Luke Bryan: Country Elvis

http://jimcolyer.com/papers/entry?id=487;fa=3

LUKE BRYAN: Country Elvis

Luke Bryan was born in Leesburg, Georgia, the son of a peanut farmer. His full name is Thomas Luther Bryan, and he was born July 17, 1976. His father convinced him to go to Nashville and do something with his music and after writing songs for Travis Tritt, Luke signed with Capitol Records. To me, the only good song before Tailgates & Tanlines is "Someone Else Calling You Baby." Tailgates & Tanlines made Luke a superstar, producing 3 number one singles: "Drunk On You," "I Don't Want This Night to End," & "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye." Crash My Party came out in 2013 and produced 6 more number ones. Kill The Lights followed in 2015. I sing Luke's songs in karaoke bars, something that did not come easy as there are 30 years between us. I studied his songs, writing about my favorites.

1 COUNTRY GIRL (SHAKE IT FOR ME) - I like this song penned by Luke Bryan and Dallas Davidson. The dancer in the video might have something to do with it. The lyric is poetry! Poetic techniques abound: imagery, alliteration and similes: "Now dance like a dandelion," "Move like the river flows." Rhymes are stacked on top of each other. The setting is Luke's home state of Georgia, somewhere out in the country, where Luke turns up the boom in his truck and jumps out. He stomps his boots in the Georgia mud. It is windy, and it must have been raining. He exhorts his country girl to "shake it." Looking around, we savor the pastoral scene. There are plants and animals. There are dandelions and pine trees on a hill. There are birds, bees and catfish. There are crickets and squirrels. It is evening, and a full moon is rising. Suddenly, Luke and his girl are in the barn. She is dancing on his daddy's tractor and on the tailgate of Luke's truck. They get to sex, which is what the song is really about. The girl with the ponytail and pretty smile is wild! She spins Luke around and tangles him up like grandma's yarn. Country songs like to mention at least one grandparent. Other characters appear: young bucks, rednecks and a DJ. "Country Girl (Shake It For Me)" has lots of words, and they come fast.

2 DRUNK ON YOU - It begins with a strong image: "Cottonwood falling like snow in July." It is summer, and Luke is with his girl under a full moon. This moon has a name: "buck moon." Sexuality is implicit. When Luke sings "You make my speakers go boom boom," he is talking about more than his speakers. The girl dances on his tailgate in ragged jeans and a tied-up T-shirt. Young people today "dress down." Sex trumps alcohol even though "Crown" and homemade wine are present. Luke is high on summertime and drunk on love! She is a 9.9. Of course, no one is perfect. "Drunk On You" is a spin-off of "Country Girl (Shake It For Me)!"

3 I DON'T WANT THIS NIGHT TO END - Nashville tells us to come up with strong images, and "I Don't Want This Night To End" has strong images indeed: "Your pretty little eyes so blue are pulling me in like the moon on your skin."

Old schoolers lament how country music changed. They want country to be the same as it was during the Haggard and Jones era. Such is not the case! Modern country has strong rock and rap influences. The genre Luke Bryan fronts is called bro-country. Country evolved! Sexuality was prohibited in old country, and that is why singers were miserable and always crying in their beer. They were impotent and frustrated! They "cheated" in their attempts to find satisfaction. Today's country bucks do not have that problem. They are sexually liberated!

"I Don't Want This Night To End" is typical of a modern lyric with its ubiquitous truck and never ending party. Luke is hypnotized by his girl. When I sing, "You got your hands up, you’re rocking in my truck" in karaoke bars, girls raise their hands and sing with me.

4 CRASH MY PARTY - Luke's girl is better than any bar. She is better than the best show. He would turn around at the next red light to get to her, tell the guys they can raise hell on another night. All he has to do is look down and see her face on his phone. People live on cell phones now, and he sings, "Call me, call me, call me!" He wants to see what she is wearing and if her hair is pulled up or falling down. She is beautiful either way!

5 GOOD LOOKIN' GIRL - Luke sings to his good lookin' girl. 4 times, he tells her "You don't know." Twice, he tells her "You don't know how." How could she not know? Surely, she sees the effect she has! "I ain't never felt nothing" used to be bad grammar. It is how people talk now. And how "bad" you turn me on would not have made sense in the old days. Now, it packs energy!

Luke uses the word "little:" "little finger" and "little dimple." Normally, we think of dimples in the plural, but he is hooked on one dimple. In fact, that dimple is shaped like a hook, and it might as well be a hook in his heart. Listen to how his voice softens on the word "heart." He comes back with the word "simple" as an internal rhyme with "dimple." He has got to be wherever she is. "Good Lookin' Girl" kicks in with the chorus, sung 3 times. It is powerful! "Rockin' me, rockin' me! Stoppin' me, stoppin' me! You're so damn fine, and you're on his mind!" "When you roll with me" means both riding in his truck and having sex.

6 MOVE - "Move" is my favorite from Kill The Lights. It is about a girl whose mamma moves her to the south. She gets in with southern belles and learns the talk of the Bible belt. She cuts her jeans off. Sexy and smooth! The mamma must be divorced and have at least two kids. She moved them in a U-Haul. Into a tin roof shotgun house in a one tree yard. They are not rich! "Legs and your hips! Live oak moonlit! Stars of the southern sky! M-o-v-e! C-o-m-e!" She has Luke stupefied! He can't move when she moves! Big dance song!

7 STRIP IT DOWN - Luke revives his romance. It could be with his college sweetheart and wife, Caroline Boyer.

8 SHE GET ME HIGH - Back on the beach! He loves watching his girl in her bare feet or in her high heels! She has the key to his Bronco. This became one of my favorites to sing.

9 THAT'S MY KIND OF NIGHT - This is "bro-country," country music with a hip hop influence. People Luke's age and younger came up listening to that stuff, and it is evident in their own music. Thirty-fives are tires. The Flint River is in Georgia. Juxtaposing Conway Twitty with T-Pain tells us this is "bro-country."

10 SOMEONE ELSE CALLING YOU BABY - The quintessential modern country song! The girl is in the new guy's truck wearing sunglasses and messing with the radio. Luke pulls over, stunned! Two weeks ago, it was him and her riding down old back road and singing songs. Luke will not play second fiddle. Give him the word, and he is gone. "Goodbye ain't ever easy!"

11 KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE - Luke and his girl kiss tomorrow goodbye by having sex one last time. Sex is the only thing they do right, and it is not enough. This song has a great intro, nice and loud.

12 ROLLERCOASTER - She is a hippie and a Jesus freak! We know this from the cross and the flower, although Luke picked the flower from the side of Thomas Drive. They are drinking Bacardi and headed for the beach. It is hard to get through a Luke Bryan song without alcohol. They spend a week together, and Luke is more affected than he realized, twisted like an old beach roller coaster. She is on his mind, and he can't get that goodbye back. I guess we have all been through this, letting someone go and then regretting it.

13 SHUT IT DOWN - "Shut It Down" is from Crash My Party. It is a country love story and if I ran Capitol Records, I would have released it as the third single. Somehow, it makes me think of that 1950s TV show, "The Real McCoys." This could be Sugar Babe bringing ice tea to Luke as he rides on his tractor. His hat is on backwards, but he is looking forward to being with his wife. The productions on Crash My Party are tight. Luke's band is awesome!

14 CHECKIN' OUT - Panama City, Florida, was Luke Bryan's favorite vacation spot, and he did spring break shows on the beach. He put out seven Spring Break EPs, and there are some good songs on them. "Checkin' Out" is about checking out fine looking girls.

15 YOU AND THE BEACH - Another song about not being able to get over a girl he spent time with. Her memory follows him home. The melody and production exhibit a longing quality.

16 HOME ALONE TONIGHT - My favorite singers, Luke Bryan and Karen Fairchild, meet in a bar. Both are there to forget exes. They send them payback pictures and texts to let them know they found someone.

17 GAMES - This is about the stupid games lovers play. No one wins! "Lines crossed all over the place" is a curious phrase. The bridge comes fast and furious.

18 HUNTIN', FISHIN', AND LOVIN' EVERY DAY - More proof that Luke is a country boy. The Flint River and Muckalee Creek flow by. A 9.9hp two stroke is a Mercury motor boat. "Red dirt rich and Flint River paid!"

19 SUN TAN CITY - He gets to Panama City and heads straight to the beach for some girl watching. Coconut covered girls roll in like waves. Sitting pretty in sun tan city!

20 KICK THE DUST UP - Hard working farmers party when the work is done. They avoid crowded bars downtown. The beautiful people are in the cornfields and on the back roads. Luke has a clothing line called 32 Bridge.

21 SPRING BREAK-UP - Spring break romances are short term. They shared a night, and now it is time to move on.

22 MUCKALEE CREEK WATER - South Georgia is a rough place. I have been through Georgia on the way to Florida but never encountered gators, wild pigs or copperheads. This is where Luke goes to get away from the city. A Jon boat is a flat-bottomed boat used for fishing. I know enough of Luke's songs to know he is a real country boy. What on earth is a crawfish basket? "Basket" and "rabbits" make a nice rhyme. Not that many people are affected by the stock market, but all of us are affected by gas prices. John Fogerty did swamp rock. Luke does swamp country.

23 I SEE YOU - Luke's crew takes him out to get him beyond an old flame. They buy him drinks and hook him up with a thousand girls. Their little plan does not work. He see her eyes and lips!

24 PLAY IT AGAIN - Themes are typical! A girl is on the tailgate, and Luke is elated to discover she has no boy friend. She listens to the radio waiting for her favorite song and comes to life when she hears it. Luke brings his guitar and serenades her.

25 TO THE MOON AND BACK - Through this and through that! It might have been to Mars and back. This is a mature love song. Hillary Lindsey is one of the writers.

26 YOU DON'T KNOW JACK - An alcoholic has lost his wife and kids. He knows the devil and Jack Daniels. He appears satisfied with his double shot, 80 proof on the rocks while cautioning Luke.

I saw Luke Bryan at the Bridgestone Arena, October 19, 2013. Tremendous concert! It stands with Shania Twain in 1998, and Little Big Town in 2015, as the best. Luke did 2 hours and performed all his hits. The placed was packed, and women went wild!

July 11, 2015, Michael and I saw Luke at Vanderbilt Stadium. It was the first concert Michael and I had seen together since Shania. Luke started the show with his latest hit, "Kick The Dust Up."

Revised, 2016
Jim Colyer

Luke Bryan official http://www.lukebryan.com/

Luke @ wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Bryan