Luke Bryan Credits Blake Shelton With Bringing Country Music to TV

Long before Luke Bryan was on American Idol, Blake Shelton was on The Voice, appearing on every season since the show began in 2011. So while Bryan is honored to represent country music on a reality TV talent show, the Georgia native says the credit really goes to Shelton for even making it possible.

"When you look at what Blake Shelton has done for country music by being on television so much," Bryan told ABC News Radio. "I mean, Blake's just showcased country music so well."

"And I take pride in being a representative for country music," he continued. "When I'm on Idol and a country singer's in front of me, [fellow judges] Lionel [Richie] and Katy [Perry] go, 'Well, Luke, what do you think?' And I have to truly try to give the right opinion."

More than finding talent, or elevating his own superstar status, Bryan hopes people who watch American Idol see that for Bryan, and the other judges, they are happy to be right where they are.

"At the end of the day, I just want people to watch Idol and see me and Lionel and Katy and Ryan [Seacrest], and see us having fun," Bryan said. "And I want them to just kind of know that we're good people, that we're trying to be good to these kids, and we want the best [out] of 'em.

"And we want to have fun doing the show," he added. "That's the exciting part about it."

For both Shelton and Bryan, being on their television show has elevated their fame in a way that radio never could have.

"The main thing is that you gotta understand, there's a segment of the world that doesn't even listen to the radio," Bryan told PopCulture.com and other media. "They just watch TV. So, the people that watch TV just learned who I was. You can divide country radio into one quarter of the population of radio listeners.

'You've got your ABC people, your NBC people, and then you got your Netflix and the whole whatever," he continued. "You can break it down however you want to. So when I'm walking, when I hop in a cab somewhere, and a foreign cab driver is like, 'I know your voice. Ooh, you're a judge on American Idol,' that's when you see that there's just a whole other segment of people."

Bryan is getting ready to return to American Idol for Season 17, which will mark his second turn as a judge – and this time, he is ready.

"Second season of Idol – I'm more excited this year because I know what to expect," Bryan acknowledged. "I'm not going to be scared the whole time. The fact that me and Lionel and Katy and Ryan we have one season under our belt, we know how much we can have fun with one another. We know how serious the contestants take it. We're excited. I know we're more excited than last year, just because we know what to expect. It's gonna be a lot of surprises and a lot of fun."

Season 17 of American Idol premieres Sunday, March 3 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Scott Dudelson