Luke Bryan debuts emotional 'Up' music video featuring footage from his childhood

Luke Bryan premiered the music video for his current single, "Up,” Thursday, giving his mid-tempo ode to small-town life an equally sentimental visual treatment.

The video -- which premiered exclusively on Facebook -- starts with the country singer sitting in a barn after sundown, watching old home movies on a projector.

As memories flood the barn, the collection of people watching along with Bryan begins to grow. We see families smiling together and folks of all ages following along with the videos, ultimately heading outside to release lit-up paper lanterns into the night sky.

There’s a bittersweet real-life story behind the shoot: The home movies Bryan is watching are personal ones, and director Shaun Silva captured the singer’s reaction to seeing them for the first time. Among the videos are Bryan holding his kids, fishing with his dad and hunting with his sons.

One snippet is a close-up shot of Bryan’s brother, Chris, who died in a car accident at age 26.

"When I saw the footage of my boys with both their grandfathers, and then the close-up clip of my brother basically looking at me, it was so overwhelming," Bryan said, according to a press release.

"I could not be prouder, not only of the message of this song, but also how this video turned out," he added.

"Up” is the sixth single off Bryan's latest album, "Born Here Live Here Die Here."