Luke Bryan photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

Rain makes corn. Corn makes whiskey. Whiskey makes a rhyme scheme that took Luke Bryan to No. 1.

You know that rhyme, whiskey and frisky — it’s the most enduring lyric from Luke’s song “Rain Is A Good Thing.” It’s been such a good thing for Luke that he stayed at the top of the country chart a second week once he got there.

Coming on the heels of “Do I,” Luke’s rollicking little party song has been part of a strong 2010, though its roots were planted years ago.

“The song came about from strictly an old sayin’,” Luke notes. “In college we’d have somethin’ planned, and you’d get bummed out by the rain, and we’d be like, ‘Well, rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey.’ We’d never actually said the frisky line. We made that up in the writing session.”

The “we” is Luke and his “Rain” co-writer Dallas Davidson, who’s also got his name on a bunch of other hits: Blake Shelton’s “All About Tonight,” Joe Nichols’ “Gimmie That Girl,” Trace Adkins’ “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” and Billy Currington’s “That’s How Country Boys Roll.”

As it turns out, another of Billy Currington’s songs — one that Luke wrote — played out among fans the same way that “Rain Is A Good Thing” has.

“When we wrote ‘Good Directions,’ people would always say, ‘Play the sweet-tea song,’” Luke recalls. “They wouldn’t call it ‘Good Directions.’ And it seems like it was because the sweet-tea and turnip-green stuff so overshadowed the rest of the song.”

The rhyme scheme in the chorus of “Rain Is A Good Thing” works the same way.

“You could almost name the song ‘Feel A Little Frisky,’” Luke says. “‘Cause people are sayin’, ‘Sing that song about whiskey and frisky.’”

Luke will sing that song several times in concerts this weekend, including appearances at a pair of Wisconsin festivals, Country Jam USA in Eau Claire and Country Thunder in Twin Lakes. This fall, he’ll be back out on the road as an opening act for Jason Aldean to wrap up the Wide Open Tour.

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