#1956 - Luke Combs

The Joe Rogan Experience.

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Cheers, sir.

Pleasure to meet you.

Yeah, likewise, man.

I love your shit, dude.

Thanks, man. I appreciate that.

You got a great voice and great songwriting.

I try my best. I really do.

It's great shit. Solid country.

Yeah, I try, man. I really do.

You never know. A lot of...

I don't know. I guess you always have doubts.

I mean, that comes with...

At least I do.

Constantly like, is this good enough?

Or is it country enough?

Or is it... I don't know.

It's just always... I'd be lying if I said I didn't have...

I think that's what makes you great.

I think you have to have those doubts.

I think every artist is always self-analyzing.

Always.

You have to be.

You have to.

Or else you're just...

My biggest fear is making the same record a hundred times.

Yeah, because we all know people who've done that before.

When you're a fan of someone and they do that...

That's one of the things I love about Sturgill.

Every album is a new artist.

It's like, who are you?

Everything's way different with him.

I remember Turtles all the way down coming out.

And I was like, man, this is just such a departure from the last thing.

And that can be scary as an artist, too.

Because you're like, well, all my fans that I have...

Were the fans of this previous thing.

So there's the new thing.

Alienate those people.

It's just tough, man. It's weird.

I think people have to do that, though.

If that's what you feel.

I think they go along with you.

Especially today.

I think people are more willing than ever to let people take chances.

No doubt.

And I think that comes with...

The artist now has the power in a lot of ways.

With the rise of the internet.

I think I was really one of the first people who was able to bring something to...

When I got my first deal, it was like, I already had a built-in fan base.

And that wasn't really ever happening at that time.

Because I was on this social media app called Vine.

Do you remember that?

Yeah.

And it was like...

I wasn't mega big on there or anything.

But I had enough fans, I guess, where I was selling music.

And I didn't realize that that was weird.

Until I got to Nashville.

And they're like, wait, you're selling how much?

And I'm like, oh, I thought that was...

That's low, right?

And they're like, not really.

It's not really that low at all.

And I was like, oh, that's cool.

So then you got some negotiating power, too.

Were you one of the first artists in the country scene

that kind of made it off of social media?

Yeah.

I would say me and Cain Brown, probably, were the first two.

And we both got signed at Sony.

And I think that's to credit to...

Randy Goodman, who still runs Sony Nashville,

has always been forward-thinking in that.

At least before, in my opinion, all the other labels in Nashville

were thinking about that stuff.

He was always thinking about, what's the next thing?

Or how do we stay ahead of the trend or whatever?

And other labels weren't doing that at that time.

And when you first started doing it on Vine,

were you just doing it because it was just a thing

that you could put your shit on?

You obviously didn't think that it would take off the way it did.

No.

It just made sense, right?

It was like, okay, this is a tool.

And all I was doing on there was...

I mean, the content on that app was six seconds long.

Right.

It was like TikTok, but six seconds.

And so it was like, you would have to pick out

what's the most impactful section of a George Strait song

or of a Waylon Jennings song or anything I can sing

or something that's on the radio, a Lee Bryce song

or whatever it was,

and go, what's the singinest-ass part of this song?

And I would get on there and just sing that six seconds on my guitar

and then put it on there and people were sharing and sharing.

And then when I put my own music out, I'm like,

well, obviously I'm going to market to these people

that are already like my voice and stuff.

And it just worked out.

It was never a master plan.

Right.

I wasn't like, I would love to say, man,

I had this big scheme and I had it all planned out.

It was these logical steps that just made sense to me.

I think it's kind of better that it's not a master plan,

that you just followed your instincts.

Yeah.

I always tell, I mean, there is so much luck involved, no doubt.

I mean, anybody that has success,

obviously you have to be able to sing

and you have to have songs that people like, right?

Those things are, you know, that's a given.

But there's a lot of people that I know in town

that I would argue are a lot more talented than me,

singers, songwriters, that went for the artist thing

and it was just, it wasn't the right time

or their music didn't connect at that time

with whatever the mainstream kind of fan base was.

And now they're just songwriters instead

because now they might be 40-something, you know?

And they're like, well, I don't want to,

I'm not going to get a deal and go on a radio tour.

I got three kids, you know, make, you know,

half a million dollars a year writing songs.

Right.

Yeah, but that would suck.

Yeah.

That would, listen to somebody else belting out your hits.

Yeah, but there's also a contingency of guys that like,

like I have some friends that went the route,

like they had the deal, they had the songs,

it wasn't the right time,

but then the artist thing just wasn't for them either.

Like going around and doing PR stuff,

like that gave them anxiety.

Yeah.

Having fans, that gave them anxiety.

And that's like,

I think there's people that lean more into,

they would rather just do the creative stuff and hope,

okay, I hope I can, you know, write,

I hope you dance for Leanne Womack instead of being Leanne Womack and

singing I hope you dance.

Yeah.

Well that I get, I mean, some people just,

they don't have the personality for it.

They don't enjoy it.

They're more introspective.

They're more, you know, introverted.

Yeah, I get it.

It's a weird world, right?

The world of taking your thoughts and putting them down and then sharing

them with people.

And then, you know, like, I mean,

what is it like for you when you're like at a red light and you hear some

dude playing your music next to you,

does that ever happen to you?

Yeah.

It's even crazier.

Like,

like the place that always gets me is like on,

like when someone's listening to it on a boat,

to me that's the ultimate test of a song is like,

if somebody is listening to you on a boat,

dude, they love you.

They absolutely love your shit.

That's so true.

That's so true.

You know what I mean?

Right.

I mean,

how many artists that you listen to in your car,

you probably wouldn't listen to on a boat.

It's a different thing.

Right.

Like to me,

it's like,

if it's summer,

the weather's nice,

the drinks are full,

you know,

and dude,

your songs on the boat,

that's the soundtrack to like the best time that someone could possibly be

having.

That's so true.

You know,

that's so true.

You're the highlight of their weekend or their summer.

Like that song is like a huge part of their life.

If they're playing it on a boat.

I never thought of it like that,

but that's true.

Like boat music.

It's different.

It's a different breed,

dude.

You know,

it's the ultimate.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's crazy,

man.

Yeah.

My 14 year old,

she loves Kanye West and she likes to crank Kanye West on the boat.

And I'm always like,

okay,

cool.

Yeah.

I hope nobody gets mad.

Yeah.

It's like,

forget about what he said.

These are baggers.

Is it like new Kanye or is it old?

She likes all of it.

All of it.

Yeah.

Huh?

I like the,

I love the old stuff.

I can't say I'm jamming the,

the stuff or I can't say I'm just,

I just,

to me,

the courses,

his courses in the beginning were just.

Incredible.

Incredible,

dude.

Yeah.

You know,

incredible.

Yeah.

I'm very curious to see what he comes up with now after all this

cancellation shit.

It's crazy,

but is,

is he like missing or something?

Was that a thing?

Kind of like laying back.

There was some photos of him with some lady the other day that,

you know,

he's out and about smiling.

Confirmed.

I mean,

he's around.

I don't,

I don't know what he's up to.

It's a.

Cause he lives like Milano or something now,

right?

He's got a place in Wyoming.

Okay.

Yeah.

He's got a ranch in Wyoming.

Man,

that must be nice.

Fuck.

Yeah.

That'd be cool.

Yeah.

I'd love to have one of those.

A ranch in Wyoming.

Everybody who saw Yellowstone was like,

God damn it.

I want a little like that.

They were like,

Montana's too expensive.

So I'm going to Wyoming.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Montana's overrun by yuppies.

Yeah.

I love Montana though.

God,

it's fucking beautiful.

Where Ranello lives.

Yes.

I just went to Banff last week.

Yeah.

For the first time.

Have you ever been there?

No.

Dude.

It,

it's like even more Montana,

Montana.

Really?

How could it be?

It's hard to explain,

man.

I mean,

it's just so,

so like we had,

me and my wife flew into Calgary.

Cause the closest you can get is Calgary.

Even flying private.

The closest you can get is Calgary.

So it's Atlanta and another country.

No,

it's,

they're both in Canada.

They're both in Canada.

So you go Calgary and it's an hour and a half drive to Banff.

But it is like the sickest drive,

like 20 minutes out of Calgary.

It turns into like the most rocky mountains.

Really?

And it's just,

I mean,

it's out of control,

man.

I mean,

I had never seen anything like it.

We stayed in this hotel that was like built in 1889.

Whoa.

Up there.

I'm like,

I can,

it's hard for me to get there now.

Right.

What was it like in 1889 to try to get there?

What's it made out of?

Is it made out of log?

It's stone.

Whoa.

Yeah.

So I'm like,

how do you even get the,

it had to be,

there's a railway that goes through there.

But I imagine like,

yes,

it's called the Fairmont.

Wow.

Yep.

Wow.

Look at that fucking place.

Look at that view.

Holy shit.

It was wild,

dude.

What a beautiful place.

That's from 1889.

Yep.

1889.

How did they even get there?

Like we're talking pre automobile.

Yeah.

So I grew up in Asheville

and I always think about the Biltmore house.

Have you ever been to the Biltmore house?

I've been to Asheville.

I've never,

I don't know if I've seen the Biltmore house.

Pull up the Biltmore house.

This place is staggering,

dude.

I mean,

it is like,

you can't even,

so if you sit on,

it kind of sits on this hill,

right?

So the Vanderbilts built it.

So it was the largest.

Yeah.

That's in Asheville?

Holy shit.

So if you stand on top of that building,

they owned everything you can see

from the top of that building,

which is like hundreds and hundreds

and hundreds of thousands of acres.

Wow.

I mean,

it is unbelievable.

It was the largest residence,

private residence in the United States

for a long,

long,

long,

long time.

They have the chess set in there

that Napoleon's heart was put on

after he died.

Just crazy.

They cut his heart off

and put it on a chess set?

But that's the kind of stuff

they have in that house,

dude.

Is there still a bloodstain?

I don't know.

I can't attest to that.

I can't attest,

but I used to go,

I mean,

I've been in that place four or five times.

I mean,

and it's just staggering.

Do you stay there?

Can you stay there?

you can't stay there.

It's tours,

but they have a hotel on property,

but it's not,

you don't stay in there.

They had a swimming pool,

bowling alleys.

I mean,

it was like decked out,

the biggest mansion you've ever seen,

but it was built in.

I can't attest to the date

that that one was built in,

but 1800s,

no doubt.

Wow.

I wonder why they built

such a big place in Asheville.

You know,

I don't know.

So they have,

they built a whole town around it,

right?

It's called Biltmore Village.

And I actually sang in a choir

at the All Souls Cathedral there

in high school,

which was built by the Vanderbilts as well.

And so it's like super old.

It's an Episcopalian church.

Wow.

Look at that fucking place.

Dude.

Oh my God.

I mean,

everything's marble,

dude.

I mean,

it's,

can you imagine living there

in the 1800s?

What that was like?

Wow.

Staggering.

Again,

pre automobile.

These people are riding horses

to this house.

Yeah.

Dude,

they imported,

and someone's definitely going to fact check me on this,

but I believe they imported everything

from overseas on this whole place.

The marble,

the stone.

Wow.

Look at the ceiling in that place.

Yeah.

That's incredible.

Wow.

250 rooms,

dude,

in that place.

Jesus Christ.

What a fucking place.

Some people just have too much money.

That's too much money.

Yeah.

You should,

you should,

if you're ever in Asheville,

you got to go tour that place,

man.

It's unbelievable.

My bunny Duncan grew up in Asheville,

and he lived there before he moved back here to Austin,

but he,

he grew up there,

and they used to give the cows like a special antifungal feed

because they were growing mushrooms so much

that all these kids are going out to the fields.

Sounds very Asheville.

And it's funny growing up in Asheville,

like I heard about that.

Like I heard it would be like,

oh,

if you go under the cow paddies,

man,