Luke Bryan Opens Up About Taking in His 13-Year-Old Nephew Til After Brother-in-Law's Sudden Death

Country singer tells ABC News' Good Morning America, "You just have to plow on and play the hand that's dealt"

By Rebecca Macatee Feb 05, 2015 3:31 PMTags
Luke Bryan, NephewChristopher Polk/Getty Images

Luke Bryan is making the best out of a bad situation.

In late 2014, the 38-year-old country star's brother-in-law Ben Lee Cheshire died suddenly at age 46, leaving three children behind. Their mother Kelly, Lee's wife and Luke's older sister, had already tragically passed away in 2007 at the age of 39.

Luke and his wife Caroline, who have two young sons of their own, made the decision to take in the singer's orphaned nephew, 13-year-old Til, and raise him as their own. In a candid interview with ABC News' Good Morning America, Luke talked about how this and how the family is sticking together.

"We feel like if we just stay positive through this, maybe we'll be a positive inspiration for people that had these things happen to 'em," he said. "You just have to plow on and play the hand that's dealt."

Til, who moved to Nashville to live with his uncle Luke, aunt Caroline, and his cousins, 4-year-old Tate and 6-year-old Bo, gets regular visits from his older sisters. Luke told GMA he's thankful he can afford to fly them to and from Tennessee.

"It's every day on the phone all day trying to talk with the family and figure out what to do, but it's what you gotta do," said the family man. "Tough stuff."

So how do they do it?  "You know, we just stay positive. I think people expect that from me," he said. "I have to pray that people that have had similar situations can maybe look at my family and see me positively dealing with it. I'm not saying it's easy."

Sadly, Luke lost another sibling, his older brother Chris, to a car crash in 1995. "My only siblings, you know, gone from the world in a flash in two different crazy tragic manners," he reflected.

He's gotten a lot of support from the country music industry. On the night of his brother-in-law's funeral, Chris Stapleton and Lady Antebellum performed Luke's hit "Drink a Beer" on the CMT Artists of the Year special. As Luke told ABC News, watching that on TV with his family "was a big-time healing moment."

The singer is continuing to put family first as he moves forward with his successful music career. His new album, Spring Break...Checkin' Out, is set for a March 10 release, and the 2015 leg of his That's My Kind of Night tour kicks off next week.