Contrary to the usual spring break album release, Luke Bryan’s newest “extended play” album, “Here’s to the Farmer”, was released on September 23rd. “Here’s to the Farmer” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart. Selling more than 34,000 copies, the EP also earned a slot at No. 4 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart.

Being born and raised 100 miles from the Alabama border, Bryan weaves his personal childhood experiences into this EP. The five-song set digs deep into Bryan’s past, with songs like, “I Do All My Dreaming There”, emphasizing the agricultural setting and the traditional homegrown country music sound.

“I kinda think Farm Tours will always have that ruralness, that rural theme,” Bryan explains when interviewed by Sounds of Nashville. Week 1 of his tour includes performances at farms in Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana. Week 2 moves to the fields of Mississippi, Arizona, Missouri and Illinois. The locations include the ranches, farms and prairies of rural America, appropriate to the theme. 

Under Luke Bryan’s many Nashville successes lives the son of a Georgia peanut farmer. Bryan has risen from his roots in Leesburg, Georgia to a Nashville country star, but he’s never let go what has shaped him as a person and where he came from. Song, “You Look Like Rain”, touches upon the homegrown southern love talked about in traditional old country songs. Song, “Southern Gentleman”, is all about the attributes of the farmers and relatives in Bryan’s life back home.

“My whole existence and 90% of the men I grew up with in my life were all farmers and of that background. It was just what I knew. I saw the struggles that all of them dealt with. I watched my dad deal with the ups and downs. Just that whole farming mentality, you can learn something from. It was a great foundation to prepare me for another kind of farming, which is music. It’s all farming up something, whether it’s corn or songs. So I’m honored to have started the Farm Tour and now to have an album coming out to talk about it a little more” (Countdown Country USA).

Luke Bryan started his tour on October 6th in Tennessee and is ending it on October 15th in Illinois. Tickets are an affordable $49 in advance, and $60 at the gate.