Don’t make him get down from his tree.
Luke Bryan has no doubt heard a lot of the chatter surrounding his song “Fish Hunt Golf Drink,” which dropped back in May.
The song was roundly criticized for relying on “bro-country” stereotypes and featuring ridiculously simplistic list-style lyrics that many accused of coming from AI:
“If I could have it my own way, you know
Let me tell you how every day would go
Wake up, coffee
Camo, climb tree
Wet line, eighteen
Fish, hunt, golf, drink
All fall, all spring, all summer long
I’ll be livin’ it up and livin’ it on
A country boy’s dream
Fish, hunt, golf, drink”
I mean, it’s no “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” that’s for sure.
The song was, ironically, inspired by a conversation that Luke had with fellow country star Riley Green – though Riley has joked that he wants no part of the song after seeing the reaction. And as it turns out, Luke is well aware of the online reactions to the song.
During an appearance on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend, the “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” singer discussed the backlash to what he said was meant to just be a fun song:
“It was making guys like – they’re in the camera going, ‘I hate you.’ Like they’re looking in the camera and they’re like, ‘I hate you.’
And I’m watching it and I’m like, ‘I can see your face.'”
And Luke had harsh words for his critics:
“If I see you one day, I’m going to f**king knock the s**t out of you, dude.”
Bold statement there, Luke.
Now look, I’m going to defend Luke here a little bit: He’s actually a great dude, hilarious, great sense of humor, and despite what people who hate bro-country may think, he’s actually one of the few artists who genuinely lives the country lifestyle. He’s from a small town in Georgia, his dad owned a peanut farm, and he’s an avid outdoorsman who loves fishing and hunting (and golfing and drinking).
Obviously criticizing and mocking his music is one thing, and that’s totally fair game. Art’s subjective, and people can have their own opinions. But personal insults like telling somebody you “hate” them or hope they die is a little ridiculous and shows just how toxic the internet is these days.
During the interview, Luke also aggressively pushed back on the accusations that the song is AI-generated, blaming the narrative on social media:
“We featured it as an early release on the album … and younger kids called it a single, then … you get one or two kids with a bunch of Instagram followers that say we AI’d it and then the whole world goes on their narrative.”
And he also says that he’s conflicted about the “any publicity is good publicity” way of thinking about the criticism:
“I think it’s funny that then you have to wrap your head around the idea that you’re happy that everybody is being this way because it’s getting more notoriety. But then I’m like, well, wait. I’m not sure I’m happy about a bunch of teenagers telling a 50-year-old man he’s a piece of s**t songwriter. And then I’m like, dude, you’re 16. You’re talking to a grown man that’s made a s**t ton of money doing this.”
(Oh, and he also clarified that when he says “climb tree” he’s talking about climbing into a treestand and not actually going out in his backyard to climb a tree after having his morning coffee).
Of course after he sees all the “fart goes the butt” comments on his posts he might not be so mad about people making fun of “climb tree.”
You can check out Luke’s full conversation with Theo here:
