Country's Luke Bryan doing his thing with new album

Country music artist Luke Bryan arrives at the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas April 5, 2009.

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Rising country star Luke Bryan, whose debut album spawned two radio hits, is doing his own thing with his appropriately titled follow-up.

"Doin' My Thing" is due October 6 via Capitol Nashville, and Bryan says he was not afraid of the so-called sophomore slump that often afflicts successful rookies.

"When you stop writing songs, that's when you back yourself into a corner," the singer/songwriter says. "As long as you've got 100 songs written, the pressure's off. I just focus on making sure I've got the songs and go from there."

The new album's first single "Do I," which speaks to the challenges of maintaining a marriage, is currently No. 17 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart after 17 weeks on the chart. Bryan co-wrote the song with Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood.

The album also includes a cover of OneRepublic's "Apologize." Bryan recalls doing the song "on a whim one night in Athens, Ga. The crowd just flipped out, so we kept doing it."

How a song plays in front of concert crowds helped Bryan shape his new album. "I'm more sure about who I am and know what songs I'm going to like to perform on the road day in and day out," he says. "There are songs on my first album that I've never performed live. Any song that's on this new album is a song that I could do live and be proud doing it."

Bryan, who has toured as an opening act for Kenny Chesney and Brooks & Dunn, will headline his own month-long tour beginning October 30 in Jacksonville, Fla.

The singer will also kick off his Farm Tour October 5 at a plantation outside of Statesboro, Ga. It's an opportunity for Bryan -- who grew up on a rural Georgia peanut farm -- to give back to charity organizations in local farming communities. He envisions eventually performing a series of shows across the country annually.

"We hope to build it to the point where we can dedicate a portion of each year to the Farm Tour and do 20 shows," he says. "It would be our own little festival."

His 2007 album "I'll Stay Me" spawned two top 10 airplay singles, including the top five "All My Friends Say," and has sold 262,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

(Editing by DGoodman at Reuters)