ABC

The four-year drought between new Luke Bryan albums ended on Friday with the long-awaited release of Mind Of A Country Boy.

Yes, if you didn’t realize, it’s been that long since 2020’s Born Here Live Here Die Here. But according to Luke, this lull was never part of his plan.

“This album’s been just naturally growing and I didn’t realize it was a four-year gap. When you go do a Vegas residency and [American] Idol and all that, your mind gets a little scrambled,” he admits. “But then when we had ‘Love You, Miss You, Mean It,’ it really started popping, and we were like, ‘All right, we got, like, the song that feels like the single to build an album around.'”

Although the album includes new tracks and his earlier singles “Country On” and “But I Got a Beer In My Hand,” not every song he recorded made the 14-track set.

“At the end of the day, we probably cut 18, 19 songs. Some of those I wrote, two or three of those didn’t make the album,” Luke reveals.

“You know, I write a little bit. It’s not like I’m out there grinding, writing, you know, 200 songs a year like I did for 10 years. So I’m writing a little bit when I get great ideas that I’m really excited to write, and then we try to go find the songs that make it all work,” says the country star, who wrote the album’s title track and “For the Kids.”

“It’s just having a big song out there like [‘Love You, Miss You, Mean It’] that really makes you feel good about where the album’s going and what we’re going to do next on it,” Luke shares.

Here’s the track list for Mind Of A Country Boy:
“Mind of a Country Boy”
“Love You, Miss You, Mean It”
“Country Song Came On”
“Pair of Boots”
“But I Got a Beer in My Hand”
“Kansas”
“Country On”
“Fish on the Wall”
“She’s Still Got It”
“Closing Time in California”
“For the Kids”
“Southern and Slow”
“I’m on a Tractor”
“Jesus ‘Bout My Kids”