Some things Luke Bryan has control over—like which songs he records for his new album Mind of a Country Boy, which will be available on Friday. His current single, “Love You, Miss You Mean It,” reminds him of his relationship with his wife, Caroline, and country radio can’t get enough of it. Bryan thinks it’s the perfect platform to launch his Mind Of a Country Boy.
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He had no say in other things—like who would replace Katy Perry on American Idol. And, he said, neither did fellow judge Lionel Richie.
“We were hearing whispers of several people,” Bryan said. “Lionel and I didn’t get any votes, but that doesn’t mean we’re not super excited to have Carrie.”
Carrie Underwood will replace Katy Perry as a judge on American Idol, and Ryan Seacrest said on Monday that Underwood would start in less than two weeks.
Bryan said American Idol executives asked for his and Richie’s opinions on who they thought would be solid replacements. At the time, Bryan said, he was more concerned about another hire—himself.
“I was like, ‘That’d be great. That’d be great. What about us? Are y’all hiring us?’” Bryan explained. “We didn’t know for a little bit. But that’s a joke. We’re excited to have Carrie.”
Luke Bryan: “That’d Be Great. What About Us”
Bryan thinks having himself and Underwood, who won American Idol in 2005, is a lineup with much to offer country music fans. But he knows she’ll be a different type of judge than himself and Perry.
“Carrie’s very graceful and elegant and all this stuff,” Bryan said. “We’ll see how she handles me. Katie was just worse than me. Katie was just like, ‘Oh my God, she’s going there.’ I think when you work that much with other people, you develop a really cool respect for everybody’s tastes, talents, and intuition. So I’m really excited to know just a little bit more about how she’s going to judge and do all that.”
As happy as Bryan is to jump back into the American Idol franchise, he wasn’t always so anxious. When he first got approached to do the show, he was headlining stadiums and at the pinnacle of his career. He wasn’t sure he could maintain his career at that level and do the show.
“I certainly didn’t want it to hurt,” Bryan said of Idol’s impact on his career. “At the time, the American Idol brand was a little roughed up. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. I think it had ran its style and its course. So they really had to do some talking to me to get me to transition into a new form of my career.”
Six years into his relationship with American Idol, Bryan has no complaints—about anything.
“I’m pretty really at peace with everything, every decision up until this point,” he said.
(Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images)
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