Kane Brown knew immediately that he was “in love” with one of his latest smash-hit anthems, “Like I Love Country Music.” The toe-tapping country song is packed with references to some of the biggest legends of the genre, including Alan Jackson.

“I got lucky with ‘Like I Love Country Music,’” Brown, a longtime fan of Jackson's, said during a CMT Storytellers special. “I was on the bus. I had some writers out at a writers retreat. It was the ‘Chattahoochee’ line, because they knew I was an Alan Jackson fan, and so they started the ‘Chattahoochee’ line. And then the Brooks & Dunn ‘Brand New Man’ came in, and I immediately fell in love.”

Brown penned the song in 2019, singing in the first verse on the track: “Girl, you gone and done it to me/ Hotter than a hoochie coochie/ Got me like that first time I heard Alan Jackson Chattahoochee/ I was never the same again, I'm a lifelong fan/ Yes, I am/ Baby, I love you like I love country music.”

“Like I Love Country Music” is one of 17 tracks on Different Man, Brown’s latest album that made its debut in September 2022. The collection is packed with unforgettable anthems that fuse influences spanning music genres, including “Grand,” “One Mississippi,” “Drunk or Dreamin’” and the romantic duet with his wife, “Thank God.”

Brown is one of the leading nominated artists at the upcoming 2023 CMT Music Awards, including in the Video of the Year category (“Thank God,” with Katelyn Brown), the Male Video of the Year category (“Like I Love Country Music”) and the Collaborative Video of the Year category (“Thank God,” with Katelyn Brown). Brown is also set to co-host the show with Kelsea Ballerini.

The 2023 CMT Music Awards will air live from Moody Center in Austin, Texas, from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET, per CMT. The show is set for April 2 on CBS. See the full list of nominations here.

Brown is part of the all-star iHeartCountry Festival lineup on May 13, at Moody Center in Austin, Texas. Fans across the country will able to tune in to all of the incredible live performances at this year's iHeartCountry Festival as the event will be broadcast on iHeartRadio country stations nationwide, and on iHeartRadio.com as well as the iHeartRadio app on Saturday, May 13th at 8pm ET/5pm PT.

Watch Kane Brown perform and tell the story behind “Like I Love Country Music” here:

Amy James