ABC NewsLuke Bryan isn’t in the Country Music Hall of Fame — yet — but he was the subject of a special exhibit there called Dirt Road Diary, which has drawn over 300,000 people since it opened May 22.  The exhibit closes this coming weekend, so Luke stopped by the Hall of Fame on Sunday to take part in a Q&A session about his music, and treat fans to an acoustic mini-concert.
During the Q&A, Luke illustrated how difficult it is for him to juggle his hectic life on the road and his family obligations by describing what happened after his show on Friday night in Detroit,  his final show of 2015.   “Friday night, last show of the year, tons of energy, excitement, get on the bus, we’re so excited to get home for Halloween, we don’t really sleep,” he told the audience. “Then we get an email from our neighborhood and they’re, like, ‘Halloween’s gonna be rained out, Halloween starts at 12 noon.’  Me and [my wife] Caroline are, like, ‘Gosh!'”

“So she runs off to go find CMA Award dresses,” he laughed. “I ran in and we’re getting the kids together for Halloween. They’re trick-or-treating at noon…and, anyway…it’s just, we’re having fun!”

But despite his crazy lifestyle, the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year says he and his team don’t take anything for granted.  “We all realize that these are like the golden days,” he explained. “Like, our toast before we went on stage in Detroit, Friday night was, ‘Nothing’s normal about this!'”

Luke also discussed how several of his biggest hits came together, such as “Country Girl (Shake it For Me)” and “Drink a Beer.”  Describing what he’s trying to do with his music, Luke got big laughs when he explained, “That’s what it’s about, y’know? Be the soundtrack to these moments where they’re having a blast, where they’re trying to heal or when they’re just trying to, you know…fail a pregnancy test!”

While discussing his musical influences, Luke name-checked Lionel Richie, Ronnie Milsap, Alabama, Hank Williams Jr., George Strait, Randy Travis and Alan Jackson, but when asked which artist, living or dead, he’d like to spend the day with, his answer, surprisingly, was a guy who isn’t usually thought of as a country artist.

“I mean, it would no doubt be Elvis, y’know, just no question,” Luke responded.  Asked what he’d like to do during that day with the late King of Rock ‘n Roll, Luke laughed, “Gosh, what would I do? I’d just try to take Elvis fishing. Sit in a jon boat… I don’t know, that’d be pretty amazing, that opportunity.”

According to Luke, he’s loved Elvis Presley since he was a little kid.  “I used to sit in my room and I had a record player and uh, I’d sit there and listen to “C.C. Rider,'” he recalled, and then sang a bit of “Release Me,” doing his best Elvis impression.  He laughed, “I’d be, like, four years old in my underwear singing Elvis songs!” 

Luke finished the event by performing acoustic versions of “Strip It Down,” “Drunk on You,” “We Road in Trucks,” “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” and “Drink a Beer.”

We’ll see if Luke can hang onto his Entertainer of the Year title this Wednesday, when the CMA Awards air live on ABC starting at 8 p.m. ET.

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