Luke Bryan Reveals How He Wants to Emulate Dolly Parton’s Career

Luke Bryan learned a lot from Dolly Parton. During a round table interview with American Songwriter and other outlets, Bryan reflected on the late great country star.

Parton’s varied work over the years—from her theme park to her truck stop—is something Bryan said he respects.

“I think anytime you can try to use Dolly’s example of her career, I think you probably ought to try to,” Bryan said, while reflecting on where he wants his own career to go. “Dolly’s life was so beautiful and amazing.”

“I just assumed she’d lived to be 90,” he continued of Parton, who died at age 80. “… Her vibrance and her light was so bright. I just thought she would be one that we would have till she was in her 90s.”

With his own career in mind, though, Bryan said it’s all about finding “a healthy balance of work.”

“I don’t want to be the guy that I look back when I’m 75, and there’s a lot of things that I didn’t see in the world, and I didn’t travel as much, because I was so absorbed with me, me, me, me, me,” he said. “I think there’s gotta be a level of me giving time to other people in my world and letting them not just get consumed in my wake or my path that I cut.”

Luke Bryan Looks Ahead in His Career

Bryan said that he wouldn’t necessarily turn down a movie or Broadway opportunity in the future. However, he noted that music is his first, and most important, love.

“When I look at how blessed I am still touring and making albums, I just don’t know if I can find anything that really replaces how much fun I’m still having touring,” he said. “I know I enjoy that. I know that I enjoy the people that are out there doing it with me, from band, to crew, to everybody. It’s gonna have to be a very enticing departure from my norm.”

With that in mind, Bryan said it’s his music related ventures—like his Mexican music festival and Farm Tour—that he wants to expand in the future.

“But I think the core of what I am from the time I was 16 years old is a guy that likes to be on stage singing,” he said. “As long as my voice feels good, my body feels good. I mean, to some capacity, I’m gonna try to do that quite a bit annually.”

Currently, Bryan is on his Word on the Street Tour. He’s also gearing up to release his latest album, Signs, on Sept. 18.

Photo by Scott Legato/Getty Images