Luke Bryan is gearing up to release his sixth studio album, What Makes You Country, on Dec. 8. Produced by Jeff Stevens and Jody Stevens, What Makes You Country features 15 songs, seven of which were co-written by Luke, including the title track.
Since making the album announcement in October, Luke has engaged people from all walks of life to represent what “country” means to them, using the hashtag #WhatMakesMeCountry.
As Luke told his Universal Music Group label, what makes the Georgia native country is a combination of “manners, work ethic, fishing, hunting, sports and church.”
“I think that what makes me country is where I was raised—Leesburg, Georgia—how I was brought up saying ‘Yes sir,’ ‘No sir,’ ‘Yes, ma’am,’ ‘No, ma’am,’ hopefully with manners and raised with a work ethic and raised in the outdoors fishing and hunting and playing sports,” says Luke. “I would say definitely it starts with my small-town upbringing and how we were raised—church on Sundays as much as we could. But just enjoying life and living life in a small town.”
photo by Jason Simanek