Luke Bryan will return to judge American Idol next year for the upcoming Season 23, marking Bryan’s eighth season on the hit reality TV talent show. But the next season will mark a first, with Carrie Underwood marking her debut as a judge, 20 years after she  was crowned the Season 4 winner in 2005.

Bryan is by now a seasoned veteran on Idol, but he has high praise for Underwood and her first season serving as a judge.

“It’s going great,” Bryan boasts to Extra.  “Carrie and I had always been in the business together, but we never spent much time together, so to sit behind the desk and watch her really learn how to transition out of being the winner of American Idol and a superstar to being the judge at the table, but she’s doing good. The main thing is as long as she don’t pick up any of my habits. I don’t want to influence her in any way.”

Bryan recently revealed that it wasn’t his idea, or decision, to have Underwood join him and Lionel Richie as one of the three judges on American Idol, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t excited to work with the superstar for the upcoming season.

“As far as decisions, no, I didn’t get any vote, but that doesn’t mean we’re not super excited to have Carrie,” Bryan shared with Everything Nash and other outlets, at a recent media event. “They asked opinions and stuff, and everybody they were bringing up, I was like, ‘That would be great. That would be great. What about us? Are y’all hiring us?’ ‘Cause we didn’t know for a little bit.

“That’s a joke,” he added with a laugh. “So we’re excited to have Carrie. I think me and her, and our love for country music, and the brand of country music, will really line up. Obviously, I’m more [wild], and Carrie’s more very graceful and elegant, so we’ll see how she handles me. Katy was worse than me. Katy was like, ‘Oh my God, she’s going there.’”

 

Bryan isn’t the only judge excited to have Underwood join American Idol. Richie also sang her praises, after the news was announced that Underwood was filling the spot left vacant when Katy Perry exited after last season.

“It makes a lot of sense,” Richie told E! News. “It’s not someone we have to get used to. And the fact that she has a great story — she came from American Idol. What a great judge. In other words, now we don’t have to explain anymore, ‘We know how you feel.’ As artists, we know how you feel, but we’ve never been in that oval that says ‘American Idol.’ So for her, she’s been there, done that.

“To have her on the show,” he added, “she can really speak from what they have to go through, what they’re feeling, and on top of that, just be a ham sandwich, like the two of us. Welcome to the ham sandwich squad.”

As for Underwood, the Oklahoma native is eager to return to the show that made her a household name two decades aog.

“it feels like home,” Underwood told Good Morning America. “There are so many people that even still work on the show that were there when I was a contestant. And I feel like being on both sides of the coin, I’ll be able to hopefully offer some insight and help and kind of offer a different viewpoint.”

Season 23 of American Idol will premiere on March 9 on ABC.