Country man: Luke Bryan promises high-energy show at Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo

Luke Bryan can try to sing rock songs, but with his Georgia accent they end up sounding country anyway.

"It's safe to say I'm country, and that's kind of just the way it is," Bryan said in a phone interview from somewhere in upstate Michigan.

Bryan and his bus will travel south to play at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo, where fans can expect "a fun up-tempo show" without a lot of ballads, he said. "We just get up there and have fun."

Bryan has been playing since he was about 15. He continued playing in college in Georgia and decided to try Nashville in 2001. Since then, he's kept busy playing bars, festivals and touring with other country acts. He released "I'll Stay Me" in 2007 and said he expects his second album to be out in the fall.

He said Saturday's show will include a lot of songs from his first album and five or six new songs from the upcoming "Doin' My Thing."

Bryan grew up going to concerts and listening to old country like Conway Twitty, Ronnie Milsap, George Strait and Brooks and Dunn. He said his first concert was Jerry Lee Lewis, but Brooks and Dunn were popular with him, too.

"Everybody loved music in my family," Bryan said.

As a performer, Bryan said his favorite shows so far have been his first Grand Ole Opry performance, starting the Poet's and Pirates Tour with Kenny Chesney and playing the CMA Music Festival 2009.

"That's always kind of letting you know you got the right things going on when they ask you to play that," he said about the festival.

Bryan said playing the Grand Ole Opry in April 2007 was "a dream come true."

Many of Bryan's songs stay light and down home with lines like "Your little iPod loaded down with Hoobastank/Don't be a tape player hater girl we're groovin' to Hank" from "Country Man."

"I have a fun time writing the songs. I think when you write a fun song people enjoy hearing that light side. Cuttin' up and laughing in the middle of the song," Bryan said.

Bryan said he has fun with his show, too, but he does get tired entertaining the crowd.

"It's all part of the experience, being a little winded after a show."

While the country genre has expanded to include more pop country songs, Bryan's sound has strong roots in traditional country.

"I'm obviously one of the more countrier acts out there," he said. "I talk pretty country, so that comes across in my music."

Bryan closes the rodeo with his Saturday concert. Blake Shelton will play at 7:30 p.m. today, and Montgomery Gentry will play at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

charris@semissourian.com

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