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" On stage, Luke Bryan&amp;#039;s tight-jeaned ass-shaking and sweet-talking party boy lyrics say he&amp;#039;s always down for some good, old-fashioned fun (see his latest shenanigans\u2014a karaoke duet with Jason Derulo\u2014here). It&amp;#039;s part of the cowboy allure that makes country fans unanimously love, nay, worship the singer, whose new song, &amp;quot;Kick the Dust Up,&amp;quot; from his just-released album, Kill the Lights, is sitting comfortably at number one on the country charts. But behind the frat bro persona that coos for you to crash his party &amp;quot;if it&amp;#039;s two in the morning and you&amp;#039;re feeling lonely&amp;quot; is another side of Bryan that&amp;#039;s just as essential to his fans&amp;#039; adoration: the good-natured southern gentleman who tends to open his sentences with &amp;quot;oh, gosh&amp;quot; and built his career from scratch while experiencing immense personal heartbreak behind the scenes. Having lost his older brother and sister in two unexpected tragedies early on in his career, Bryan&amp;#039;s family was struck by tragedy again earlier this year, when his late sister&amp;#039;s husband died suddenly, leaving behind three children. The singer opened up to BAZAAR about his decision to raise the youngest of them alongside his own two sons, trying to move on\u00A0and an album that represents a big step forward in his life and his career.  Harper&amp;#039;s BAZAAR:\u00A0What is Kill the Lights about? Luke Bryan:\u00A0It kind of bridges the youthfulness of my career so far with a step forward into some more mature topics. I&amp;#039;ve never been more proud of an album. I feel like there are career songs on this album that I&amp;#039;ll look back at as some of my cornerstone songs. HB:\u00A0You tragically lost both your sister and your brother at very young ages. Do you feel like you&amp;#039;ve had to grow up incredibly fast?  LB:\u00A0In some moments, yeah. I think I&amp;#039;ve had to learn the realities of life in a way that&amp;#039;s a little tougher than your average person, but you just have to lean on your faith and understand that that was God&amp;#039;s plan and try to move on. At the end of the day, in the wake of losing very important people in your life, you just have to try to hold on\u2014hold on and figure out each day. HB:\u00A0After your brother passed away, you stuck around in Georgia for a while to be near your family. Was a career in music still part of the plan then? When did you say, &amp;quot;Okay, I&amp;#039;m going to do this?&amp;quot; LB:\u00A0I was tinkering in music from 16 to when I went off to college, writing a little bit here and there. Even in college I made a little album with my college band. But I only had time to truly commit until I got to Nashville. The day I decided to move to Nashville was when I went all in. HB:\u00A0Do you think about those losses when you write music? LB:\u00A0Yeah\u2014that, and I think my whole appreciation of each day and appreciation of life is maybe a little more acutely fine-tuned than somebody who hasn&amp;#039;t necessarily dealt with something like this. You just try to live every day to the fullest and leave a positive impression.  HB:\u00A0After your late sister&amp;#039;s husband passed away earlier this year, you welcomed your nephew, Ben Lee, into your home too. LB:\u00A0Yeah. He&amp;#039;s doing amazing and same thing\u2014he and I are fishing and hunting a lot. He&amp;#039;s a great baseball player, and he&amp;#039;s in football mode right now. HB:\u00A0What&amp;#039;s your favorite thing to do with your sons? LB:\u00A0Anything in the outdoors. I like taking them hunting and fishing, riding four-wheelers and playing baseball or football with them. Just letting them be boys. HB:\u00A0How old are the boys?  LB:\u00A0Well, [Ben Lee]&amp;#039;s 13, Bo is seven, and Tate is almost five. I have all of the emotions of boys right now. HB:\u00A0Did they inherit the musical gene? LB:\u00A0They love music the same way I loved it when I was their age\u2014just listening. But I&amp;#039;d rather them be ready and committed to learn on their own rather than shipping them off to a music lesson or something like that.  HB:\u00A0What&amp;#039;s the last song you listened to?  LB:\u00A0&amp;quot;Burning House&amp;quot; by Cam. She&amp;#039;s a new country artist, and I&amp;#039;m just loving that song.  HB:\u00A0Do you have a pre- or a post-show ritual? LB:\u00A0Pre-show would be just huddling up with the band. I try to get in and spend about an hour cutting up with them before the show. I drink about a half of a cocktail\u2014a little vodka and soda with a lime\u2014and then we get together and toast.  HB:\u00A0You and Blake Shelton have the most adorable, and beloved, friendship. How did it begin? LB:\u00A0Blake and I have known each other for many years, and even before we met we had some friends in the same circle that kept saying how Blake and I were kind of the same guy, very similar, so through the years I&amp;#039;ve gotten to know him, and then hosting the ACM&amp;#039;s with him, we&amp;#039;ve just become close. I totally respect everything that Blake is about and how he&amp;#039;s managed his climb to fame, every step along the way. He&amp;#039;s been a great friend in so many ways, and he&amp;#039;s stayed true to who he is. HB:\u00A0What&amp;#039;s your ideal date night with your wife, Caroline? LB:\u00A0We&amp;#039;d catch a four o&amp;#039;clock movie and then maybe go eat a nice dinner and get home at like nine. We don&amp;#039;t stay out late. We like to tuck the boys in, lay in the bed and watch a couple of her favorite shows. HB:\u00A0What&amp;#039;s at the top of the favorite show list right now? LB:\u00A0Oh, gosh, they go from Mike &amp;amp;amp; Molly to Modern Family to The\u00A0Big Bang Theory\u00A0to all over the board. HB:\u00A0Caroline was your college sweetheart, right? LB:\u00A0Yeah, we met in college and had an off-and-on relationship in college. We broke up for like five and a half years, and when we got back together, we knew we\u00A0would get married right away. It&amp;#039;s been an amazing journey. HB:\u00A0Where&amp;#039;s the most unexpected place you&amp;#039;ve found inspiration? LB:\u00A0Oh, gosh. That&amp;#039;s a tough one. Luckily I haven&amp;#039;t been to jail yet so I haven&amp;#039;t drawn from that.  HB:\u00A0I like that you say &amp;quot;yet.&amp;quot; What&amp;#039;s your most bizarre show memory?  LB:\u00A0Early in my career I used to play these acoustic shows in Vegas, and we would play at 5\u00A0AM, and watching people in a casino outside of Vegas listening to my music and drinking coffee, enjoying it and getting their day kicked off was a pretty amazing thing. You can buy Byran&amp;#039;s\u00A0Kill The Lights\u00A0on iTunes\u00A0now. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/interviews/a11847/luke-bryan-interview/>