The country star tells PEOPLE it’s important to him that sons Tate and Bo aren’t raised in “some monstrous shadow of me”
He may be a country superstar with a headlining tour and dozens of hits to his name, but Luke Bryan’s teenage sons aren’t exactly impressed with his fame.
“To them, I’m just Dad,” the star tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “I never will forget For Father’s Day, my 15-year-old, he goes, ‘Happy Father’s Day, Dad, to the guy that has more fun than anybody.’ I loved that quote.”
The “But I Got a Beer in My Hand” singer, 47, shares sons Tate, 13, and Bo, 15, with wife Caroline (The two also support their nieces Jordan, 28, and Kris, 25, and nephew Tilden, 21, after the unexpected deaths of Bryan’s sister Kelly and brother-in-law Lee).
Though he may be “just dad,” the boys have slowly started to learn more about Bryan’s career as they’ve gotten older — and have even turned to the internet for help.
Bo, Luke, Tate and Caroline Bryan.
Caroline Bryan/Instagram
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“I mean, they totally understand it now when they start Googling Dad’s accomplishments and reading all the chatter about what the net worth of all this is, and you have to sit down and really clarify a lot of stuff with them,” he says. “Tate understands that Dad could probably make a call to a rollercoaster park and get some fast passes to get on the rollercoaster, but we send them on trips that they have to wait in line — it’s just balancing.”
He continues: “They don’t know any different. When I get home, they don’t care. They don’t care if I’ve sold out 10 shows or whatever. They just want to go hang with Dad and do boy and father-son dad stuff. And it’s special when we can all do it together.”
Despite his success in country music, and as a judge on American Idol, Bryan says he hasn’t really pushed music onto his children, as he feels it’s something they have to seek out themselves. Nephew Til, however, recently started playing guitar and asked Bryan for some pointers.
Even if his kids may not be the next American Idol, that’s fine by Bryan, who feels strongly that Tate and Bo have the opportunity to create a path all their own.
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“Bo and Tate, they’re not really into [music] right now, but when they come to me and they’re like, ‘Dad, I really want to learn some music,’ I’ll take the time to sit down with them and have fun,” he says. “But for the most part I just want them to be their own identity. I want them to have their own differences and their own little paths and I don’t want them to be in some monstrous shadow of me.”
He continues: “The main thing is just, we tried to raise [them with] respectful, gentlemanly manners and we feel like they’re all of that. So when we get complimented on their manners and their politeness, we’re really proud about that.”
Bryan is currently on the road with his Country On tour, which began in June. Next up he’ll play six dates on his annual Farm Tour, a final set of shows for his Las Vegas residency and his annual Crash My Playa festival in Cancún in January.
For more on Luke Bryan, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now.
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Source: HIS Education