Luke Bryan talks his new docuseries, being on tour again: 'It's what I was born to do'

When Luke Bryan stepped on stage for the first time this year to an arena audience hungry for live music, one word crossed his mind.

Hallelujah.

"We were really excited to be back out on the road, being in front of people," said Bryan, defending ACM Entertainer of the Year. "(I'm) so glad everybody can come back out to shows and have a great time."

Bryan returned to stages in early July for his "Proud To Be Right Here" tour, an arena run offering a reunion between country audiences and the hip-shaking hitmaker with more than two-dozen chart-topping tunes to his name.

One of the first large-scale arena tours to hit the road since COVID-19 temporarily crippled in-person entertainment, "Proud To Be Right Here" stops Friday in Nashville — a week before the "American Idol" judge debuts his five-part "My Dirt Road Diary" docuseries via IMDb TV, a free streaming service from Amazon.

"Nobody" country artist Dylan Scott and "Small Town Hypocrite" singer-songwriter Caylee Hammack open the show.

"You truly miss being on stage, it's what I was born to do," Bryan told The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY network, via phone ahead of a show last week in Cincinnati. "I love nothing more than waking up every day, getting on stage and playing my music for my fans."

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'Proud To Be Right Here' tour

Bryan will bring a handful of new radio hits to the stage for this new tour, including "One Margarita," "Waves" and "Down To One" — songs off Bryan's 2020 studio album "Born Here Live Here Die Here" (and this year's deluxe reissue) that didn't make his set list before COVID-19 derailed touring.

Showgoers can expect to hear a mix of today's hits with a melee of party anthems. (Would it really be a Bryan show without hearing "Play It Again" or "That's My Kind Of Night"?)

After a year away, Bryan said he wants audiences to be "totally satisfied" with the show.

"It's been a tough year on everybody," Bryan said. "The last thing they want to do is be bored at a show. The main thing is making sure everybody's getting their money's worth and you're on stage having a blast and bringing the goods."

And he'll come with opening talent that includes Scott, a Curb Records artist who went platinum with his 2016 single "My Girl," and Hammack, a rising singer with a show-stealing voice who's collaborated with Chris Stapleton and Reba McEntire.

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Bryan described Hammack, a fellow Georgia native, as "incredible." She and Scott may make a cameo during the headlining set.

"[Hammack] blends aspects of real roots-y country with a commercial appeal," Bryan said. "It's always an honor to have these next wave of women country music performers [on tour]. It's awesome having them on stage and watching their excitement and how much fun they're having."

'Luke Bryan: My Dirt Road Diary' docuseries

Can't make it to Bryan's show? That's OK.

The singer gives fans at home a side-stage view to his origin story from small-town Georgia to Nashville superstardom in "Luke Bryan: My Dirt Road Diary," a five-part docuseries debuting Aug. 6 via IMDb TV.

The series trails Bryan beginning with his formative years in Leesburg, Georgia — where he cut his teeth on karaoke machines and in high school theater — to working shifts on the family peanut farm, spending weekends in barnstorming cover bands, a college-aged courtship with his wife, Caroline Boyer, and moving to Nashville with hopes of one day seeing his face on billboards that shadow Interstate 440.

"It's very real, it feels real," Bryan said of the series. "Fans can certainly learn more about my life and learn my authenticity and what makes me make music I make. What makes me wake up every day and dust off the bumps and the bruises and, at the end of the day, try and give it my all every night on stage."

And the series doesn't cut corners on trials Bryan faced as he chased country music dreams.

Through family interviews and Bryan's first-person recollection, "Diary" details how he continues to cope with unexpected family losses, including brother Chris Bryan — who died from a car wreck in 1996 — and sister Kelly Cheshire, who died in 2007, shortly after his career began blossoming.

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"I deal with my losses through trying to have a strong faith in God and a belief that this is the plan," Bryan said. "If I start blaming other entities or other things, I can lose my way a little bit. The main thing is: This is my life, these are the scenarios that've happened that are tragic ... but now I've gotta make the most of it."

He continued, "I've got no other option but to make the most in life and honor the people that I've lost by living a full life."

Still, "Diary" cuts through tragedy to strike an ultimately hopeful note — not unlike the positivity Bryan's likely to bring when he steps on stage in Nashville and beyond this year.

"[For] my legacy, I want people to go, 'Man, that was a nice dude,'" Bryan said. "If I can have a lifetime of fans that meet me and they go ... 'I'm pulling for that guy.' That's really what I want. With all of the hatred out there in the world and the ability for people to judge and say mean things, my thing is to try to be the opposite of that."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Luke Bryan talks his 2021 tour, new docuseries 'Dirt Road Diaries'