 20 years now is to try not to be overly redundant with your material, but then try not to stray away from what butters your biscuit. At the end of the day, I want a song to really touch me and, therefore, I think the odds are that it will do that to my fans.
That’s kind of the way I’ve approached every album. The bottom line is, I don’t necessarily know if I approach it with a 50-year-old brain, I think I approach it with which songs are connecting with me the most, and which songs do I believe will connect with my fans the most.
You’ve worked with Jeff Stevens almost your whole career. Now, he and his son Jody produce your albums together, including this one. What do they bring to the process?
The beauty of the dynamic with me and Jody and Jeff is Jeff is just the old rock in the room that really digs in and sticks to the core of what me and him are. Jeff and I inadvertently struck gold together. Jody [co-wrote] “Signs,” and that production on “Signs” is really young and fresh. So, Jody coming in and having that production is very important. Jody could literally build all our tracks if we wanted him to. It’s kind of like you got the old and you got the young and then you got me, and we all get in there together for one common goal. Jeff and Jody really don’t get caught up in the politics of the town. They’re kind of quiet behind-the-scenes guys that want to make their work speak for them.
Speaking of “Signs,” what made you decide to make that the title track?
I just thought it was the right way to title the album. I don’t get in the weeds. People are like, “Did you go light a bunch of incense and spend eight hours talking about the title of your album?” No, I just kind of keep it pretty basic and simple. I’m like, “Hey, let’s use Signs and let’s go take some pictures [of signs] and let’s put this bad boy out there.” I’ve tried to be the king of not overthinking things.
Your music helps other people deal with their losses. How has music helped you deal with your losses, especially your brother and sister’s deaths? Is there one song that you always go to when you’re feeling sad?
I wouldn’t say there’s one. I would rather listen to the artists that really remind me of the people that I lost. When I listen to Keith Whitley, I think about my brother. When I listen to George Strait, I think about my brother. When I listen to Lionel Richie, I think about my sister and old school Alabama, I think about my sister. When I think about a song like “Drink a Beer” and I look at all of the emotions that it’s delivered to people through the years as I’ve been on stage performing it, it’s just been an honor. When you see a 300-pound guy that looks like he’s probably been working in a factory all week on the front row, holding his wife and they’re crying together, I mean, that’s what country music is all about.
Signs track listing
“Country And She Knows It”
“Word On the Street”
“Signs”
“Fish Hunt Golf Drink”
“Made It a Memory”
“Woods”
“Down Goes the Whiskey”
“Crooked Rows of Corn”
“I Like Loving You”
“Killer”
“Praying By the Rules”