Luke Bryan has 30 No. 1 songs, but admits that there are still songs that get him really excited. This week, he’s co-hosting Backstage Country with Elaina Smith, and instead of just hitting “play” on his greatest hits, he’s dishing out the stories behind the songs that still give him goosebumps.
Luke Bryan on “One Margarita”
Bryan shared that anytime he can write a song that he feels needs to be played out loud at the beach, the lake, on the boat, and on vacation, he gets really, really excited. “The first time I heard ‘One Margarita’ and saw the vibe that it created with people dancing and holding up shots and having fun, it struck a chord with me. So yeah, I mean when we're at ‘Crash My Playa’ and we kick into it, it's almost like we ought to do a special ‘Crash My Playa’ edition of ‘One Margarita.’”
Luke Bryan - One Margarita (Official Music Video)
He added, “So, that's the thing. I think Kenny Chesney has so many fun summer anthems, and I think ‘One Margarita’ falls in line with those Kenny Chesney summer anthems. I hope people are on their boats listening to Kenny, me, Tim McGraw, and all these classic summer hits through the years. ‘One Margarita’ feels like it's one that people jam on their boats while they're at the lake, certainly on Fourth of July weekend.”
On His Songs Getting Downloaded Illegally
Smith and Bryan discussed his song “Country Girl (Shake It for Me),” which was getting downloaded illegally at the time. “That’s another thing that early in my career, I was caught up in the illegal part of songs.” He explained, “I think there were times that my record label was predicting that it was getting 20 million times a week, illegally, for three years that that happened.”
Smith remarked how devastating that was, Bryan agreed, “Yeah, well, you can't go back and have that. But, you know, when I look forward, it was a life-altering song for me. I'll get to play until I'm an 80-year-old man walking out there getting to make some country (music).”
Smith joked that she can’t wait to see Bryan being an 80-something-year-old man. He chuckled, “Well, maybe I can, you know, what did Waylon Jennings say? ‘If I knew I was going to live this long? I took better care of myself.’ But maybe I can have all my wits about me when I'm 80.”
