Luke Bryan Reveals Why He Passed on Recording Morgan Wallen’s ‘Sand in My Boots’

Two-time CMA entertainer of the year winner Luke Bryan has notched 26 No. 1 chart-toppers since his debut in 2007 with “All My Friends Say,” so it’s safe to say he’s knows a thing or two about choosing a hit song.

But every artist has songs they’ve passed on and later regretted not recording. For Bryan, one of those songs is a certain Morgan Wallen hit that reached No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart in 2022.

During an appearance on radio/media personality Bobby Bones’ BobbyCast, Bryan discussed passing on the song. “There was a point in my career where I had sang about trucks enough to where I…I passed, stupidly, on the Morgan [Wallen song] ‘Sand in My Boots,’ because it had Chevrolet in it,” Bryan said, referring to a line in the song’s chorus that goes, “But now I’m dodging potholes in my sunburnt Silverado.”

Asked by Bones if the song had too much truck imagery in it for Bryan at the time, Bryan said, “I just went through two years of my life where I was like, ‘I sing about trucks a lot, I sing about tailgates.’ I think I got in my head a little bit because I think I had a lot of negativity, socially, on socials, that I was getting pegged as maybe a one trick pony in that lane.”

“You’re also a victim of your own success,” Bones noted, to which Bryan responded, “Which happens…I’ll take that any d— day of the week.”

In the interview, Bryan would go on to note the pros and cons of building a hit career that features so many light-hearted hit songs such as “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” and “That’s My Kind of Night,” combined with his outgoing personality–though Bryan has also released more somber songs including “Do I,” “Drink a Beer,” and the fan-favorite “We Rode in Trucks.”

“I think no matter how people wanna categorize me, I think generally think my personality is ‘Let’s have some fun,'” Bryan said, saying he felt that though his hit songs and megawatt personality have drawn in legions of fans, those same attributes caused him to be overlooked at times when it comes to certain awards categories.

“If I don’t get male vocalist of the year, and Grammys or whatever because I may be known as the guy that has had fun through throughout his career and put out a lot of fun songs, I’m cool with that,” Bryan said. “I think, vocally, I may have been overlooked for that party-ness. I think there’s stuff out there that I’ve done vocally, that certainly it’s not Chris Stapleton vocals and Ronnie Dunn vocals and the guys who are really, really known as vocalists, but I think I might have gotten overlooked in that a little bit, which is fine.”

Still, knowing the grind it takes for any rising artist to truly see their career take off, he feels his personality has been a key factor in his rise to hitmaker and headliner. “Every artist that makes the leap from throwing out some radio hits, they’ve gotta have something that takes them to that…I didn’t ever know I’d be like what’s termed a ‘superstar’…Every time somebody introduces me as ‘Country Music superstar, Luke Bryan,’ it still freaks me out. I’m still like, ‘How in the hell did I pull that title off?’ So when you look at somebody that goes from climbing, digging, digging…one hit, two hit, three, four, then next thing you know they blow up to be a superstar, there’s something about ’em that made that happen. And with me, I think it was my personality and willingness onstage to just go for whatever, to dance and cut up. I think that was different enough to set me apart.”

See Bryan’s full appearance on the BobbyCast below: