no longer lukewarm about luke combs
and that one song that gets stuck in my head
The first time I really acknowledged that I was listening to Luke Combs was while I was sitting in Spoon’s Garage. Spoon’s is a kind-of-diner-kind-of-restaurant in North Texas and the Garage is a connected restaurant for I guess quick bites and cocktails and coffee. It doesn’t make a ton of sense because, like, you can order all of these things in the main restaurant, so, like, why do you need a smaller version of Spoon’s? But this essay isn’t about the Garage, I’ll circle back to that another time.
So, I was sitting in the Garage, flipping through CDs I had just bought at Red Zeppelin (a great record store and mini-venue). I think I had a Diet Dr. Pepper and an order of fried pickles. My sister was saying something to me, probably about Glee, when the country song that had been playing above us faded out and changed to a song that immediately started to push. I couldn’t hear much but it was an instant shift with someone hammering a couple keys on a keyboard and a slapping kick drum. I recognized it was Combs because of his deep voice but nothing else. The song unfolded into a story that I only caught pieces of, a brother, a trip to California, and something that made him wail. Then the song finished, I scribbled my signature on a check with a hot pink pen, said bye to the person from high school I saw in the restaurant, and left.
In the middle of the night, I remembered to look up the song and after typing in the limited lyrics I recalled, I found it — “Where the Wild Things Are.” I can’t say this song is the best song ever nor is it the best country song recently but it is good. It grooves a little, it’s easy to sing along to, and it really showcases the unexpected tenacity of Combs’ voice. The song follows a simple story: the singer’s brother moved to California, got into the party scene, invited the singer to come with him, the singer does because he loves his brother, the singer couldn’t handle the party lifestyle, he left, and the brother died tragically as a victim of this grandeur.
Obviously, there’s a pretty immediate question about whether this song is autobiographical. But it’s not. It’s purely Traditional Country Storytelling. Which, despite being a mainstay of the genre, feels particularly refreshing in this overly-biographical storytelling song era. It reminds me of an outlaw style he rarely pulls from anymore, a subgenre that wove elaborate stories about sinning and failure. Combs talks fondly of Waylon and this feels like the closest he has come to that inspiration in a minute.
Now, Luke Combs’ doesn’t write all his own songs, his credits are pretty mixed across his discography and it seems like he acts as more of a composer and producer than songwriter. “Where the Wild Things Are” was written by Randy Montana and Dave Turnball and in fact it was originally offered to fellow North Carolina star, Eric Church, who passed on it before it was taken by Combs. I bring this up because despite the amount of people involved in his song creation process, he has an incredibly tight discography compared to his contemporaries and while they all might sound a little similar, I haven’t found a song of his I hate yet.
Some background on the guy. He is from Asheville, North Carolina and by all accounts just seemed to really want to play music. His whole life is full of musical stories like him joining choir or getting a job as a bouncer at a bar so he can get stage time there. His professional career really started in the mid-2010s when he came roaring out of the gates as an anti-popular-country-country star, but that has softened for more of a traditional country music approach. He plays a lot of guitar and has a signature kind of growl in his voice that makes his songs particularly distinct in monotonous current country playlists. He has released 5 studio albums and just got nominated for yet another Grammy today for his contributions to the Twisters soundtrack (the lead single “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” which I talk about here). His hit song is “Beer Never Broke My Heart” but “When It Rains It Pours” is his most streamed. He weirdly has not crossed into a billion streams on Spotify. And he has OCD which I add because I also have OCD.
So, I like Luke Combs. In the current pantheon of Hot Country stadium artists, I find him to be the most genuine-ish and probably one of the most talented. I was pretty lukewarm (haha) until his performance of “Fast Car” with Tracy Chapman during the 2024 Grammys. I went to a college that lived and breathed that song. I have a lot of personal memories attached to it, from hearing it at parties to playing it in the car with friends. Like many protectors of 80s singer-songwriters, I was initially annoyed at his choice to cover a song that I felt was too personal and too great. But at the Grammys it was clear that his cover was good, and not only that, but he watched Chapman with such a glowing reverence that made me cry. Moreso, at her request, he changed nothing about the arrangement or the lyrics (EXCEPT THE BREAKING NEWS WHILE I WAS WRITING THIS — he flubbed a word but she said it was fine), which means he opted to sing the song from the perspective of a woman, as written. This is simply something I doubt any of his peers would do. Throughout the whole exercise, it just became abundantly clear that he had the opportunity to sing his favorite song and he took it. In the album, it is very lovingly pressed between other, similarly themed songs (and next to another driving away song: “Where the Wild Things Are”) and if anything, just proves how much he is inspired by Chapman.
It’s this endearing adoration for All Of This that I think sets Combs apart from the other Country Guys, who I personally believe are dragging the genre to the ground while its taking off. I’m looking at a list of people who have played Cowboy Stadium this year, because it’s my personal benchmark for being a big name, to make these next remarks.
Why does Combs stand out? Zach Bryan clearly loves music and making it, but because he is the soundtrack of the Zynternet, he seems caught up in the fame of it all. As I wrote this, he is swept up in another grim controversy. Jelly Roll is another nice breakout country star, but I would at least half heartedly argue that he is not really country, moreso gospel-inspired Southern rock and after that I would argue that his music just isn’t very good. That’s the biggest divider between him and Combs. Then there’s Morgan Wallen who is the symbol of the genre’s most reactionary impulses — it doesn’t matter what his songs sound like, his support comes from him being notably awful. Tangentially, I will also point to Post Malone, who I have written about extensively, but concluded that while he is a great addition to whatever is happening in the Country Music Machine, he is not confident enough to do anything meaningful. But you can listen to their duet here.
Instead, Luke Combs stands closer to Chris Stapleton, Eric Church, and even Tyler Childers, who I would categorize as popular but keeping their profiles fairly low as country music explodes around them. These guys represent a more emotional and vulnerable side of the current sound. Compared to the the other stadium bros, these guys are largely participating in an acoustic-driven movement but I would also dare to call it notably sappy. This group of guys make a lot of songs that are perfect for not only weddings, but first dances. Even father/daughter dances. In fact, I think Luke in particular excels in these mildly-vague and thus deeply-applicable declarations of care and appreciation that he sings in all his songs. Case in point: his latest album, is, and I kid you not, just about being a father and being a son.
Fathers & Sons is Combs’ 5th album and was released this June — notable because it was released in time for Fathers Day and its promotional roll out included cards from American Greetings. Dare I call it a concept album about, well, fathers and sons? Either way, I am incredibly endeared by it for two reasons. The first is that while it just is kind of filling a niche (songs about dads), I think he disarmed a lot of the overbearing masculinity of current country hitmakers by releasing this. I don’t know if he totally meant to but I think just writing an album about family is pretty automatically tender and very old school of him. My second reason is one song which I just really want to talk about, “Whoever You Turn Out to Be.” This is a song addressed to future kid and basically just reassures this kid that no matter who they are, their dad will always love them.
So what if you don't stick around this little town that raised you? / You'll always have your spot at Sunday supper that we saved you / Now it might work out that you don't turn out anything like me / But I'll love whoever you turn out to be
And I guess in this hypermasculine, overly introspective moment, this song just stopped me in my tracks. It’s just so sweet and accepting, a combination this genre is not known for. It feels almost critically important to have such a major voice in a popular country essentially making a song that declares that you should accept your children for who they are no matter what – affirming that it's easy and undeniably your job as a parent to do so. I also feel warmly because country songs look back and rarely look forward, so this kind of breaks country norms by throwing this idea of love and acceptance into the future.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Luke Combs is still just a Hot 100 Country Guy. He isn’t some perfect shining star or someone untouched by the eye roll-inducing behavior of Nashville. In fact his honky-tonk just opened this week. But there is still something very genuine about him, that I just can’t name. Most recently, he and Eric Church immediately hosted a benefit concert for North Carolina following the devastation of their home brought by Hurricane Helene. They used their celebrity to get immediate use of Bank of America Stadium (home of the Carolina Panthers) and high-profile acts like Keith Urban and Sheryl Crow. Ultimately, the event hosted 82,000 people and gathered $24.5 million in relief funds. You can’t fake caring like that.
Anyway, if you couldn’t tell, I just threw this together while waiting for a new episode of my favorite bad TV show and while sitting at a bar. So I’ll wrap it up.
I don’t know why I really decided to double back into Luke Combs this week. I think I was just thinking about the upcoming Country Music Awards (hosted by Peyton Manning) and thinking about the year it's celebrating. And this has been a good year for him. I don’t think Combs is particularly innovative but I do think he’s good, he’s fun, and he has a tangible love for what he’s up to given the complicated state of the genre he’s in. I think it's very likely that in the future it’ll be kind of cool to say you saw Combs live and you will be able to walk into any Nashville gift shop and get a vintage ringer tee with his name on it.