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Backstage Country

Luke Bryan Announces His 2023 ‘Farm Tour’ Helping Farmers

Luke Bryan will headline his fourteenth “Farm Tour” this September during a break from his “Country On Tour” launching June 15. The Georgia native will set up stages in the…

Luke Bryan Announces His 2023 'Farm Tour' Helping Farmers
Jason Kempin/Getty Images

Luke Bryan will headline his fourteenth "Farm Tour" this September during a break from his "Country On Tour" launching June 15. The Georgia native will set up stages in the fields of local farms from September 14-23, 2023. Special guests will be announced at a later time.

Luke said in a statement, "One of the reasons we created these Farm Tour shows – to bring the big-city tour to the people. These nights are one-of-a-kind, and we really enjoy getting to know the farmers and their families, love the whole atmosphere of playing on these incredible farms and watching entire communities come together and get excited about these shows."

Bryan recently talked about how his Farm Tour has grown. He said, "The Farm Tour has grown throughout the years, and the fact that we can set a stage up in a hayfield or some kind of field and people flock to it is what I envisioned when I created Farm Tour, and to obviously help some kids with scholarships and stuff like that. But the Farm Tour has grown every year, and it's always something we look forward to. It's really an exciting time to be able to just be out on a farm on a Fall night."

He added, "Sometimes it's cool, and everybody's got, it's perfect jacket weather, and everybody's just enjoying music and having fun, and it's happening in these little towns that have never gotten a show like this. So, it's always fun knowing that I leave these little towns, and they can go, 'Hey, we got to go party out in a field and hear a bunch of Nashville country music singers roll in,' and give 'em a great show. So many great memories through the years."

Tickets for the "Farm Tour" are on sale May 4 at 10 AM local time at LukeBryan.com.

FARM TOUR 2023

9/14 Shelbyville, KY Mulberry Orchard
9/15 Millersport, OH Miller Family Farm
9/21 Colfax, IA Schnell Family Farms
9/22 Brooklyn, WI Klondike Farms
9/23 Eyota, MN Gar-Lin Dairy LLC

Since 2009 when the Farm Tour began, Luke has granted 78 college scholarships to students from farming families to their local college or university near the tour stops. Over the years, event sponsors have donated money, food, and resources to the local communities and also nationally. Last year alone, Bayer provided one million meals to Feeding America, Farmland donated a truckload of protein to local food banks in each of the states that hosted the tour and also donated $9,000 to each state's FFA Association, and Fendt donated $25,000 to the national FFA organization.

Many country music superstars choose their middle names over their given first names. It is hard to imagine country music superstar Sam Smith (Tim McGraw's given name) and his superstar wife, Audrey Faith Perry (Faith Hill). Or how about sold-out stadium shows from a guy named Troyal (Garth Brooks)? And instead of two Lukes (Bryan and Combs), there would be two Thomas' (Rhett and Bryan).

Many celebrities change their name to fit who they have become, but in country music, the go-to name change for a superstar is to simply go with your middle name.

We take a look at five country superstars that go by their given middle names.

Kenneth Eric Church

Eric Church

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Can you image Kenny Church? Eric, born in n Granite Falls, North Carolina, was named after his father, Ken. Church worked with his dad at Clayton Marcus, a furniture upholstery company where his father was president.

Thomas Luther Bryan

Luke Bryan

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Luke was named after his father, Tommy, who was a peanut farmer in Leesburg, Georgia.

Troyal Garth Brooks

Garth Brooks

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Garth was named for his father, Troyal Raymond Brooks Jr. He is the elder Troyal's youngest child. His mother, Colleen McElroy Carroll (who passed away in 1999), was a 1950s-era country singer who recorded on Capitol Records, the same label that Garth recorded on.

Frederick Dierks Bentley

Dierks Bentley

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Dierks has used his middle name publically since his music career began. The name Dierks is his maternal great-grandmother's surname. His parents' names are Leon Fife Bentley (who passed away in 2012) and Catherine Childs.

Samuel Timothy Smith

Tim McGraw

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Tim McGraw was not born as a McGraw, and Timothy was his middle name. He changed his last name at age 11 when he learned the identity of his real father, major league baseball pitcher "Tug" McGraw, who passed away in 2004.

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.