When Luke Bryan lost his sister suddenly in 2007, it was a tragedy for his family and her children. But no one could have anticipated the three teenagers also losing their father, Ben Lee Cheshire, last November. So when the kids were left without parents, the country crooner and his wife took them in to raise them as their own.
"You don't want to sound like you love having them so much that you're glad it's the situation, but we're honored to be doing what we feel was the right thing," Bryan tells Billboard in its latest issue.
Bryan and wife Caroline Boyer already have two children together, but consider themselves blessed to have three more in their household. Even though the "Kick Up Dust" singer has a lot to be sad about, he constantly maintains a positive attitude given the success he has seen over the years.
"So many people get record deals in Nashville, and they don't ever get an album," he explains to the music magazine. "So I just hang on to the positive and wake up every day grinding."
The 39-year-old star also admits that he's aware of what critics have said about his music: That it can be "simplistic."
"I've heard people say I do 'frat-boy music,'" he confesses. "At some point, me singing about frat party themes is just not going to be realistic. But if I look like a weird old dude up onstage, I'll be the first one to come to that realization."
Seeing as he's pushing 40 and still singing the same themes, it seems that his fans are still into his messages, so need not worry, Luke!
But as someone who grew up in Georgia and then moved to Nashville, Tenn., the "Country Girl" singer has some opinions about a hot topic as of late—the Confederate flag. Now that it has been taken down in South Carolina, Bryan says that it's time to listen to everyone's thoughts and opinions.
"Where I grew up, I never understood the Confederate flag to be a negative thing. But if the Ku Klux Klan is going to walk around and turn the Confederate flag into their deal..." he tells the magazine, pausing. "It's become a symbol of racism to a majority of people. And we live in a country where we have to listen to people's opinions and work it out."