This Dad Wants to Adopt His Stepson, So He Called on Luke Bryan

Over the years, Luke Bryan has helped out with a lot of his fans’ biggest moments: He’s been on hand for proposals, pulled little kids onstage to sing in front of a cheering crowd for the first time, helped share baby news and much more. But even the country superstar was floored by a special moment during his Friday night (July 16) show in Hartford, Ct., when a stepdad asked for the country superstar’s help.

According to fan-captured footage, Bryan stopped in the middle of his set to examine a T-shirt he’d been given by someone in the crowd. ”It says, ‘Hey Luke, I want to adopt my stepson Michael. Can you help me ask him?'” the singer reads into the microphone, holding up the shirt for the crowd to see. He looks down into the front row to find the father-son duo, handing off the microphone to the man who’d given him the shirt.

The fan video from the concert shows a young boy standing in the front row, who shyly responds ”yes” to his stepdad’s adoption request before getting emotional and putting his head down on the metal fencing separating the audience from the stage.

But young Michael wasn’t the only one touched by the special moment. ”That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever watched right there, y’all,” Bryan admits, giving the father-son pair a thumbs up.

“Michael, you got a good dude standing right there behind you, buddy,” he adds. “That’s awesome. Congratulations, y’all.”

More than most performers, Bryan has a personal connection to Michael and his stepdad’s story: He and his wife, Caroline, adopted their three nieces and nephews in 2015 after a series of family tragedies. Bryan — whose brother was also killed in a car accident when he was a teenager — lost his older sister, Kelly, in 2007, after she suddenly died at home of an illness that has still never been identified. She was just 39 years old at the time, and left behind her three young children.

In 2014, Bryan’s brother-in-law, Kelly’s husband Ben Lee Cheshire, also died, leaving the couple’s three kids — then-20-year-old Jordan, 16-year-old Kris and 13-year-old Til — without parents. Bryan and Caroline stepped in to adopt all three kids, raising them alongside their own two sons, Bo and Tatum.

Since then, fans have followed along with the Bryans’ blended family story. In 2020, Til graduated from high school and went off to college. But even though he’s now a young adult starting a life of his own, he frequently appears on social media alongside the country megastar and the rest of the family; in fact, on Caroline’s Instagram page, he can be seen in the background of tour bus celebrations at Bryan’s Friday night show, which was the eve of Bryan’s 45th birthday.

Despite the emotional moment that happened onstage, Bryan couldn’t resist cracking a joke or two amid his congratulations to the new father-son pair. ”Now, do I get to keep the shirt?” he teased, referencing the T-shirt that Michael’s dad-to-be had given him. “Alright, just checking.”