Luke Bryan has contributed so much to country music. He is now a country superstar with multiple awards under his belt, including multiple wins for Entertainer of the Year. Luke is also world famous for his role on TV’s American Idol.
As Bryan celebrates his 48th birthday today (7/17), I started thinking about the very first time I saw Luke and talked to him in person. It was in the press room at CMA Fest in 2007. When he started to speak, I was taken aback by his thick Georgia accent. He sounded to me like a cast member from The Andy Griffith Show. Then his personality started to shine, and I recall thinking, “Wow, this guy is fun to talk to and be around. He should do great in the business.” And that he did.
In our last interview, Luke talked about his passion for songs that began for him as a teen and before he realized it. He said, “When I was fourteen years old, and I heard a new Alan Jackson song, it overtook my life back then. It took me over because I didn’t realize that that was my calling, and that’s why I liked it so much.”
It’s still there: “Even to this day, if it’s a Luke Combs song, a Morgan Wallen song, a Lainey [Wilson] song, or someone else does a great song, it takes over my world.”
Bryan told us in the same interview that his new music video and song “Love You, Miss You, Mean It” was inspired by what he and his wife, Caroline, and many more young couples have gone through.
Luke offered, “‘Love You, Miss You, Mean It’ is obviously about kids falling in love and that was their saying to let each other know that they loved one another. It’s about young love. It’s about going off to college and trying to make that work and it not working and then going full circle.”
He added, “I’ve kind of lived that world with my relationship with my wife and I, and I know a lot of other people out there have too.”
The music video shows Luke in a wet parking lot singing in a black jacket as a young couple sits in a car saying their goodbye, writing “Love, You, Miss You, Mean It” on the window.
That passion also shows when he is on tour and performing for his fans. Bryan kicked off his “Mind of a Country Boy Tour” in June no long after CMA Fest, and this year, he hasmany opening acts supporting him on the tour.
Luke said, “I will never forget early in my career, I got to open for Brooks and Dunn in Pittsburgh. I didn’t sleep the whole night. The fact that I can kind of reciprocate for some of these new acts is pretty special.”
As we celebrate all things Luke Bryan today (7/17), we thought we’d roll out some of his best music videos to date on his big day.
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