Luke Bryan’s ‘What Makes You Country’ Is More Statement Than Question [Listen]
Luke Bryan's "What Makes You Country" is an answer more than a question. The country hitmaker finds more ways to describe his dirt road cred than you could put in the back of a pickup truck.
The song — the title track of his most recent album — comes loaded and aimed at those who claim he "isn't real country," but most of the sour grapes get tossed overboard so Bryan ends up with a pleasing, easy-to-identify-with anthem. He leans hard into many of the same touchstones he always has: fishing lines, Georgia pines, bird dogs, hay fields, hunting, churching, whiskey drinking — actually there's no booze here, but anyone who has gone Friday night spotlightin' knows it's implied.
If there was ever a song that found an artist returning to an established brand, this is it. "What Makes You Country" is everything fans love and trolls loathe about Luke Bryan. It's big, it's catchy, it's simple and it's going to be a huge hit. Truly no disrespect is meant when we say it's the most Luke Bryan-y song ever.
Did You Know?: "What Makes You Country" co-writer Dallas Davidson once dominated the country radio charts with hit songs for Randy Houser, Blake Shelton and (especially) Luke Bryan, among others. He's one-third of the famed Peach Pickers, which includes Rhett Akins and Ashely Gorley.
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Luke Bryan's "What Makes You Country" Lyrics:
People talkin’ ‘bout what is and what ain't country / What gives ‘em the right to wear a pair of beat-up boots / Is it the size of your tires and your fires or your wild ass buddies / Well give me a minute, let me hit ya with some hometown truth.
You could be a cowboy on the Texas plain / Or a plowboy waitin’ on the rain / We're all a little different, but we're all the same / Everybody doin’ their own thing.
Chorus:
I got my dirt road cred when I was twelve / On a no cab tractor haulin’ them bails / Backin’ in boats, fishin’ limb lines / Runnin’ bird dogs through the Georgia pines / Stepside covered down in peanut dust / Friday night spotlightin', that was us / It might not have been you but I can't judge / Just be proud of what makes you country.
Does it run in your blood, did it come from your daddy and mama / Were you converted by an Alabama song on the radio / It Feels So Right / Did you lock eyes with a little green-eyed girl from Jackson / Tell me what got ya, I just gotta know.
Me, I got my Sunday learnin’ in a live oak church / Silver queen corn in the backyard dirt / Waitin’ for the fall to finally come along / So, I can grab my gun and get my outside on / Stepside covered down in peanut dust / Friday night spotlightin', that was us / It might not have been you but I can't judge / Just be proud of what makes you country.
Might be from a city or a little farm town / Whatever kinda square that you drove around / Do you wear it on your sleeve or keep it deep down / You know you've gotta let it out.
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