Luke Bryan on his new album “Mind of a Country Boy”

Since scoring his first Billboard Country Airplay Top 5 hit with “All My Friends Say” in 2007, Luke Bryan has amassed 26 Country Airplay No. 1 hits – a mix of dark, heartbreaking tunes like “Do I” and one Series of celebratory hymns centered around rural areas and young love. As such, Bryan's track record (and yes, his onstage hip-shaking) quickly saw him rise to headlining stadium status, collecting five Entertainer of the Year trophies (two from the CMA and three trophies from the ACM).

Of Course is on Bryan's eighth studio album Ghost of a country boy (out Friday, September 27th on UMG Nashville) there are hook-filled, rowdy party artists like “But I Got a Beer in My Hand” and “Country On,” but embedded within the album are also songs that Fastening tempo country quotient and songs that convey the perspective of an artist nearly two decades into his career and speaks from maturity as a husband, father and seasoned musician.

“I think it reflects where I am in life. “I've had party songs my whole life and when I look at my career, I've put out the music that I've always wanted to make and this is the music that I want to put out now,” says Bryan billboard.

This family aspect touches many songs on his new album, such as “Pair of Boots”.

“I have boys who grew up wearing their boots and cowboy boots,” says Bryan – who, with his wife Caroline, is the parent of two teenage sons. “I think a pair of boots on a little boy teaches him how to grow into a man and I think it's a tip for fathers to start their children wearing boots. And when you’re the father of boys, you definitely understand that.”

One of the album's standout songs is “For the Kids,” which Bryan co-wrote with Old Dominion's Justin Ebach and Brad Tursi. The song is about a couple whose flame has gone out, but who only hold their marriage together for the sake of their children. Although Bryan says the song's story arc doesn't reflect his own nearly 18-year marriage to wife Caroline, he believes it “might be one of the best songs I've ever written.”

Bryan says he and Caroline, who have been married since 2006, make it a point to put family first.

“I think we keep everything realistic,” he says. “There is a time for me to be a celebrity and there is a time for me to be a husband and a father. It's about communication and having a support group around you, a group of friends you enjoy being with, and making sure there are positive people in your life. I think when you talk to people who have been married for 30, 40 years, there are always times in the marriage where there are bumps in the road, times where the children were maybe what the whole unit really was held together, and then there are times when you're an empty nester. I think this song touches on the journeys of marriage and what it takes to sustain it forever.”

As the father of two teenagers, 16-year-old Thomas (“Bo”) and 14-year-old Tatum (“Tate”), Bryan realizes that his sons' college years are not too far in the future.

“We have created a household where hopefully everyone wants to come together [it when they can]. When they're in college, they sort of breed empty, but when fall arrives and Christmas and hunting season begins, they move back to the farm where we can all hunt together. We take it year by year. The most important thing is just enjoying our time together, getting them through school and just raising them to be good boys and we know they will come back.”

Another song on the album, “Jesus About My Kids,” written by Jeff Hyde, Tucker Beathard, Ben Stennis and Brad Rempel, delves even deeper into the role of the father and reflects on how approaches to spirituality are changing, when his children get older.

“I think a lot of parents can relate to the feeling of praying for their children,” Bryan says. “When they’re young, you try to lay the foundation. We are a Christian household and have raised them to have these morals and we try to set the tone from a young age by teaching them to be respectful, kind and polite. Then you hope they can carry that over into the later years of their life and be respectful, humble and well-mannered. They’re fine at the moment – ​​we don’t need to break them out of any prisons.”

Although Bryan helped write many of his own songs, including “Someone Else Calling You Baby” and “We Rode in Trucks,” of the 14 songs on the new album this time around, a dozen are outside of many other songs by Nashville's top writers, including Rhett Akins, Chase McGill, Hillary Lindsey, Ben Hayslip and Dallas Davidson.

“It would be scary to know how many we went through, but I think we probably recorded a total of 18 songs, three of which didn't make it. I think I had a hand in the writing,” Bryan says. “I always overlap [songs for an album] And when mine make a breakthrough, they do it. But this time I leaned on many writers in the Nashville area and I've always enjoyed the opportunity to do so.

“I’m a fan of the songwriting community in Nashville and think this whole songwriting machine is one of the most amazing things in entertainment,” he continues. “I just listen to the songs and rarely know who writes them. I just try to use the mindset that the best song usually wins. And when these writers get cuts on the album, they always come up to me and are grateful and lovely, and I'm always happy to get the whole city excited about one of my albums.”

If you listen closely to the album, you'll notice that Bryan and his longtime producers Jeff and Jody Stevens employ subtle methods to up the ante, such as Bryan's use of falsetto on the song “Closing Time in California.”

“I knew it was an opportunity to show that I had this in my bag, in my arsenal,” Bryan says. “We heard the story [in this song] a million times – a small town girl moves to Hollywood and there's always the love interest left behind. But you can feel the pain of it all in the song, and when I first heard it I knew it was special.”

Over the course of his career, Bryan has performed in front of over 14 million fans and his current headlining tour, Mind of a Country Boy, which runs through October, continues to grow his numbers while his annual Farm Tour wraps up this weekend (Bryan's Farm) . Tour supports farming communities and, since its founding in 2009, has awarded over 80 scholarships to students from farming families attending local colleges and universities. He also continues to push himself forward when it comes to his work on television. On November 15, Bryan will host the new Hulu series It's all landin which Bryan explores the stories and inspirations behind a number of classic country hit songs. He will return to ABC as a judge next year American Idolalongside Lionel Richie and Carrie Underwood.

He says whether he's in the studio or on stage, he always strives to raise the creative bar.

“No matter how many years I've been in the mix and as long as I find songs that push me to new limits, we're always trying out a new musician here and there, always trying new engineers and mixes of people, I just always try to “To keep track,” says Bryan. “I always try to go beyond myself and outdo myself a little bit every time.”