Luke Bryan Shares the Story Behind New Single ‘Down to One’

Luke Bryan named the romantic “Down to One” as his next single back in October, and the singer refreshed fans on the story behind the song in a video on Instagram last week. “‘Down to One’ is a real typical song of mine that you kind of expect from me from the years,” Bryan shared in the clip, adding that he knew the song was special on his first listen.

“The first time I heard it — it was written by one of my dear friends Dallas Davidson, who I’ve had a lot of success with as a co-writer with through the years — it just sounded like a big ol’ hit,” he said. “A guy and a girl out there in the middle of nowhere enjoying a moment together. A romantic moment. And I always feel like you’ve gotta have those on an album.”

“Down to One” was written by Davidson, Justin Ebach and Kyle Fishman and is a reminiscence about a night between two lovers done in classic Bryan fashion, bringing to mind some of the singer’s early hits. It’s also his wife Caroline’s favorite song on his latest album, Born Here, Live Here, Die Here.

“She always wants me to put out fun songs,” Bryan previously told Taste of Country Nights. “She’s like, ‘Nobody wants to hear a bunch of sad, depressing stuff. Put fun, fun, fun.’ She’s always the champion of fun and dancing.”

The song is the fourth single from Born Here, Live Here, Die Here, following No. 1s “Knockin’ Boots,” “What She Wants Tonight” and “One Margarita.” The American Idol judge was scheduled to be performing his new music on the road on tour this year, but the trek was postponed due to the pandemic. Instead, Bryan was able to spend a large amount of time at home with his family.

“Now that I think about the summer, I’d always envisioned maybe taking a year off from touring and so, hey, why not 2020? That was the year. […] Thankfully, when you live in the country, you can social distance pretty well,” he told ABC News, sharing that being at home with his family has been “pretty special.”

“I think these times have made everybody truly reflect on what’s truly important, so I think we’ll all come out of this understanding,” he said. “It’s certainly been a lot to learn, but I think we’ll come out the other end of it.”