Luke Bryan supports the art of collaboration. Throughout country music’s history, cross-genre collaborations like Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers‘ “Islands in the Stream,” Florida Georgia Line and Nelly‘s “Cruise,” Beyonce and The Chicks‘ “Daddy Lessons,” Lionel Richie and Rogers’ “Lady” to modern-day hits like Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson‘s “Save Me” and Zach Bryan‘s “I Remember Everything” with Kacey Musgraves have defined the genre—and Bryan sees no signs of that slowing down.
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“I think music as a whole is integrating even more,” he said at a recent press conference in Nashville. He compares country music to being its own “satellite island,” operating separately from other genres. But Bryan says thanks to superstars like Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen, who have massive streaming numbers and send albums to the top of the all-genre Billboard 200, country music is as mainstream as ever.
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“They’re outpacing all forms of music,” he observes. “Country has done that before, it continues to do that. So when you have artists from all genres want to come in and be a part and do collabs, I think fans love seeing them. They love seeing what’s created by these collabs.”
Bryan is no stranger to the art of collaboration. Throughout his nearly two-decade career, he has performed with a range of artists, from fellow country stars Jason Aldean, Eric Church, Darius Rucker, and Jordan Davis to pop star Jason Derulo. He now sits alongside Richie and Katy Perry on the American Idol judges’ table where he’s exposed to young artists of all musical styles. He also notes how former Idol judge Paula Abdul, who was a presenter at the 2023 CMA Awards, “sat in the chair at American Idol watching country singers for years, so she obviously understands the importance of country music too.”
But the most important aspect of these collaborations, he said, is the cultural impact. “I think the collabs, they bring cultures together,” he expressed. “I think it’s all great for music and I think it validates country’s spot in all music.”
Bryan is featured on Jon Pardi‘s current single, “Cowboys and Plowboys,” which is racing up the Top 30 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images
