Drive down Broadway in downtown Nashville and you pass one famous country bar after another. Two of them belong to men you probably know. Blake Shelton is the big, easygoing singer who spent years as a coach on “The Voice” and gave us hits like “God’s Country.” His bar and music hall on Broadway is called Ole Red. A few doors down sits Luke’s 32 Bridge, owned by Luke Bryan, the Georgia singer behind “Country Girl (Shake It for Me)” and one of the biggest touring stars in the business.
These two have been needling each other for years. It’s the kind of ribbing only close friends get away with, and fans eat it up.
This week Blake took it up a level. Literally.
He climbed to the rooftop at Ole Red, turned his camera down the street toward Luke’s place, and started in. “Oh look, there’s Luke Bryan’s bar,” he said. “That’s weird. There’s nobody there! Ghost Town USA! Ha!” Grinning the whole time, he tossed in a “What a loser” to cap off the joke. Then he panned over to Jason Aldean’s and Post Malone’s bars and called those ones “cool.”
He posted the clip with a caption that twisted the knife just a little: “Hey @lukebryan where is everyone???”
Here’s Blake’s rooftop video, so you can watch the whole wind-up for yourself.
Blake Shelton filming from the Ole Red rooftop
Watch Blake’s rooftop video on Instagram
Now, Luke Bryan is not a man who lets a jab go unanswered.
He went straight to the comments and fired back with one line: “Clearly you’re so old you go to the bar at 10am.” That one got the fans going, since Blake is the older of the two and never hears the end of it.
But Luke wasn’t finished. He grabbed his phone, climbed into a vehicle, and filmed himself rolling right past Blake’s place. As Ole Red came into view, he delivered his parting shot: “Food poisoning here we come!”
Watch Luke drive by Blake’s bar and grab the last word.
Luke Bryan’s reply, filmed driving past Ole Red
The whole thing is pure country-brother comedy. Nobody’s feelings got hurt. Blake and Luke have been poking fun at each other for a long time, on award shows and on social media, anywhere they can get a laugh out of it, and this is just the newest round.
If you’ve ever had a buddy who roasts you the second you walk through the door, you know exactly what this friendship looks like. These two clearly enjoy it every bit as much as the fans do.
So where does that leave the scoreboard this week? Blake got the first laugh from the roof. Luke got the last one from the road. Something tells us Blake is already cooking up his next move.