Luke Bryan Remembers His Very First Award Show

Luke Bryan will play host again next week (11/8) at the CMA Awards. He is co-hosting the show with his buddy Peyton Manning. Luke won the CMA's top award of Entertainer of the Yera twice in a row in 2014 and 2015.

He's been to, and won, many awards since his debut in country music in 2007. Not long ago, Bryan recalled his very first awards show appearance. He told us, "I will never forget my very first awards show I ever attended was the ACMs, and I just sat back as a young artist dreaming of that moment, and a short time later, I'm onstage hosting."

Bryan added, "Whenever you can walk out on a stage and perform a song that has done really well for you and hopefully do a great job, it's a great experience. I mean, it's what I live for as an entertainer. It's what I moved to Nashville and followed my dreams for."

The 57th Annual CMA Awards will be handed out live on ABC on November 8, 2023.

Luke told us recently that as much as he loves his place in country music, something has got to give. He said, "I really feel blessed that I can still, after all this time, have a tangible role as being somebody high up in the business. I can't always keep facilitating and doing so much in the business. At some point, I've got to watch a kid's football game, and at some point, my wife and I have to go take a trip to a foreign country. We've been so busy we haven't even gotten to go travel abroad and do all that."

Still, Bryan appreciates where he is in the business. He offered, "At the end of the day, when I wake up, and I feel great, and I've slept great, and haven't flown across the country and jetlagged and all that when I'm on stage, I love every second of it. I still love connecting with the fans, and I still love a great song getting sent to me by a great writer or trying to write a great one."

Country superstars live a charmed life for the most part. They have money to burn and they have adoring fans cheering on their every move. Whether it's on stage or on social media, where they tout their what seems to be a "glamorous" lifestyle. Like Miranda Lambert's song "Little Red Wagon" sings with such sass in the lyrics. "I play guitar, and I go on the road. I do all the s--- you wanna do! You can't ride in my little red wagon."

Their existence seems untouchable at times. But country stars, in fact, are just like all of us. They have lives full of fun, joy, family excitement and some drama. And then there's a bit of heartbreak and bad luck at times. They often write about such times in their songs. They reflect their loves and lives that we all can relate to and sing along to.

Kenny Chesney sings of fame in his fictional 2003 song "Big Star," about a female country singer that goes from singing in bars to the big time. He sang in part, "She made the local cable shows / Where the camera fell in love with her face / After a couple of weekends / The groupies were crawling all over the place / She signed autographs / Like she was Garth Brooks in a skirt / And in the aftermath / That small time town was hers."

We all saw the "big star" Chesney mourn the loss of his beloved dog Ruby late last year, something many of us have felt at one time or another.

In 2010, Brad Paisley released what he called a love song to the fans, "This Is Country Music." Paisley, who owns homes in Nashville and Los Angeles with his movie star wife Kim, sang about the music that made him a superstar. He sang in part, "You're not supposed to say the word 'cancer' in a song. / And tellin' folks Jesus is the answer can rub 'em wrong / It ain't hip to sing about tractors, trucks, little towns, and mama, yeah that might be true. / But this is country music, and we do."

Here are seven examples of country superstars proving they are just like us:

Luke Combs - While in Australia playing a sold-out tour for fans down under, Luke Combs' wife Nicole posted something we have all posted a time to two, family photos from a recent photo shoot. The photos are of Nicole, Luke, and their son Tex as the couple await the birth of their second child. The only thing that sets the photos apart from all of us is that Tex is shown from the back. The couple have been careful not to reveal their one-year-old's face to the public.

Miranda often shares social media posts that prove she is just like us, sharing moments from trips with her husband to the occasional trip to the Nashville Metro Animal Control to adopt a cat or dog. In a recent post on Instagram, Miranda posted photos of herself and a friend who stopped by to adopt not one but two kittens.

Carrie posted to Instagram right after she wrapped shows on her recent Las Vegas residency. She shared images of herself, two sisters, and even her mom getting matching heart tattoos. It's not Underwood's first tattoo; she shared before in another post she and some friends getting tats of a small flower.

Blake often posts on his social media himself on his tractor working the fields on his Oklahoma farm. Shelton also shares a love of planting flowers with his wife, Gwen Stefani, on the same property.

Luke may be a superstar in music and on TV's American Idol, making millions of dollars a year, but that never takes away his fishing time with his sons, Bo and Tate, and his wife, Caroline. Luke constantly posts family stuff, "huntin', fishing, and loving every day."

Keith and his Oscar-winning movie star wife, Nicole Kidman, seem to live country music's most glamorous life of all, but that doesn't stop the famous couple from doing everyday things like camping. Urban posted he and his wife were camping in their native Australia earlier this year and encountered a wild animal.

Tim has done fantastic work in the last several years to be in the best physical shape of his life. Not long ago, he shared a video clip on Instagram about one of the ways he stays in top condition, taking a simple walk every day with one of his family dogs.