Luke Bryan Is Happy to Graduate to Headliner Status

Luke Bryan's career is making a decided shift in a good direction. That's fitting, since country fans were first introduced to Luke by way of Billy Currington's hit, 'Good Directions,' which he wrote with Rachel Thibodeau. It wasn't long after that tune hit the top of the charts that Luke's debut single, 'All My Friends Say,' blew up at country radio. The tune showcased Luke's quirky humor and set the stage for subsequent singles, 'Country Man' and 'Rain Is a Good Thing.'

But it wasn't until 'Do I,' a tune co-written with Lady Antebellum's Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley, that fans heard a more serious side from the Georgia-born singer-songwriter.

Since that time, Luke's career has been building up steam. His current single, 'Country Girl (Shake It for Me),' is climbing the charts, and after his performance on the CMT Music Awards show Wednesday night (June 8) -- his debut performance on a televised awards show -- the singer found himself the most-searched name on Google, according to the search engine's trends website.

"I can feel the momentum," Luke tells The Boot, although he admits it's hard to put into words how he feels about everything going on with him at the moment. "It has been an interesting process, and I'm so glad it didn't happen three or four years ago because I wouldn't have enjoyed it. I would be freaking out!"

Luke says he knew one of the key elements to boosting his career even more was performing on an awards show. Now that he can cross that "first" off his list, he's thrilled to find that he was right. "It's been so much fun so far, but I still don't know all the pieces of the puzzle that I need to make it happen."

One of the things that will continue to make it happen for Luke is the upcoming CMT-sponsored Tailgates & Tanlines tour, which kicks off in September with 25 shows. Joining him will be Lee Brice and Josh Thompson.

"When you look at past CMT tours, with people like Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland and Keith Urban, and what those artist are doing today, it's very exciting."

Luke reasons that it's the perfect for him to headline his own tour. "I saw Josh the other day and we're already talking about cool moments that we can make happen for the fans," he teases. "It's cool to know in June what I'm going after in the fall and to be able to start planning on it."

The singer says he learned to appreciate what a concert can do for someone when he saw what a live Garth Brooks show did for his brother. "He got lottery tickets to buy tickets to see Garth, you had to do that to get into one of Garth's shows. When my brother came back from that concert, it was like he had won the lottery; it made such an impact on him."

Luke notes that he'll approach the upcoming tour as he does all his concert dates. "It's so exciting to know you will have people paying their hard earned money to come and sit in that arena and watch your show. It's all about having fun onstage with the band and giving our fans a night of entertainment. I'm really anxious to get started!"

In the meantime, Luke continues on Tim McGraw's Emotional Traffic tour, playing in Mountain View, Calif., June 11 and Boise, Idaho, on June 16. He also joins Alabama for their Bama Rising benefit concert in Birmingham, Ala. on June 14.