Luke Bryan to premiere new single next week

Anyone who caught the first two nights of Luke Bryan's Kick the Dust Up Tour last week probably has a good idea what his next single will be.

Kick the Dust Up, which will go to radio and be available for digital download Tuesday, not only gave the country superstar's new tour its name, it kicks off his shows, too.

"That's how confident we are in the song being pretty awesome," says Bryan, who has never used an unreleased song as his set opener before. "We figured the socials would start lighting up and people would start learning the words. Once it hits radio, people will catch on real quick.''

The song, a four-on-the-floor stomp that reels listeners in with a guitar hook doubled by a banjo, comes from the pens of Dallas Davidson, Chris DeStefano and Ashley Gorley, the same team behind Bryan's 2013 smash That's My Kind of Night.

Bryan says he knew back in January when he announced his summer tour that Kick the Dust Up would be a crucial track, both in concert and on his next album, due later this year. "We recorded a lot of songs, and that one stood the test of time. We decided it was worth kicking the album off to. It's a big, anthemic sing-along, so it should be pretty fun."

Bryan debuted the song during a string of Canadian dates earlier this month.

The Academy of Country Music's reigning entertainer of the year will perform Kick the Dust Up on Ellen and the season finale of The Voice, both airing Tuesday.

He'll also be the subject of an exhibit at Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum that opens May 22 and runs through Nov. 8. In addition to career memorabilia, the exhibit will display the singer's second-grade backpack, his childhood baseball uniform and a script from one of his high school plays. "It's a very flattering gesture," he says. "I'm excited to see how they put it together."

Bryan's tour, which resumes Thursday in Boise, includes stadium shows in Denver; St. Paul; Nashville; Cincinnati; San Francisco; and Cleveland.

Should Bryan ever decide he needs to take some time off from the road, his friend Blake Shelton might have just the thing to keep him out of trouble: The Voice coach recently told the Associated Press that Bryan would be a good choice to fill his seat should Shelton ever decide to leave the show.

Bryan says he would be open to that scenario, "as long as I can get the Blake Shelton contract.

"First and foremost, I love to tour and be on stage. That's where the rubber meets the road for me. But I would never say never to anything like that."