Luke Bryan on Bro-Country Label: ‘I Take a Little Offense’
Luke Bryan has spoken out on the term "bro-country" before, and he recently admitted he takes some offense to the label.
The singer tells Cleveland.com, "I take a little offense. I feel the initial term 'bro-country' was created to be kind of a little degrading to what's popular, to what country artists are doing right now."
"Bro-country" was given an official definition by the Cambridge Dictionary in early 2015,
On its blog, the dictionary defines bro-country as “a sub-genre of country music sung by young white men, featuring songs with macho themes such as trucks, drinking and partying.” It adds that bro-country is “[a] celebration of … life that features trucks, beer and scantily clad women as the must-have accessories."
While yes, some of Bryan's songs focus on lighter fare like trucks and having a good time, he has other songs that are far from the definition like "Drink a Beer" which he's performed in tribute to his late siblings or "To the Moon and Back" from his newest record Kill the Lights.
"It's frustrating because whichever artists may or may not get labeled as that, they're well beyond that,'' he explains. "For people to call me the father of it, well, whatever. It just seems like a term that was invented to cheapen me as an artist.''
While Bryan himself isn't happy being labeled as a bro-country artist, he especially doesn't appreciate how the term is, in effect, degrading to his fans.
"My fans are there because my version of music is what they love, and that's what I'm all about,'' Bryan adds. "When people say 'Luke Bryan fans are nothing but beer drinkers,' that makes me mad because I know they're more than that. They are the people who make this country go round and round."
The singer doesn't have too much time on his hands to ruminate over labels like bro-country; he's revving up for his 2015 Farm Tour which kicks off Sept. 30 in Ft. Wayne, Ind. It coincides with Bryan's 2015 Kill the Lights Tour -- of which he recently announced a third and final leg of the trek.
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