Country megastar Luke Bryan is taking a break from his Raised Up Right Tour to go down to the farm.

Joined by Riley Green, Jameson Rodgers, The Peach Pickers, and DJ Rock, Bryan will kick off his Farm Tour in our backyard, Thursday, Sept. 15, at Spangler Farms in Monroeville.

This will be the fourth time Bryan has played in the area, starting with M&J Farms in New Haven in 2015, then Spangler Farms in 2016 and 2017.

“I look forward to these shows every year mainly because of the meaning behind them and why it was important to me to start the Farm Tour 13 years ago,” Bryan said in a release. “It has allowed communities who don’t normally get a concert in their areas to experience a fun night in their backyard all while lifting up the American farmer. Small town and farming pretty much sum up my childhood. It is my way of life and I know it is a way of life for so many. It is truly the highlight of my year for me and my whole team.”

After the local show, the seven-date tour heads to Mechanicsburg, Ohio, on Sept. 16; followed by Fowlerville, Michigan, on Sept. 17; Murdock, Nebraska, on Sept. 22; Boone, Iowa, on Sept. 23; and Eyota, Minnesota, on Sept. 24.

“Farmers are no different than front-line workers, firemen, policemen,” he said in a Facebook video. “Often, they’re doing this work and not making a lot of money. Any time they get uplifted, showcased, shown love, and positive feedback, that goes a long, long way in these farming communities.”

Helping farmers, hungry

This will be the 13th Farm Tour, which has stages set up in fields as a way to celebrate farmers and fight hunger through the #HeresToTheFarmer campaign. Sponsored by Bayer, every time the hashtag is used until Oct. 31, the company will help provide meals to people through Feeding America.

For the five-time entertainer of the year who has had 29 No. 1 singles and sold nearly 13 million albums, the tour is special because he grew up surrounded by peanut farmers that would come to his father’s business for fertilizer.

“I grew up around farming and know the tough work, passion, and grit you need to be an American farmer,” Bryan said. “They play an incredibly important role in all our lives. That’s why I’m excited to again team up with my friends at Bayer to say ‘Here’s to the Farmer’ and give thanks for the work they do to make sure we all have food on the table, and give back to communities around the country.”

No shortage of hits

While you’re winding your way to the show in Monroeville, you might put on Bryan’s seventh studio album, Born Here Live Here Die Here, which received a 2021 Academy of Country Music Awards nomination and produced the hit songs “Knockin’ Boots,” “One Margarita,” “Down To One,” “Waves,” and “What She Wants Tonight.” He also released the single “Country On” this summer.

Over the course of his career, he’s charted No. 1 songs on Billboard’s Hot Country list, including 2013’s “That’s My Kind of Night,” which stayed atop the chart for 12 weeks, and “Play It Again” had a nine-week run in 2014.

Joining the show

While Bryan is definitely the draw on the Farm Tour, he won’t be alone in Monroeville.

Green out of Jacksonsville, Alabama, shared writing credit with his two grandfathers on his platinum album I Wish Grandpas Never Died, which featured the hit single “There Was This Girl.” Credited with helping bring country back to its roots, Green was awarded New Male Artist of the Year at the ACM Awards.

Rodgers is an admirer of the country outlaws of years past and had back-to-back Top 10 singles with “Some Girls” and “Cold Beer Calling My Name.”

The Peach Pickers are known as a hit-making trio, with Rhett Adkins, Dallas Davidson, and Ben Hayslip garnering several individual songwriting awards. Among the songs they have writing credits on are Bryan’s “Country Girl (Shake It for Me),” “Play It Again,” and many others. Led by Adkins, who was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2021, the trio have written for the likes of Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Lady A, and Reba McEntire.

DJ Rock is deemed an “open-format” DJ, sharing the stage with everyone from Bryan to Jennifer Lopez.

The local show is bound to have something for everyone and will surely get the country fans on their feet in a unique environment.

“A lot of my peers know that I come from a farming background, but Farm Tours are a really special, unique thing that started from a humble beginning of wanting to do a couple concerts in the field in my home state of Georgia,” Bryan said in his video. 

He tells his fellow peers, “Come out, check a farm tour, get onto the stage, and watch the heartland of America come to watch country music. I feel like Farm Tour embodies a lot of the American spirit, heartland, the element of hard work, and people coming together and loving one another.”