‘American Idol’ Judge Luke Bryan Brings Epic Live Performance of “Country and She Knows It” to the Show

Luke Bryan is showing the American Idol contestants how it’s done. The country superstar took the stage during the April 27 episode of the show, performing his latest single, “Country and She Knows It,” from the Idol stage.

Bryan’s fellow judges—Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood, and guest Nikki Glaser—were clearly impressed by his time on stage. They swayed and danced along as he performed on stage.

The country singer has been an Idol judge since 2018. Even so, he’s still consistently impressed by the talent the show produces.

“What I’m really proud about is the ability to reload with talent, and we’re able to reload year after year,” Bryan recently told Billboard. “I’m home watching the college football national championship game, and bam, there’s [season 23 winner] Jamal Roberts doing the national anthem. I texted [executive producer] Megan Michaels and said, ‘Look at our boy.’”

“A year ago, Jamal didn’t know that he would be a Grammy-nominated artist or singing the anthem in front of 20 million people at the college football national championship,” he continued. “And to be a part of that, and to know that somebody in this season could potentially grow to that, that’s what’s so special about this show.”

Bryan added, “We’re in the trenches with this thing, and we’re still getting touched. You know the people at home are really feeling those emotions too, and that’s the beauty of this show.” 

What to Know About Season 24 of American Idol

While the Idol hopefuls surely enjoyed Bryan’s performance, they had lots of other things to focus on.

This week, the Top 7 contestants—Braden Rumfelt, Brooks, Chris Tungseth, Daniel Stallworth, Hannah Harper, Jordan McCullough, and Keyla Richardson—were tasked with performing songs from Taylor Swift’s catalogue.

Additionally, they will perform tracks from California’s biggest artists.

The performances are all in an effort to make the Top 5. The lucky five will move on to the Class of 2006: Reunion episode. In that installment, Idol favorites from season 5 will return to the show.

Taylor Hicks won the season, while Katharine McPhee was the runner-up. Other notable contestants included Chris Daughtry, Kellie Pickler, and Elliott Yamin.

American Idol airs Mondays on ABC.

Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Does Entertainment / UGA