LUKE COMBS: The Man Behind The Success (Marriage, Fatherhood & Life With OCD)

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The guy that says he's always going to be there
and that will do anything to be there is the
only guy that's not there. I'm in Australia when Bo
was born. The whole identity is that no matter what,
I'm going to prioritize my wife and my children over
my job. I dread the conversation with my son.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
What do you think you today? Hey, everyone, welcome back
to on Purpose, the place you come to become the happier,
healthier and more yield. Today's guest is someone that I've
been so excited to have on the show. I'm speaking
about Luke Comb's Grammy nominated, multi platinum country artist and
one of the most successful musicians of his generation. His

(00:40):
music is known for its honesty, heart and relatability and
has reached millions around the world. Beyond the success, Luke
is known for his humility, his deep commitment to his family,
and especially his fans. Today, he joins me to talk
about fatherhood, mental health, and how he stays grounded through
it all. Please welcome to Purpose, Luke Combs.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, thank you for having me. Man. That was a
heck of an intro. I got a lot to live
up to. I feel like you did.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
All of it, all of it. You're doing all of it.
I mean, it's it's amazing when you know, I just
met your team and they're wonderful, and the way they
speak about you wonderful. But it's genuine. And I'm like,
when I hear about your reputation, your reputation precedes you
for this interview. I'm sure it looks the nicest guys,
you know, I like hearing that. Has that been work?

(01:28):
Has it been hard to stay grounded? Or is it
just who you are?

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yeah? I think I think it's both, you know, I
think and you know, I've always thought that, you know,
when you reach a certain level of success or what
I hate fame, I hate the word celebrity. I hate
those words. They're weird and they make me uncomfortable a
little bit. But it's reality, Like also accept it and
it's just weird to like say it. I don't want
it to ever sound like a bragg adocious thing. But

(01:56):
I think when you get to a certain point, like
the fame, the success or the influence, like it just
kind of accentuates and exacerbates the inherent person that you are, right, Like,
if you're I think if you were a great guy
and you become rich and successful and famous or whatever, like,
it gives you the opportunity to be more of who

(02:18):
you already are. It gives you a chance to be
more giving, or more passionate, or more I don't know,
more narcissistic if that was your you know, if that's
already like, if you have a proclivity to be that
way anyways, it just it just kind of inflates that.
It makes like the super version of who you already are,
you know. But it does take a lot of work too.

(02:39):
Me and my team are really close, you know. Every
everybody's like, oh, you know, we're a family out here
or what. You know. It's like I hear that all
the time, and I truly believe it, and I hope
that everyone else that says that believes that too. But
that's really the way that we try to operate, you know.
It's kind of like, you know, it's it's you know,
one for all kind of mentality on the road with us.

(03:03):
And I think you you know, I mean, it's not
hard in my opinion to be kind to people. And
maybe that's just because that's the way that I am,
you know, and that's down to the dorman at the
hotel or my manager, you know what I mean. Or
you know, it's like, in my opinion, it's not it's
not a difficult thing to do, to just choose to

(03:24):
be kind and be grateful for this. Even if I'm
having a tough day, you know what I mean, I'm
still go out of my way to be kind to
people because I think, you know, it's it's an important
thing to do, you know. It's it's every interaction that
I have with someone, from a random fan of meet
at the grocery store to my kids, Like every impression

(03:46):
makes an impression, whether it's a small one or a
huge one, you know, And so I always just try
to be really mindful of that in my interactions with
with anyone.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Did you ever believe this would be your life?

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Never?

Speaker 2 (03:59):
Never did you think life was going to look like?

Speaker 1 (04:02):
You know, I was a you know, if you would
have asked me ten years ago or twelve years ago,
I would have been really afraid of the answer, you know,
because I had no idea. I feel like I was
kind of aimlessly floating. I felt like I was kind
of checking boxes that were like I felt like I
was supposed to be checking, which was like, like I

(04:22):
graduated high school and it was like, okay, what now.
And I was like, well, you go to college. That's
just what happens, you know, That's what you're supposed to do,
you know. And so I went and did that, and
I had a great time in school. I really I
didn't like school. I liked being at the school, but
I didn't like being in school, if that made sense,
you know. So I was doing a lot of that,

(04:43):
and I would spend a lot of time, you know,
like I was majoring in business at the very beginning,
and then I switched to criminal justice, and I enjoyed
criminal justice a lot more than I enjoyed business. I had.
I just liked that, like studying that it was interesting
to me. And then but it was still like it
just never felt quite right, you know. It was like

(05:04):
it just doesn't feel like And I would get scared
as every year would tick by in college, it was like, oh,
I'm a year closer to having to make this like
really important life decision that I'm like don't feel prepared
to make in any way, or don't feel good about making,
like and I didn't really I guess maybe understand or
have the ability to process that. At the time, it

(05:25):
was just like time keeps going whether you want it
who or not, and so you're just kind of like sitting,
like the light at the end of the tunnel gets closer.
But it was almost the opposite effect, like it felt
like I was in this great place, like I'm in school,
I love my friends, I love the social aspect. I
enjoy being around people my age that are, you know,

(05:47):
like minded, and having the activities I love to do.
It was almost the opposite. It was almost like the
darkness at the end of the tunnel was like this
idea of like being a real adult and like college
ends and then you're like you basically just go into
the workforce and then you're miserable for thirty years and
then you retire. And it was like I was so
scary that like idea of that because I hadn't found

(06:10):
like it's something I was passionate about at that time,
and so it was a scary proposition to go, like
when this ends, what now? You know what I mean?
So that was kind of my experience there, and that
was the way that I was living my life at
that time. And then when I found, you know, when
I picked the guitar up, you know, towards the end

(06:32):
of my college career. It was like immediately all made sense.
It like flipped, like the whole script just flipped. It
was like then it was like, oh, like I'm almost out,
Like now I can go do the thing I want
to go do, and it all made sense. But if
I hadn't found that passion, you know, I don't know
what I would be doing right now, to be quite honest, And.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Is that what it felt like? It felt like discovering
a passion, Like it felt like.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Oh, definitely, it almost felt like discovering what I was
meant to do. It was almost like beyond a pass
It was like, well, this is what I was meant
to do, Like this what I was like put on
earth to do. Is this thing just because I loved
singing my whole life? Man, it was like it was
a big part of my self worth was derived from,
like my identity I derived from, like this is the

(07:16):
thing that I'm good at, Like I'm not good at
anything else as far as from a skill standpoint, I thought, oh, SKay,
well I'm a good friend, Like I'm a good son
like that stuff wasn't kind of I felt confident in
those things, but I didn't feel fulfilled in like what
will my role be in the world, Like what will

(07:37):
I contribute to the world? And it never had to
be some big thing, like my idea of it wasn't. Well,
there's some but I feel like if you're good at
something and you have a passion for it, you have
this inherent sense of like I can contribute or make
the world a better place in some way by doing
the thing that I'm good at. I can positively impact
people's lives by doing something that I love to do

(08:00):
and being great at it, and that can benefit other
people in other ways. And music was my way of
doing that.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, what's like a childhood memory that you have that
you feel defines who you are today.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
I think I have a tremendous ability to suffer because
of the OCD things that I've dealt with. I've talked
about that stuff a lot, almost a nauseam and some
not in a negative way. But I'm very open about it.
I'm not afraid to speak about it. But that was
very defining for me. I had a great childhood. My

(08:32):
parents were great, great home, hardworking, my parents are still married,
they're still around, So I worry sometimes when I talk
about like how tough it was being younger for me,
and like I worry when my parents see these things
that they think that that has some reflection of like
them as parents. It doesn't at all, you know, Like
they went above and beyond for me as parents, and

(08:53):
becoming a parent myself has made me. I'm more thankful
for them every day as I raise my kids because
I realized how difficult it is and I realized how
hard it was, and I've gained this great appreciation even
more so for them as I raise my own children.
So I don't want them to ever get the idea
that it was anything to do with them. But the

(09:14):
whole nature of that kind of OCD, there's a lot
of like suffering in silence, right, and it's given me
this really great outlook on I know what bad is, dude.
Like I've been to the bottom in here, and it's
like I'm not there. You know, I still have a
proclivity to be able to go there if certain things

(09:37):
line up and you know, I were to have an
OCD moment or something, but those moments are few and
far between, and they're a lot shorter lived than they
used to be. And I'm not afraid of those moments anymore.
I lived my life when I was younger in fear
of like when is this going to come back? And
why is it? I don't even know what it is
at that time. It's like I wasn't like a diagnost
you know, it was something I felt like, I mean,

(09:59):
even a hard time explaining to my parents like what
They're like, what do you what do you mean? You know,
like they're not I mean, they weren't you know, they're
not clinical psychologists, so they don't really understand, you know,
And so I can't imagine how afraid they were at
the time of like, well, I wish we could help
our child, you know. I can't imagine how helpless you
would feel. If my kids came to me with something
that I didn't understand, I would be like, well, gosh,

(10:21):
I don't even know how to explain, Like who, where
do would I even take them? You know? And so
that was a really defining part of like my childhood.
You know, it's not the only memory, but it's the
one that kind of sticks out as like this common theme,
like every couple of years, I would go through these
really brutal OCD stints without even knowing what was going on.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
Well do you feel comfortable talking about some of those days?

Speaker 1 (10:47):
And oh, certainly, yeah, certainly. I mean filed like days
like filled with like rhumination, you know, like a lot
of like you know, people ask me about and what
the experience is like, and I try to describe to people,
and it's almost like indescribable sometimes, like I think they think,
and this is not a slight to anyone that may
think this. If you haven't experienced it, you almost can't

(11:09):
understand it to some extent. And they're like, well, how
how often it is, like I'm talking about, you know,
ninety five percent of the day, from opening your eyes
to closing them at night, you are thinking about this
thing and it's causing you a tremendous amount of anxiety
and like mental anguish to try to like find the

(11:31):
answer to this unanswerable question. It's it's scary because it's
like you're so, I think it's helped my songwriting, and
I think it's helped my ability to be creative. I
think the creativity can be a blessing and a curse
in that way. It can help me create scenarios in
my mind that really don't have a leg to stand on,
and I can build them into you know, one world

(11:52):
trade in my mind from nothing, and that can be
really great in a songwriting sense. It can be really dangerous,
like a mental health sense. So those days would be
go to bet. You close your eyes and you go, gosh, like,
I just hope in the morning, I'm not thinking about
this thing, and the second you open your eyes, it's
the first thing you think of. And then you spend

(12:13):
the entire day either thinking about it or trying not
to think about it and hoping that it would go away,
and feeling hopeless and saying, why me, Why am I
like this? What did I do to deserve this? Like
almost having some like almost like there's almost like an
anger to it. A sham and Gill as well, Yeah,
and you're just like, what like this, like because outwardly,

(12:36):
like the world around me was so great. I have
this great you know, these great parents that go out
of their way to take care of me. I have
great friends. We have a nice home. It's safe, I
have food to eat, I'm in a great school, I
have great friends. I have a great life. I have talent,
I have drive, you know, but that would just it

(12:57):
would just I mean it's like, basically, if everything in
the room was so great and there was one pile
of dog shit on the floor and all the lights
went off and they just shined on the pile of
dog shit, it was like that was the only thing
I could focus on. You know, I hate to put
it in such a crude way, but like great, it's
a great way. It's like the room is perfect, but
the dog people on the floor. I have to do
is clean it up. But you don't know how to

(13:19):
clean it up, and you can't get rid of it,
and it becomes the only thing you think about, and
it's like all you focus on, and like you don't
have the ability to focus on all the good or
even the mental capacity to be appreciative of the good
because you spend so much mental energy on the negative thing,
the one negative thing.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
That with those thoughts as a kid that kept.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
So those themes, you know, they change every time. So
like if you go through let's say you go through
a theme. You know, I'm sure you're aware of OCD stuff.
It's all it's theme based, right, And you basically only
have one theme at a time. It's funny, like, let's
say I was worried about uh, Like if I was
having intrusive thoughts about like committing violence against someone or something,

(14:01):
and they're causing me all this stress, and I'm like,
what does that mean about me? What does that say
about me? And then if I switched, like if my
theme were to switch to the next day, I'm like,
what if I was a schizophrenic and I didn't know it?
And you're like and you're panicked, and you're completely panicked,
and you're all consumed by that. I'm talking in an
instant like I would say, I've been worrying about all

(14:23):
this violent stuff, all these horrible thoughts and things that
you don't want to going through your head. The second
I have that new thought of like what if I
what if I'm schizophrenic? Right, and then you go instantly
you can think on all the violent stuff and go, well,
that was dumb. I'm not even worried about that at all.
It doesn't even seem like something you ever would have
even worried about. You're like, that was so stupid when

(14:45):
and I waste three months of my life stressing about
that thing. But when you're in it, it's not like
you don't have the capability of to turn it off,
you know. I remember my dad would say, and this
is no slight to him, this is you know, this
is classic like dad stuff. He'd be like, well, son,
just don't think about it. I'd be like, well, man,

(15:07):
that would be great. That's kind of the whole point
of like, well, that's what I'm trying to get to,
you know, I'm trying to figure out how to do that.
That's kind of the struggle, you know. And as nos light,
because again, we I'm on die you don't know what's
going on, Like we go out and take a walk,
you know, or something. It's like, it's not that simple.
You know. I'm sure that would have actually helps quite

(15:27):
a bit, but it's not quite that simple. And so yeah,
I mean, you know, you spend the whole day, like
I mean, there's days when I'm like, I don't even
want to go to school, man, like cause I'm just
going to be thinking about this all day and be
stressed about it, and be thinking about it at football practice,
think about it in choir, and think about it in
math class, and think about it at lunch with my
friends and just you just constantly your brain's just constantly

(15:50):
bombarding you with like these like life or death feelings
of like you need to address this issue. It's a
big issue, and it has to be a dress right now.
And you are in this heightened state of like you're
almost in like fight or flight mode all the time,
and it's just exhausting. It's so mentally exhausted, like having

(16:11):
this battle with yourself. And I'm very thankful to be,
you know, to have gone through that. It's definitely made
me a better person and made me more appreciative of
the life I have now the grasp on it, the
understanding of my own mind, and you know, thankfulness and
just joy and reveling in the good times when they're around,

(16:32):
which thankfully now is ninety nine percent of the time.
You know. I just I'm well equipped. I have the tools,
you know, And not that I'm immune to it or
anything like that, but I'm hyper aware of it and
I can I'm more aware now of the things that
what the thought patterns and the way that it happens
and the way that it comes about, and I'm I'm

(16:52):
an expert at combating that in my own head, and
that's been a really great blessing, you know. But I
and having the platform now to speak about it and
be okay with it, and it's never something I was
particularly ashamed of. It was just something that I didn't
know how to verbalize and know how to speak about

(17:14):
in a way that other people can understand. And I
feel lucky to have the ability now to be a
voice for someone that's out there right now that may
be in the situation I was in and at twelve
or thirteen years old, and they're going look at this guy,
like maybe there's if there's one kid that doesn't feel

(17:34):
as hopeless as I felt watching this now like that
it's all worth it to me. Like being able to
like be that light for someone else and hopefully, you know,
is a really great feeling, to be honest.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
Which relationship was most negatively impacted in your life at
that time because of it?

Speaker 1 (17:54):
My relationship with myself. I didn't really have a lot
of time to figure out who I was because I
couldn't think about anything else. And maybe I would have
picked up guitar in seventh grade when my parents bought
it for me, because I would have had time to
focus on that, you know, I can't do anything about
that now. And things worked out the way they were
supposed to work out, I mean obviously, you know. I

(18:16):
mean here I am, you know, And it's that that
was the one that was tough. Is like you don't
get any time to like do all these like this
kind of like my childhood was great. It was idyllic really.
Besides this, I don't want to sound like it was
like constant dread and doom and like there were certainly
spells of that, and it was like those were kind

(18:38):
of like the defining things along the way. But there
was a lot of good too, you know. I don't
want to make it sound like I had the worst
life ever because I didn't, but it was. It was
very very hard at times, and it was very isolating
and made you feel very alone and like very vulnerable
and very confused, you know what is going on? Like

(18:58):
I don't imagine my friends dealing with this, you know,
and if they are, I would talk to my friends
about it. I mean Austin, who I'm sure you met,
is my best friend from childhood really, and I talked
to him about it. You know, he knew I He's
like but that you know, they don't have any answers,
but they're like, Bro's it's all good, you know, Like
they were always very supportive. No one was like, you're weird.

(19:20):
I can't believe you're doing this. Like, I'm lucky that
everyone in my life was supportive of my struggles. And
I'm glad that I was open about him and felt
the ability to be open about him. That in and
itself is a blessing. You know, I can't imagine a
kid out there right now whose family's like, listen, you
better stop talking about this. I'm sick of hearing about it,
you know what I mean. It's like that would just

(19:41):
crush is my soul. You know, it's already so hard
even if everyone is open to the whole thing. So
that would say that that was the relationship honestly affected
the most, because if I didn't tell you, if you
would have met me at thirteen years old or fourteen
years old, like you wouldn't have even known something. You
can see it's all in here. Like That's why they

(20:02):
call it purely obsessional, because only because that's a bit
of a misnomer in my opinion, to your medical people,
it's a misnomer, But there are tons of compulsions. They're
just all mental compulsions. They're not outward. So they call
it purely obsessional because all the compulsion, it's not like
I'm like, oh gosh, this glass, I better get it.

(20:22):
You know, this thing, this moving this glass around and
getting it to feel right is all happening in here
instead of out here. Yeah, you know they're like checking
the stove one hundred times to make sure it's off.
I'm doing that up here instead of doing it. Yeah,
there's no physical manifestation of the compulsions. So yeah, huge,

(20:43):
huge part of my life.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
Yeah, No, I appreciate you saying it. I mean, yeah,
you're sharing it is helping so many other people, as
you said, listening, learning, trying to you know, that kid
who wants to tell their family, tell their friend, you know,
and recognize that it's not some dysfunction that they have,
but just something that they're experiencing. What OCD look like
now in your life.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
What happens is not any different. I think now when
it does happen, I'm just so much more aware of it,
you know, And it's good. It's good because when it happens,
I can just I straight up tell her, like when
I'm like, hey, this is going on, like just so
you know, like if I seem a little absent minded,
or if I'm like if you say something and I

(21:24):
didn't quite pay enough attention to it, like it's not
just me being aloof it's like I'm I'm kind of
going through this, and so she understands that. So I
don't have to worry about that, Like I don't have
to worry about her. Why are you being weird? Like
it's just an honest thing, and she feels for me,
which is nice to know that there's someone that understands
what I'm going through, that's supportive of it and doesn't

(21:46):
judge me for it at all. And you know, I
mean again, she's no therapist either. So but I I'm
so well equipped now.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
What what has been that equipped? What's that help people
are struggling?

Speaker 1 (22:00):
Honestly, the interesting thing about it is like not like
not giving any like any credibility or attention to the
thoughts is ultimately the thing that makes it go away, right,
But the years and years and years of not knowing
that your go too is like think about the thoughts
and try to figure it out and try to solve it.
So when you do that, like I didn't find out

(22:22):
what I had till I was probably like nineteen or twenty. Really,
like I didn't find pure o OCD until then. I'd
been dealing with it for seven or eight years at
that time. And once I found it naturally enough, I
obsessed about it, trying to figure it out, like what
does this mean? And a lot of that not not

(22:43):
from I don't want to try to like I'm not
trying to say like, oh, I was really great and
I figured it out. It was basically like one of
the big no nos of OCD is seeking reassurance that
whatever the thought you have is not founded in any
fact or reality, right, Like that the trap is like
trying to solve the problem. So when you're young and

(23:05):
you're in it, you're constantly seeking reassurance in your own
mind to like discredit the thoughts that you're having. And
so I would use that diagnosis. I would go and
study this. I would go study what's puro and what's
you know, understand the way that people that have it
think and the tools, and like I was looking that

(23:29):
stuff up to try to alleviate the anxiety from the thoughts.
Little did I know, and not that anyone should do this,
I would not suggest it, but little did I know,
I was basically teaching myself to be an expert on
the disease that I had or the mental illness that
I had. And so now I'm so well versed and

(23:50):
studied in it, and again not a therapist, don't claim
to be. Now I know the thought patterns and I'm
so familiar with like I can feel it coming on.
I know when it's happened, and I don't know why
it happens, and I know I just have the entire
tool belt of like getting rid of it if I
need to. And I think that as I mean, it's

(24:12):
a blessing and a curse. You know, it was a
curse the way I got to it, But it's a
blessing now, you know, having that knowledge. It keeps me
from from you know, slipping into that state a lot,
a lot, you know. And when I talk about OCD,
I mean that's the most interaction I get from people
reaching out to me a lot. A man like you're

(24:34):
the only guy I know that's ever talked about this,
because it's kind of like an obscure variant of OCD.
It's not as common as like stereotypical.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
Sure, you know.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
You're hearing about it more and more now though, yea, certainly,
it's like it's definitely an understudied I mean there was
a time even ten or twelve years ago I was
looking it up that some OCD doctors were like, that's
not a real thing. Yeah, I'm like, wow, Oh, what
a dangerous thing to like say in a public Like
what an arrogant thing to say, like if you've never

(25:06):
had it, just even though you're an expert regardless, And
I'll probably get roasted for this online, like like how
dare you say it? If you've never like you, like
saying someone's mental condition like doesn't exist. It's an incredibly
damaging thing, especially given the nature of the one that
you're talking about, because that in and of that statement

(25:29):
in and of itself could send someone into a six
month spiral, Like that statement could kick off an entire
another episode of like life crippling OCD for someone with OCD,
because then they would read it and go, oh my god,
it's not real. I really am a murderer, or I
really am gonna crash my car into school you know

(25:52):
what I mean, Like it just makes people like so panicked,
you know.

Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah, And I had a friend who just constantly kept
thinking she was going to do something bad to her kids,
and so she had to be away from them for weeks.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
Oh it's yeah, I get it. Avoidance behavior another terrible thing.
One of the worst things you can do, because then
you're giving the thoughts like the power of like there
really is an issue. So now you're isolating yourself from
your kids. So there really is a problem. Now it
gives the thoughts more credibility, so you're taking action and
telling yourself these thoughts are important, so I need to

(26:27):
remove myself. You know. It's it's crazy, man, It's a vision.
It's like a rip current in your mind. For sure.
Your instinct is to, you know, swim this way, and
really you should just struggle and just swim this way.
You just want to swim. That was all you want
to do. You know, it's crazy. It's a crazy spiral.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
He was fucking so beautifully about your parents. What's something
that your parents did for you? What's a lesson they
taught you that you're trying to pass on to your children.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
Yeah, I mean I think really just work ethic, you know.
I mean my parents, I mean, they taught me a
lot of things. You know. My mom was just you know,
she's like wonderful. You know, my dad's was wonderful. And
my dad wasn't like he wasn't like my buddy growing up.
Like he was like he was my dad, you know
what I mean. Like he was like he was a
maintenance man at the bank, and it was like he

(27:33):
worked forty hours and he came home and he mowed
the grass and he drank beer with his buddies and like,
not that I was neglected in any way, but like
we weren't like powering around a lot because there wasn't time.
He was constantly working to provide me with food and
provide mom with you know, Mom was working too, you know.
So it was a very very working class home. And

(27:55):
that's what our life centered around. Was mom and dad
have shit to do, and they're going to do it.
And that's you know, that's just the way it is.
And you know, obviously that provided me with a lot
of things, and I'm grateful for that. I never had
to wonder what, you know, clothes I was going to
wear to school or what food I was going to
eat when I got home, I think that those worries

(28:16):
were gone, and so, you know, nothing but gratefulness for
that and my you know, it was like they I
learned so much from seeing that.

Speaker 2 (28:28):
You know.

Speaker 1 (28:29):
Luckily I'm in a position now where it doesn't have
to be that way. It had to be that way
for them. There was no other option. It was either,
you know, it was work and provide or or don't provide.
You know, those were the two options that were presented.
With My life now is obviously a lot different than that.
It's I have the ability to do both. I have

(28:49):
the ability to do it on my own schedule, when
I want to and where I want to, I spend
you know, I have conversation with people that you know,
everyone wants to know. So what's it like to be,
you know, a musician and you know being when you're
you touring and well do you miss your family? And
it's like, well, obviously I miss him when I'm gone,
but I'm not gone like that much now. Like I guarantee,

(29:13):
I spend more time with my kids than ninety percent
of people, probably because they're not in school. And if
I'm not here with you I'm there, like there, I'm
nowhere else basically except for Deer season but other than that,
I'm not anywhere else, you know, Like I'm there, and
you know, in a couple of years they'll be at

(29:33):
Deer season two, you know what I mean. So I
get to you know, like when I'm home and like
I'm home and I'm not I'm not splitting my time
at home between Okay, well, I've got to do fifty
work things today and you know, the kids are at
school and I don't ever see them, and then I
leave and they're you know, begging me to you know,

(29:54):
play with them for five minutes. It's like when I
come home, dude, like I'm cooking breakfast, I'm cooking lunch,
I'm cooking dinner, and like changing diapers, I'm giving baths
like I'm there, like I'm in it, you know what
I mean, Like I'm hands on. I want to be.
I want them to know that, you know, at the
most critical stages of my career that they were still
the top priority for me, and my parents showed me

(30:18):
that in a different way. It was like, Hey, we're
going to go work these jobs that we don't like
so that you can have the best life that you
can have, and so I learned that from them. I
just get too manifested in a different way from my kids.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, I like the way you put that. Yeah, yeah,
that for you. For them, it was doing something they
didn't like to show you that they're number one out
of love and yours is almost like I'm actually going
to put aside something that I like to show.

Speaker 1 (30:46):
To show you how important you are, exactly. Yeah, So
it's a it's a different version of the same sacrifice. Yeah,
for sure.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
Absolutely, from the outside. I'm always fascinated by how things
look from the outside and the inside. From the outside.
Your career, we have this like METR. Just what was
it like for you. What was the feeling that was actually.

Speaker 1 (31:04):
Yeah, yeah, I mean it was certainly, but it also
felt like it feels like I've been doing it for
a year, and it feels like I've been doing it
for one hundred years at the same time, if that
makes any sense. You know, tell me those early years, man,
were really hard, you know. I mean, the music industry
has changed so much in the last eleven years. I
mean really have been in it in like an official

(31:27):
like I've got a record deal, like I'm promoting my
music and the in the grand way that it's done.
Now that's only been going on for I mean, I
guess like this would be year ten for me. Probably
year nine maybe yeah, you're nine because of twenty seventeen.
Was my first number one, signed my record deal in

(31:49):
the fall of sixteen and then didn't really ramp it
up until like the beginning of seventeen, but had been
doing stuff on my own for a long time before that,
and you know, you almost learn more doing that stuff,
like doing it on your own. And you know, I
wonder if people miss that a little bit now because
it's like you, you know, you almost get invited to

(32:12):
the table when it's time to be there, you know,
instead of like fighting for this spot at the table
like in town. Like I don't know if as many
people are like moving to Nashville now, like you almost
know if you're gonna make it or not now because
of social media. And I was one of the first
people that did that, not intentionally. I don't want to

(32:33):
make myself sound like a genius. I'm not. It's like
that I just got I just lucked into that, like
I had Vine came out on this big platform. I'm
just singing on there and playing little six second covers
and then Instagram comes out. I'm doing that and I
use that as a marketing tool for myself. Again, not

(32:54):
in like any way of like this is the future.
I don't want to be like I predicted. You know,
I'm not trying to Steve jobs it and so I
invented iTunes. That's not the case. I just lucked into
it and it happened to be the perfect time for that,
for people to be receptive to that, and now that
has become the model, that is the way you do it.
So I was just one of, if not the first

(33:16):
guy to do that. I wish I could say it
was intentional. Yeah, yeah, I just lucked into that, really,
And so when I moved to town, I had all
these sales numbers, ticket sales that to me, I was like, well,
this is normal, Like this is just how could people
not be doing it this way? This is the way
it goes. But I moved to Nashville. I don't really

(33:37):
know anyone. I have one or two connections to, like
someboddies that were nude in town that wrote songs and
didn't have anything else going on and I would just
go out to writer's nights and try to meet people,
and you know, I found like minded people and we
wrote songs together and then you know, one thing turns
into another and here we are. But I don't know

(33:58):
that that happens as much now because if let's say
you were a new artist and you go, I want
to be a country sperien, it's my dream. Well, you
just get on TikTok or Instagram and you write songs
at your.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
House and you see how people feel, and you.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
See how people feel, and if all of a sudden
it becomes this undeniable thing and then the record labels
are calling your house. So when you get to Nashville,
it's like the culture of that, like the new people
in town that are all banded together trying to succeed
and do this thing. Like that's kind of not there

(34:32):
right now, you know, because why would you now when
you could just stay live at your parents' house and
not pay rent and not take any risk. You don't
have to go play shows, because why would you. It's
all in an unnecessary risk at this point. And I'm
not saying that's right or wrong. Everything progresses and changes,
but I think it has kind of like unintentional consequences.

(34:54):
And again not that that's inherently wrong, it's just the
nature of the beast right now. So I'm thankful for that.
I was of the kind of the last generation, like
I kind of got to experience both. I got to
do the social media like get feedback instantaneously, create my
own space, my own community, have my own fans before

(35:16):
anyone else got to decide or control that process. But
I also got to move to Nashville and be a
part of a culture that you know, we created ourselves,
and I e WEE being like me and my friends
created kind of our own bubble of success that we
all came up in together. That was really cool to

(35:38):
be a part of it. It's one of my favorite
parts of like my whole story is like I mean,
my first seven number ones was everyone's first number one song. Well,
my first record was turned into Sony. There was one
person on the entire record that even had a publishing deal. Wow.
It was just all people I had like met at
bars and shit and like wrote songs with that are

(35:59):
now like lifelong friends of mine, you know, and people
that I still collaborate with to this day. Not everyone
I'm still super in touch with, but the core crew.
It's like people that I like go on trips with
and like have around my kids and stuff, you know
what I mean. So it's like that, that's like you,
you can't create that artificially. It has to be an
organic thing. So I feel sad for some of this

(36:23):
generation that may lose that, and they they probably have
their own community and ecosystem that I'm unaware of that
feels just as great as mine. But I long for
the like the nostalgia of that. It's like I want
other people to get to experience that the same way
that I did, but they may just be having that
same experience in a different lane. You know. At least
I'm hopeful that they.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can relate to a lot where
you're saying, because my work kind of around the same time.
Twenty sixteen was the year right again, just like you,
no strategy, no technique, just started sharing what I believed in,
what I cared about on social media and it's time,
Yeah took off organically. I didn't know where it was going.

(37:06):
I didn't have a plan for where I was going,
And so I can totally relate to what you're saying
about this idea of just putting something out there, and
you went doing it because you thought the platform was
going to get you somewhere else.

Speaker 1 (37:18):
Exactly it was.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
It was just a platform was available.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
The thing that I love about it is it creates
no like barrier to entry totally. It's like purely what
resonates with people. It's like strictly talent based. It's like
strictly work ethic based, Like it's all based on like
how hard are you on the work, how much do
you resonate with people? What's your music? What do people

(37:41):
think of your music? So it's cool in that sense.
And whether it's a podcast or a music or I
don't I can't even imagine, like or a chef like
I think of like you know Joshua Wiseman, who's like
he starts out putting videos on YouTube and he's like,
now he's like this one of the most influential food
creators in the world, you know what I mean. Like,

(38:02):
it's just so cool that you can create something from
nothing on your own accord now and you get to
control the narrative and have how your career is going
to go as opposed to you know, this kind of
nameless like these nameless people and entities going like, well,
you're going to do that and wear that, and you know,
they basically they get to it's it's great for everybody

(38:25):
because there's no risk for the labels in a lot
of ways. They don't have to go We'll sign ten
guys and hopefully when of them works out and they go, now,
we'll just sign ten guys and they're all going to
work out. Yeah, because we know you just know it's
going to work out. It's already proven. We have the
proof right there. So it's kind of a win win
for everybody in this situation, at least, I think. But
it's cool, man, it's a cool time.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
Yeah, there was a moment in your life. You're talking
about your family being a priority now, but there was
a moment in your life that kind of shifted you
back in that direction, right, that made you take a
bit of a break.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
I mean, I think it was. I mean COVID was
a big reason for that. Obviously. It was like my
career was white hot when COVID happened, and it was
kind of like it was a bummer. It was a
bummer for a lot of us, you know, a lot
of musicians. You know, there's a lot of people that
didn't survive the whole COVID thing. You know, like you

(39:16):
kind of come in and it's like all of a sudden,
you're you know, I can't imagine having been a new artist,
like a brand new artist when that happened, because then
it's like you kind of only get the one shot
and then if it if it dwindles at that time,
just because of what's happening in the world, like, well
that can be kind of it. That was tough. But
my family thing, you know, I we have our first

(39:38):
son texts and then five months later we find out
we're pregnant with our next bo and so that was
a whirlwind. I mean, like, you know, you're having a
five month old and you're figuring out how to be
a parent, have a baby, and then all of a sudden,
you have another baby. You know, you have two baities
at the same time. You know, I mean almost would
have rather had twins, would have been an easier transition,

(40:00):
and to be quite honest, you know what I mean,
like it was almost more difficult because then there are
two different ages, but they're both so fragile and like,
I mean when Bo was born, like text couldn't even
walk yet. So it was like my wife's got one
on the hip and one in the cradle, and it's
like I'm out, I'm in. I'm in Australia when Bo

(40:20):
is born, and that's like crushing the devastating things. My
whole identity is that no matter what, I'm going to
prioritize my wife and my children over my job, over
what I do, Like they're my number one priority. I
want them to know that. And then here I am
having this moment of like, well, guess who wasn't there?

(40:41):
Like the guy that says he's always going to be
there and that will do anything to be there is
the only guy that's not there. And so it was
it was a huge blow to like it was like, man,
will you set yourself up to do everything you can
to be there? And then the plan doesn't go the
way that you thought it was going to go And

(41:01):
it's nobody's fault, obviously, it's just the way of you know,
the universe's decision. At that point, I mean, he comes
to and a half weeks early, you know, four days
from going home, and he decides, you know, to show up,
and you know, and everyone's like, what you can playing
the tour that close? The tour is already planned. We

(41:22):
find the tour is planned before we even find out
we're pregnant with with Bo. So there's no cancel on
the tour. It's sold out before we even know we're pregnant,
you know. So you have this obligation to your fans
to go and and and do that and put the
shows on and and power through. And I didn't. I
didn't tell anyone that until after I got home, you

(41:43):
know what I mean, Like I kept it to myself
because you know, there was never this big like I
didn't want it to be this big woe as me
like pr campaign of look how sad I am and
look how hard it's been. It's I mean, that's it's
kind of what you know that that could happen going in,
I think. And so you have a right, you have
a duty to your fans to continue the show on,

(42:07):
you know. I mean even if I would have left,
I would have not been home. Yeah, yeah, I mean
I will. Right, It's eight am Sydney time. My wife
texts me six am Sydney time, or whatever. I don't
even know what that time zone is called, but six am.
So I wake up two hours after the text of like,
I'm going to the hospital. Obviously call her first thing.

(42:28):
She's in the hospital. I mean, thank god, my sister
in law was there, my mother in law was fine
in that day. My parents lived in town, so the
support system was there, and I'm for that. I am
eternally grateful. You know, it brings serious perspective to that.
It takes a village kind of thing, you know. I
can't imagine my wife would have been alone during that thing.

(42:51):
It would have been even more crushing. But knowing that
she had people that she trusted and cared about being
around was a huge relief for me. It didn't make
it any easier, but it was better. And so that
really shifted my focus of like what happens from here?
Like how do I make you know, how do I
make changes based on this thing? Like I dread the

(43:14):
conversation with my son at some point, like because obviously
he doesn't know that he's two and a half, Like
he's not maybe going to understand that for five years,
you know, but I dread that conversation of being like
you know, well, Dad, you you know, you made this
record about being such a good dad, and then you
weren't there when I was born, But you were there
for text, and you were there for the next kid,
And why was I the only one that you weren't

(43:36):
there for? So I worry about that a lot. Interesting
and I think that it will be okay. But I
haven't quite yet processed when to have that conversation. Obviously
not anytime soon. But when I do have that conversation,
how do I, you know, say that to a seven
or eight year old and it be meaningful. I think

(43:58):
it's bigger than one conversation. And it's not like, hey,
I went in there, get over it, where that's it.
We're not talking about it, you know. It's more nuanced
than that. I'm sure it will be a lifetime of
you know, conversations, and I'm hopeful that he'll be understanding.
I'm sure that he will if I do my job
right and my wife does her job right. I think

(44:20):
he will be if he turns out to be a
good a good person in the way that I hope
that he does. What do you think you'd say, I'd
probably just break the news, you know, I think the
first conversation is going to be I want to tell
you before you find out first. I think that's the
most important thing is is getting ahead of you know,
I don't want him to one day, you know, have

(44:42):
access to the internet and come across this thing and
it's you know, Luke Combs misses the birth of his
child to be at the show and then he's like, well,
well I didn't know that which child is it? And
then it's like, oh, it was me, and why did
he ever tell me? You know, I think that avoiding
that is like number one. So I think that's the

(45:03):
first conversation. You kind of like let that like wash
the shock, a little bit of that like wash over him.
And then I think there's a follow up conversation which is, hey,
you know, like you know, I would do anything for you.
You know, I would have given anything to be there,
but like even if I make the best effort I can, like,

(45:25):
there's no way I would have been there. Like he
was born at by ten am and like two hours
after I wake up, he's born, so like I wouldn't
even have been able to like get a plane and
be at the airport yet, and he would have been
born already, So it's not like I tried and didn't
make it. It was like there was no way that
I was gonna make it. And so I think I'm

(45:47):
like mentally like past the guilt of it now, Like
as I beat myself up about it for a while,
I couldn't even talk about it for a while without
getting super emotional about it. And I think you just
have to move forward, and you just have to. You
just you just have to, you know, cross up bridge
when you come to it. And I'm lucky to still have,

(46:07):
you know, to be five years older or five years wiser,
you know when that conversation has to happen, and have
had more time to process and think about it. But
I mean, it's nature of the beasts, man, Like you know,
and if you work at the butcher shop, you're probably
gonna get blood on you when you're when you're at work,
or you're probably gonna come home smell them like raw meat,

(46:28):
you know what I mean. Like you know that you
kind of knew that going for sure, you knew it
could happen, you hoped it wouldn't, and it did, and
so now you just have to live with it and
deal with it. And address it and not let it
become an issue.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
Yeah, in days like these, you sing when the sky
is blue and the grass is green, how much better
can it be? If I got you and you got me?
We got everything we need? And even if it grew
on trees? Will money calm by days like these? And
you talk about money in that song and enrichment as well,
and how money calm by happiness? How do you define

(47:03):
a rich life?

Speaker 1 (47:05):
This is always such a tough subject for me because
I think there, you know, there's no hiding, there's no
hiding that I do really well. And that's something that
I have some guilt around, not guilt from like having
money or having success. I feel like it's a question
of like why do I deserve it more than maybe

(47:27):
someone else? I don't deserve it more than anyone else,
but you feel this guilt of like I almost feel
it's not an imposter syndrome, it's not the same as that,
but like you feel like, man, well, I just I
feel like I have more than I deserve, or I
don't deserve to have been this successful, or you feel
guilty for being this successful, and you kind of get

(47:49):
this feeling like, well, I maybe people like can't relate
to me anymore, and like, I hate that because like
I haven't changed other than the circumstances my life now,
at least I think that I would like to think
that everyone around me would agree with that. So hope
I'm not sounding like egotistical by saying that, but like

(48:09):
I would, I would be willing to bet that a
lot of the people that know me well would say,
it's the same guy with a different, different bank account.
And so those songs are even difficult. I find it
a little bit like cliche for me to even say that.
And I danced around putting rich Man on this record

(48:32):
because I was worried about sounding hypocritical, right, because the
whole idea of the song is a guy in a
bar who's basically supposed to the character. His character is
supposed to be a farmer, right, Like the narrator of
that song is not supposed to be me. It's supposed
to just be a guy who's in a bar and
he sees two other guys having a conversation. And it's

(48:56):
basically a guy in overalls who is supposed to be
my eye. As we wrote it was a farmer or whatever,
an older guy, and then a younger guy who's kind
of in a suit. You know, he's doing the whole
business guy thing, and he's stressed out about the stock market,
he's stressed out about work and all these things, and
you know, the farmer just kind of gives him this

(49:16):
allegory and the song of like, you know, hey, rich man,
you know, I know you didn't ask, but I'll say this, man,
all the money in the world don't mean shit, man,
because it can't go with you when you die, buy
you time, or hold your wife in kids' hands. And
for me, I'm very aware of how much better my

(49:39):
life is by having the things that I have, and
I'm cognizant of that, and I'm not trying to hide that.
I'm very grateful for that and appreciative of it, and
I'm aware of you know that it makes me. It
can make me sound hypocritical in that sense, and I
tustled with that a lot when putting the song on
this record. So I didn't want people to be like,

(50:01):
look at this big blow hard telling me how to
you know, think about my life or whatever, Like I'm
not trying to tell anybody how to feel in any
way on that song or on this record. And I
think for me, though, there are these moments in life
where I am you know, you say, the sky's bluegrass
is green. I remember that day we text was a

(50:22):
baby and we're living in our house like an hour
from Nashville at that time. We've since moved, and it
was just beautiful outside and it was like, my beautiful
wife is there, and my kid is there, and my
career is going really well, and I'm just really thankful.
It's almost just like there are these days to me
that like you can't put your finger on like why

(50:44):
they're so great. You're still surrounded by the things that
you have and the people that you love in the
same way that you were yesterday and the same way
that you will be the next day. But it's like
everything just lines up and it's like you just you're
almost on this like high of life. Like it's the
birds are singing and the temperature, you know, it's you know,

(51:06):
it's like the weather's like that every day here by
the way, you know, I forget it's January when yeah,
it's unbelievable, and it's like, you know, it's like these
bluebird days and you know your family everything's just hitting
on the same wavelength for what. I don't really even
know how to describe it, but that was my mindset
writing days like these. It wasn't about I live in

(51:28):
a nice house or I have this thing. It was like,
it wouldn't have mattered where we were or what we
were doing. It was just everything in the universe line
up that day for it to be like this perfect day.
And it's not the first one I've had, and it's
not the last one I'll have. But damn it if
they were not few and far between, and damn it
if I didn't wish they came around more often, you know.
And you just I love those days and they're so rare,

(51:51):
and they're just that song to me, totally captured that
moment in time so perfectly, you know. And I just
of those days, and I think that there's nothing that
I owned, or nothing that i'd bought, or nothing that
I could buy, or nothing that I could do that
could recreate that feeling. So regardless of the situation that

(52:14):
I'm in now, there's no doubt that that money helps
with those things. There's no doubt. I want to sound
like you guys, like, well, it don't matter if you
got That's the bridge of the song rich Man is
you know, I say that in the bridge of that song.
It's like, well, you know, it ain't no secret. Having
money's nice, you know, but making a live and don't

(52:35):
make a life, you know. And I believe that, And
I know that's easy for me to say, so I
don't want anyone to out there to think that I'm,
you know, discounting the fact that I have I have
it way better than a lot of people. I'm painfully
aware of that, and I struggle with that, to be
quite honest.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
Yeah, I appreciate you saying that part of just you know,
how you can walk around, especially when beautiful things happen
to you, and you totally I couldn't agree with you
more that it's not that you don't want to have
beautiful things happen to you. You just want it to
happen to a lot more people, for sure. And you
want beautiful things to happen to everyone around you. You
want beautiful things to happen to strangers that you've never met,

(53:15):
because that's that's the joy of it. It's only beautiful
lift right, More and more people.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
Get one hund you know it is, man, it's a
it's a crazy world out there. Man. It's hard. It's hard, man,
it's really really hard, you know. And you know when
you're in you know, the position gods like us are
you man, Like we're so lucky, you know, and you
just have to like, I do everything in my power
to give that feeling back to other people, whether it's

(53:42):
people that work with me, or giving learning to charity
or whatever it may be, or volunteering me going to
sing it something like, any way I can give back,
I always try to do that any chance that I have,
because that's just sometimes my mother instilled at me at
a young age. You know, we I grew up work
at the food bank in Ashville. She would take me

(54:02):
over there and we would work at the food bank,
and you know, she's explaining what this is and what
this place is, and you know that at the time,
it made me like wow, man, like you know, this
makes me really thankful for you know, everything we got.
And you know, I can't imagine going home and opening
up the cabinet. There's nothing in there, you know, there's
no it's not even a can of corn in there.
You know, I couldn't imagine that feeling. And so she

(54:25):
she forced me to do that when I was younger,
and I'm thankful for that because you know, she's still
doing things like that. You know, she still goes out
and works at the you know, at the animal shelter,
at the food bank and in Nashville, and you know,
I I got to go from that to you know,
after Helene, you know, that ravaged the part of the

(54:47):
country that I grew up in, and we put on
the benefit concert, and Charlotte my portion of the proceeds,
part of my portions of the proceeds, rebuilt the entire
food bank that I worked at growing up in. It
was completely destroyed, like completely gone. And I got to
watch my success and influence have the ability to do

(55:13):
something that great and rebuild their entire facility. And that
is like something that's you can't even put words on,
and like the amount of pride I have in that
is immense. You know, like my most proud moment of
my career from here on out and forever will be,
you know, the show that we did that night and

(55:34):
getting to see these charities send me videos and emails
and here's what we did, and here's how this worked,
and here's how this happened. And it's just cool to
get to be a part of that, you know. And
it's not I don't come at it from it's not
like an egotistical pursuit. It's just like you get to
like watch the money that you raised. You get to

(55:54):
watch you know, people be directly impacted by these things
that we got to do. And I owe all that
to my team, you know, I owe all that to
everyone else. Like I always say, like I'm the guy
that works the least amount, Like I have the easiest
job in the whole thing. Like I think, obviously, I

(56:16):
do a lot of things. I'm in a lot of places,
I go to a lot of different things, and I'm
constantly working. But when you love it, it doesn't feel
that way. And I'm just grateful for everyone else on
my team that allows me. You know, they're you know,
they get to be a billboard for me when they're out,
you know, meeting even if I'm in there, you know,

(56:36):
getting touched up before this thing and they're talking to you,
and you're like, man, well these people are nice. So
I really do believe it's top down, you know, I
try to be great and give my team the ability
to be great because we work in a good environment.
We respect each other, and that transfers man and people
can feel that. I said, people can feel that energy
when when you're around And that's my biggest point of

(56:59):
pride is when we're at a show, whether it's the
stadium or we're going and doing a club gig for
you know, we did. We played a club gig last year,
first time in five years, and it was wild. It's
like like eight hundred and fifty people in the Georgia
Theater in Athens and like a venue we used to play,
and like it felt like the biggest venue in the world.
And you go back and when I'm walking through the halls,

(57:22):
backstage or whatever, like even the people working the doors
or like they'll say to me, your your team is
the best team we've ever worked with. Like everyone was
so kind and so gracious, and they communicated so well,
and they're all professional and they were all in great
spirits and like, to me, that is like, that's the
legacy I want to leave behind. Is like sure I

(57:44):
had a lot of success. Sure I had a bunch
of hit records and sold a lot of tickets and
sold a lot of T shirts or whatever, but all
that be damned. Like, you know my headstone, you know
here lies good man, good dad, good husband, good friend,
good son, good boss. Like that's the things that I

(58:05):
want to be remembered for, and so I live every
day trying to make those happen to the best of
my ability.

Speaker 2 (58:29):
I saw a video of you starting a console or
at one point in a concept basically saying guys, I'm
not feeling well today. I'm still going to do the show,
but we're going to give you a refund. And I'm like, dude,
you did the show like you like you showed up.
You did the show, but you didn't you were like
I'm not going to be my best or something like that.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
I was like, wow, that's amazing.

Speaker 1 (58:52):
I remember it was. It was in Maine is where
we did two nights in Bangor, Maine. And the first
night that's the show was great Run of the Mill show,
which and by run of the Mill, I mean we
had a great time. It's great, it's fun. We got
buddies in town, but the particular that venue is wonderful,
by the way, and we were backstage and they have

(59:14):
great like they have a fire pit going, and they're
bringing you out food and like all the employees are
so nice and it's just a great atmosphere to hang
out in. And so we had some friends in town
and you know, up having some cocktails, but we were
all outside. I'm talking two or three times as loud
as I normally was, because we're playing music, we're having

(59:37):
some drinks, we're staying up late. And the next day
I wake up and I'm like, man, my voice is
like just a little like it's just a little rough,
you know, like not my worst morning I've had, like
by a long shot. And I know I've done that
enough times to know how it goes and know how
it's progressing. And so as the day went on, I'm like,

(59:57):
I'm like, well, man, this isn't like progressing way it
normally does. Like it doesn't feel like it's getting much better.
So I don't know. I guess maybe around two or
three o'clock I call my manager and I'm like, hey,
this see can going so hot. I'm starting to get
a little bit worried because we have the show tonight,
And I said, could you And I've done this maybe

(01:00:17):
twice ever, once was in Australia. This was the second
time I said. I was like, I need to get
a steroid shot to do the show tonight, and I
hate doing that. If you're any kind of singer, you
should not get those because they're horrible for your voice
in the long run. Don't. It's not something you should
be doing a lot. It should be an absolute emergency

(01:00:38):
parachute situation, which it was for me, because I'm like, well,
everyone's here. I get the steroid shot and I'm like, Okay,
I'm gonna be good. I'm gonna get through this. A
couple hours goes bye. I go to do my warm ups.
I do my warm ups. Let's say we're on at nine.
I'll do my warm ups at eight. It's twenty minutes,
twenty five minutes, and then I'll join the band and

(01:01:00):
then we all hang out, have some drinks, get together, whatever.
And I get five minutes into my warm up and obviously,
I mean everyone's already played, dude, like the first of
three he's played. Direct support's already done. Like people are
just waiting for me to come out. At this point,
I get five minutes into my warm up and I
call my manager. I'm like dude, I'm not gonna be

(01:01:21):
able to sing tonight. And he was like, what do
you mean. I was like, I don't know, man, steroid
shot like it didn't work, like it worked the first
time I got it. I was like, it didn't work.
It didn't do enough, like I physically am not going
to be able to do it enough. And so we
were having conversations, well, what's the options. You know. He's like,
he's like, well, we'll just cancel it. We're just that's
what we do. And I was like, na, dude, that's

(01:01:43):
what everyone else does. Like we're not doing that, Like
I'm not. These people are here, dude, Like this is
those concerts, man. Like concerts are expensive, and I'm aware
of that. Like I have so much respect for how
hard people work and things they sacrifice to come and
see me play, because I used to be one of
those people. You know, I would work all summer to
save up to go see one concert. And it was

(01:02:05):
a big event. Man. It wasn't just oh, this is
the thing I'm doing tomorrow. It was like I'm building
my whole summer around this one night, you know, And
I know there's hundreds of people, thousands of people you know,
a thousand yards away from me that have done the
same thing. And I can't live with the idea that
they are going to be let down and they're sure

(01:02:25):
it's all not going to be let down by somebody
else that isn't me. So I told Cappy, I said, listen, dude,
I said, I'm going out there, and I'm telling him
like and he's like, what do you what do you mean?
And I'm like, I'm going out there and I'm telling
him on the microphone that I can't do the show.
And I said, me and the band will play for
an hour. I said, we'll play all the hits. I'll

(01:02:47):
sing the best I can, but like we're just going
to refund everybody's money. And he's like, I'm in dude,
like whatever, whatever you want to do, let's do it,
you know. And he's who cares about the money, like,
doesn't matter, we'll get we'll all refund it. So go
out out and usually we have like you know, there's
a big interest song and like the video and all
this stuff. I'm like, we gotta kill this dude, like

(01:03:07):
we're not doing the hype up video. And then I'm
walking out and telling them I'm not playing. Yeah, so
I walk out. I remember being like so somber and
like my heart rate is just through the roof. I'm
like so nervous because I've never done anything like this before.
And I remember saying it, like, hey, guys, I'm not
gonna be able to do the show tonight. And it's
like just raining down booze man, Like it's just people

(01:03:29):
are brutalizing me. Oh wow, and like as I feel
like they have the right to do, like I would
be pissed too, right, Like mister big Time comes out
here and tells me he's not going to do the
thing or whatever, and I go, but wait, I was
like before you guys, get upset, Like I'm still We're
still going to play the show. It's just not going
to be as good as I feel like it needs

(01:03:51):
to be for me to take money from you and
use it for the betterment of my life or my team,
like you deserve you know, you spend all this money
to be here and you've got hotel rooms and babysitters,
and like I can't make that right. So I still
want to give you the show. I'm just not going
to take the money from the tickets like and and
I just just so, this is just free show, but

(01:04:13):
it's just not going to be as good of a
show as I feel like you deserve for all the
sacrifices that you've made to be here. And we played
for probably an hour hour fifteen and we played all
the hits and I sang the best I could, and
the crowd saying, and it was a really cool night.
It was really stressful, and man, I got to give
it up to my fans. Like a lot of fans

(01:04:34):
reached out to me and they were like, hey, man,
I donated my refund because like we loved the show
and we thought it was still great and we appreciate
you being a stand up guy, and we just wanted
to We just felt like it was wrong to take
the refund. Now, not everybody did that, and I can
understand that. I wouldn't be mad if nobody donated their refund,
you know. But then we came back, I think it

(01:04:55):
was two years later. We came back. Like scheduling was crazy,
but we came back and a night there we were
like doing stadiums and then we came back and did
the little Amphitheater and Banger and it was cool.

Speaker 2 (01:05:07):
Man, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:05:08):
Great story. Yeah, greats turned into a great story that
I was very stressed about that.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
I can imagine. I can imagine. But that's awesome. I
love it. I'm so glad you told me that story
because I just saw the clit like on social media
that i'd seen and I thought, wow, that's incredible. But
now to hear the backstory behind it. I mean, you know,
earlier you were talking about your wife. You've been together
for ten years now thereabouts. Yeah, it's mine of my
wife's ten yure wedding anniversary this year.

Speaker 1 (01:05:34):
That's awesome, and.

Speaker 2 (01:05:35):
So it's fun when you've lived that life with someone.
How did you, guys meet?

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
We met? She was actually was living in Nashville. I
was living in Nashville. We had met in passing a
few times, not many, not more than five minutes here
and there, like, but we kind of had some of
the same friend group, like you know, think of like
the Venn diagram. There's like a couple of people in
the middle, you know, we all know different folks and stuff.

(01:06:01):
So met like that, and she worked at BMI, which
is a huge I'm sure you know what that is
for those of you that don't. The performance rights organization
that you know, just collects and distributes royalties to songwriters
and that's how they get paid. For the most part.
There's a few organizations that do it. BMI is the

(01:06:22):
biggest one, and she was working there at the time.
She did kind of like specialize to like hr work there.
B and I also puts on a songwriting festival in
Key West. The Nashville branch puts on one in Key
West and it's called the BMI Key West Songwriters Festival.
Every year, so much fun. So their whole office like

(01:06:44):
shuts down, like the I mean, it's like, I can't
tell me how many people work. They're probably in the hundreds,
and they all just kind of go to the keys
and help out with events or just hang out or whatever.
You know, it's not like a stressful work week. And
you know, maybe it is for one or two people,
but the rest of them, we're kind of chilling and
having a good time. And so they invite around two
hundred songwriters down there, all like kind of in the

(01:07:06):
country space and it's cool because BINGI, you know, they
foot the bill for your flight, they put you up
in a hotel, like it's an all expense kind of
paid like trip to Key West and you play a
couple of songwriters rounds and fans come and it's it's
really fun. It's a really killer like if you love
country music, if you love songwriting, you have to go.
It's really really great. So it is my first year

(01:07:28):
going to that. I was probably the last guy picked
to go. I have no publishing deal, no record deal.
And my buddy Channing Wilson, who is fantastic, he was
going down there. Remember me and him were having lunch
and he was like, he's like, man, why don't you
come down to Key West dude? And I was like, well,
it's like I didn't get invited, you know. So he

(01:07:49):
called up his rep at BMI. I was like, Hey,
I'm eating lunch with this Luke HOLMBS guy and they
I had had a meeting over there with them. I
was there and they were like yeah, man, like he
can just moom with you or whatever. So I was like,
oh yeah, I was pumped up. Get down there, run
into her at an event and kind of hung out
like for the evening with friends and stuff. Like, spent

(01:08:09):
a couple of hours together hanging with friends and stuff,
and then once I came home, we made plans to
get together, like a couple of weeks, Like a couple
of weeks after I got home, we ended up staying
in touch via text or whatever and made some plans
to made some plans to get together, and you'd been

(01:08:31):
dating ever since. Man Like, it was just crazy, you
know what I mean, Like, shouldn't have any reason to
think I was cool at all? Man Like, I was
wearing a T shirt and jim shorts when I ran
into her, and like she was like working two jobs,
like making a killing, and I got like nothing going
on at all. She just thought I was cool for
whatever reason. So I thought that was pretty awesome. So

(01:08:53):
it worked out, and it was great because she's been
there with me, you know, since the beginning, and you know,
see me through a lot, and you know, we made
it through the whole rise together and all the craziness together.
And she's the best dude, I mean, you know, I mean,
she really is. Like I just can't imagine, Like I
wouldn't be here without her. You know, i'd have there's

(01:09:13):
ten hit songs that I wouldn't have written, you know,
because I wrote him about her, you know, so I'm
very very thankful for her man, And she's a great mom,
and she's a great wife and a great friend, and
she's just a great person. So I'm very blessed to
have that like connection with her. Man, Like that's been
a huge, huge positive light in my life. Like having

(01:09:36):
her is, you know, she's one of the biggest reasons
for my success certainly.

Speaker 2 (01:09:40):
How did you know she was the one?

Speaker 1 (01:09:42):
It's funny as you say this, like everyone's like, well,
it's like, well, you know, like immediately like it's for
love at first sight kind of thing. And you know,
I think that sometimes maybe does a disservice to the
seriousness of like a relationship of like the level that
me and my wife I have. We have grown together,

(01:10:02):
you know, we have become adults together, we become parents together,
We've lived together. Like that's not something that happens overnight.
Like sure, there are those feelings, like those inherent feelings
of like lust or attraction. Like I think sometimes that
people can confuse that for like this love at first

(01:10:22):
sight thing and they're like, this is the person that
I have to be with because I'm so attracted to them,
and like sure, the physical connection is really necessary. But
the emotional connection I think we forget sometimes in today's
day and age that that is, like it's like a plant, dude.
It's not something that grows up overnight, dude. Like it's

(01:10:45):
something that takes nurturing. It takes you know, you gotta
water it, you gotta trim it, you gotta like you
have to be doing maintenance to this thing. And when
you do that together, you grow better together, you know,
And there is no like this is when I knew,
like I knew that I was very attracted to her,

(01:11:07):
and I knew that she was a great person, and
I knew that I wanted to spend more and more
and more time with her every time I spent time
with her, and so I would say that like it
just never there was never any moment where I was like,
maybe this isn't the person I should be with.

Speaker 2 (01:11:22):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:11:22):
She never gave me that. There was never this thought
of like, well maybe this isn't you know. It was
like there was never any questioning it. So maybe I
do did always know, but maybe I just wasn't smart
enough to see that at the time. But I think
the connection that we've grown over the years is the

(01:11:45):
beautiful part of it, you know. And it's like it
only gets better with time. It's like wine or something,
you know what I mean, Like it's probably pretty good
right out of the barrel, but then when it's you know,
ten years old, it's a whole different story. And then
twenty years old, and thirty and forty and so on
and so forth. It's a really cool thing, man, And
it's it's a blessing to get to to get to
experience life with somebody in that way and have somebody

(01:12:07):
to share your triumphs with and your the peaks and
the valleys and all of these difficult things like by
OCD stuff. She's very supportive of all that. And it's
like she's always supporting me. She's never bringing me down,
you know what I mean, Like this shitn't take no
shit for me. Like that's important as well. But it's like,

(01:12:29):
but that's cool to me, man, Like it's you know,
I don't want somebody that's willing to just do whatever
I say all the time. That's not I don't want
to get it twisted that that's the way it is,
because it ain't that like she's the boss bro, Like
she is the boss, and I like that's cool to me. Man,
Like I like that, Like I like her being like
getting her advice on like songs or getting her advice

(01:12:50):
on merch, Like she's such an eye for that so
much more so than I do. And like we've done
all these cool like merch collections where it's like the
Luke and Nicole thing. It's like her deal and she
does the photo shoots and like she's doing all the
merch and like letting her like I can. I just
trust her implicitly with that, like with not just with

(01:13:10):
me as a man and as a husband, but like
even with my brand and like my business, and like
she's not someone that like I'm ever worried about like
embarrassing me or like you know what I mean, and
not that she ever even could, but like it's just
like having this high level of like trust and respect
for her. I like to think that she has that

(01:13:31):
for me too, But it's nice on my end to
have that and feel that. It's a very comforting thing
to know. It's like, you know, when you go home,
there's this person that's like, regardless of everything else, is
like on your team, no matter what you know, and
that's that's cool.

Speaker 2 (01:13:49):
What did she see in you before you saw it
in yourself?

Speaker 1 (01:13:51):
Brother? I got no idea, no idea. If I knew,
i'd be selling it about that. If I knew what
it was, man, I would be bottling it up and
putting it on the internet. You can amazon it right now.
If I knew what it was, because there's some magic,
that's the thing. Yeah, the potion, Yeah, Luke's or whatever

(01:14:12):
it was, Dude, I tell you what it wasn't. It
wasn't my model like figure by any chance, by any
stretch of the imagination. I don't know, you know, I
haven't really considered that that. I've thought about it a
bunch of times, like I'm like, oh gosh, I don't know.
Like I remember I remember my dad saying to me
one time, like I think I had this crush on

(01:14:33):
like a girl in high school or something. I was
kind of like asking my dad for like advice on it.
And I was like, man like, I just like, I'm
like this is kind of cool or whatever. I'm like,
why is this going on? He's like, I'll never forget this.
He was like, hey, so sometimes son, you just don't
ask questions. And it was like I was like, okay,
and so when it was like when it comes to

(01:14:55):
that stuff, I'm like, maybe I don't want to know,
you know what I mean, I'm just like whatever, you know,
And so I just think sometimes when things are good,
you don't really have to know why, you know. I
think you can you know, then you can maybe you
can ruin something like that. I don't I'm not sure,
but I don't know. I mean I think that, you know,

(01:15:16):
I like to think maybe that she could tell that
I'm a good person. I think, and you know, I
think that you know, now she knows that, you know,
I've got her back, she's got mine, you know, she
you know, her and the kids are number one, and
like I'm doing stuff for them. And but obviously that
wasn't happening when we met, Like it wasn't like we
had kids together, you know. But I think, you know,

(01:15:37):
I think she could just tell, like, well, maybe this
guy is like it's different than other guys that I've
I'm not sure, you know, maybe she dated a bunch
of losers. I don't know, you know what I mean.
I mean, I'm not sure, you know, but no, she's
rad dude. But I don't know, does she have a
roast you bro all the time and my wife rest

(01:15:58):
to the time. Well that she rips me apart, and
it's like it's awesome. Would you say she was here
she was resting you trying to think, well, she's she's
like she picks on. She's like she's she's like, you're nerdy.
She's like, you're like definitely a nerd. She definitely thinks
I'm nerdy. I like to play video games and she's like,
oh god, like you know, she like lets me do it.

(01:16:20):
She's like, do whatever you want. But she's like, I'm
not I'm not going to not call you a nerd
while you're playing video games. You know. It's just that
kind of stuff. Man. She just doesn't let me get
away with anything, you know, and in a good way,
in a playful way, you know. For real though, don't
let me get away with nothing either, but like she
can also be super playful. And she knows herself. Man.

(01:16:41):
She's so confident in herself, and she's so confident in
like in us and our family, and like, I think
that's really cool. It's really attractive, man, to like have
someone that is so confident in themselves and I've learned
a ton from her. Man, I've learned a ton about
you know, being just you know, proud of who I am,

(01:17:01):
and you know, having you know, these kind of strong
convictions and not being afraid to speak your mind, and
not being afraid to say the things that you know,
the things that you believe in and share your opinions.
I mean, you know I was. I was not as
apt to do that until I met her, and she
helped me. You know. Also, the thing one of the

(01:17:22):
this is a this is a sleeper pick for a
favorite thing about her, is like I wasn't a picky eater.
As you can probably tell, I was not a picky
eater growing up, but I was a little bit like
if I didn't like something, I was like completely out
on it. Like I'm like, don't like it, mushrooms hate it,
mustard hate it. Like all there was a lot of

(01:17:42):
things that I didn't like, and she really was like,
you know, you ought to like try stuff, you know
what I mean, Like you're just kind of like She's like,
mushrooms are good and mustard is good, and I'm like, no,
it's terrible. I've hated it since I was a kid.
And you know, it's just a little I don't know,
that's such a funny thing to get out, but like,

(01:18:04):
mushrooms are like probably one of my top five favorite
foods ever now and like I would have probably never
tried them if it wasn't for her. And I love
mustard now, like all these things, like, and it's just
that's a small example of a bigger picture of like
she's just helped me become more confident in myself, challenging

(01:18:24):
and challenging me and pushing me to do things that
are hard and pushing me to do and encouraging me
to do things that are difficult that normally I would have,
you know, faltered at before. And she's just like, you know,
she's she's like she's my homie, dude. You know she's
the best.

Speaker 2 (01:18:41):
I love that. Yeah, she sounds awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:18:43):
She is.

Speaker 2 (01:18:44):
She sounds awesome. You singing your song the way I am.
I'm sorry, baby, I really tried to change. It's like
there's something broken in my brain. The more I try
to fix it, the less I understand. But you still
love me just where I am.

Speaker 1 (01:18:56):
And I'm like, it's like, yeah, that's on rips, man,
I didn't write that song, and that's why I love
it so much, as like that statement so perfectly fits,
you know, a lot of the themes of my life,
the OCD stuff, you know. And that was a friend
of mine wrote that with another great songwriter in Nashville.

(01:19:17):
And when I heard it, it was just it was
so sonically different than anything that's going out of town
right now. I mean, there's nothing like that song coming
out right now. It's a very stereotypical country sound, but
probably from forty years ago. And that's kind of what
drew me to it, is like it just felt like
this kind of moment that was unexpected, not just from

(01:19:38):
me but from anyone. Really. It's very slow, it's way
too long. It's got to just straight up steal guitar solo,
like old steel guitar, not like cool steel guitar. Like
that's in like you know, some like poppy song like
it is like straight up like tears, like something George

(01:19:59):
Jones would be, you know, And not that I'm that,
but it's like Lyrically, I resonated with it so much already,
and then sonically it was just so different. It was like,
I mean, it felt like an absolute like layup of
a song to do. I just felt like, I feel
like it's gonna be a big moment for people. And
I think that that's why ultimately I chose that song

(01:20:21):
as the title for this record. Is it just like
you know, it's just it really does just that that's
I'm so okay with the way that I am now. Honestly,
at risk of sounding ironic, you know, it's like I
at thirty five, I obviously don't have life all the

(01:20:42):
way figured out, but I'm as comfortable, if not more
comfortable in my skin than I've ever been. I feel
like my mental health is way higher than it's ever been.
My mindset, my outlook is all so great, and I just,
you know, I have so many people to thank for that,
you know, my wife obviously, my kids have helped a ton,

(01:21:04):
and just great friends, great teammates, great band members, great
you know, collaborators and great you know, everybody just does
so much for me, you know, and and that's kind
of you know, that's made me into the way that
I am, you know, And that's just that title in itself.
Really it felt like encapsulated, you know, the message I

(01:21:26):
was trying to say with this album is you know,
this is this is where I am now, whether that's
musically or as a person, and I'm just excited. I'm
excited for people to hear this record. I haven't done
like a commercial project in like almost four years now,
and it's time and I just, you know, I hope
it's as received as I want it to be, and

(01:21:48):
I it's not. It's okay, you know, but you just
have to put you know, what you feel like is
your best foot forward and you just have to be
willing to live with with the results of that no
matter what. Absolutely, And I'm more okay with that now
than I've ever been.

Speaker 2 (01:22:01):
And that going away for four years was important.

Speaker 1 (01:22:04):
It was yeah, and it was like, you know, it's
not like I retired, but it was like we really
back to the touring stuff down. Like last year, I
didn't have my own tour for the first time and
ever since I started, and that was weird. It was
really fun because all we did was these big festivals,
you know, and so the festivals are fun, they're a

(01:22:25):
different challenge than especially the stuff we did this year.
You know, we did Bonneru Lopolza, Newport Folk Festival, Austin
City Limits, like crowds that we would normally never step
in front of, and so I was I really looked
forward to that challenge, you know, getting with my band
leader and making set lists that were different for every

(01:22:45):
one of these shows and going, well, how do we
how do we meet this crowd in the middle, you
know what I mean? Like, as much as I there
was to half the set, I wanted to come out
and kick the door down and play honky tonk shit
like country stuff, like I wanted to do that, and
we did that, but I also wanted to say, I'm

(01:23:05):
also willing to meet you where you're at a little
bit and like help you understand not just me, but
that our genre in general is is not just this
stereotype of it's not some caricature of like this thing.
It's like, it's like it's something that you can love too,

(01:23:26):
And maybe you don't know that, and maybe tonight is
not the night that you fully understand that, but hopefully
tonight makes you even be at the inception of maybe
I could love country music and maybe in twenty years
we're finally where I think we need to be. Not
exclusively because of me, but that moment helps a couple

(01:23:46):
people have that epiphany or experience and and you know,
the betterment of the genre is something that is really
important to me, you know, and letting people know is like, hey, man,
like we're here, like we're like, we're more popular than
we've ever been now and it ain't stop it anytime soon,
and I want to do my part to be a

(01:24:09):
part of that future and help out the genre, like
in regardless of what that means for me personally or
my success. You know. I mean a lot of those shows.
I lost money doing those shows. I took a lot
less money than I usually would to get the slot
because I wanted to be able to go and do that. Yeah,

(01:24:29):
I hope some people felt that on those nights, but
they were a lot of fun. We sure enjoyed them,
and the crowds were just amazingly like welcoming and warm,
which was really cool, man, because I was nervous, you know,
like not nervous like I don't want to go out there,
but just like gosh, man, like man, like you could
really fall on your face out here and it would

(01:24:50):
be tough night if like it doesn't go well, you know,
like if you're not well received headline and also city limits,
like that'd be tough, or like you come out and
bond it and your headliner and it's like people aren't
into it. Be pretty crushing. No, it could be like
a pretty crushing night if it doesn't know, But at
least everyone made me feel like they went well. And

(01:25:12):
maybe they didn't, but I like my perception was that
they went really well and I enjoyed it.

Speaker 2 (01:25:17):
Yeah, dude, I can relate because I get asked to
teach meditation in all these places, like random places that
you would expect this I did. I did a meditational
mainstage of Bonnaroo a few years back, and everyone was
just like wanting the main act to come out, and
it's like you're having to get everyone into a zone
before they experienced the thing they want to experience. And
it's like the pressure of that and thankfully, when okay,

(01:25:40):
it wasn't you know, everyone everyone was surprisingly quiet. It
was impressive, wow, but it was you know it. My
world's very different to yours, but it's that same pressure,
just like, how do you get people at this music.

Speaker 1 (01:25:53):
Festival right to be quiet, to have the opposite but
the ethesis of why they're there totally, But when.

Speaker 2 (01:26:00):
People do it. What's fascinating when it's worked is the
music that comes after it. Everyone's senses are like ready
for it because you've gone so almost.

Speaker 1 (01:26:10):
Gives him a moment to like reset total. It's like
sniffing the coffee beans at Yankee candle before you smell
the other candle. You know, I've smelled all these great
candles and now I don't even know what this candle
smells like. So you have the you're the coffee bean. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
the coffee no one knows they need. And then they
smell them and they're like, I'm glad I smelled those cars.
That's how I'm gonna explain it. Next to them stays

(01:26:30):
that's that's what I'm there. Here comes your coffee.

Speaker 2 (01:26:33):
Yeah yeah, I love that. Because everyone said how much

(01:26:56):
fun you were, we were like, we'll put together a
fun game for you. We do this for special guest,
So this one was done for you. This game is
called the Everyday Guide Test, So we're going to see
whether you fail OPOSTA test. It's all for fun. I'm
just putting it out there right now that I would
fail this test, so I may. Yeah. So so here

(01:27:17):
we go, the every Day Guide Test at a restaurant,
do you order tap or filter the water?

Speaker 1 (01:27:22):
Let me tell you what. I didn't grow up going
to restaurants where they even asked what kind of there
was no water choice like that. To me, that's a
whole new world for me. But they they're like, they'll
come up and they're like, was it is tap okay?
Or like or bottled or still or like how many
choices are there? Now? Do you have? You know, it's

(01:27:45):
like would you like it boxed or bottled or decanted?
And like, like just water it would be great. I
usually it is. My answer to that question is whatever
is easiest for you, whatever is the easiest, because to me,
it's just all water. Like I'm not a guy that's
of the belief that like nine point five pH water
is gonna make a difference, to be quite honest, and

(01:28:07):
it probably does, and that will may be my downfall
at some point, but I'm like, hey, whatever makes your
night less of a hassle for me, Just just give
me that. I'm fine with it. I'm fine with the
first thing you can grab, get it and I'll drink it.

Speaker 2 (01:28:21):
I love it. Regular milk or almond milk.

Speaker 1 (01:28:25):
Regular milk. I do like it. I do, like an
almond milk. I got no beef with an almond milk,
but I do. I do. I would say probably if
I had to choose regular milk, and you're not gonna
beat the creaminess of it, all right, this one.

Speaker 2 (01:28:38):
I was cracking up that when the team put it
in there. Do you tip based on math or vibes?

Speaker 1 (01:28:44):
Oh, vibes for sure, vibes for I'm an overtipper. I'm
like an OVERTI I'm like, I'm like, yeah, like we
go to a nice mealk hunter Bucks like great, like
you know, depending upon the place, of course, but it's
like I always try to tip. Man, I'm just grateful
for anybody you know that works in the service industry.

(01:29:05):
You know, I know how difficult it is, you know,
dealing with the public and not everybody so great. Not
that I'm so great, but I try to just be
you know. It's just another version of like passing along
the blessings that you have to someone else and being grateful.

Speaker 2 (01:29:20):
Winning Right now, man, this is amazing you. You're beating
this game like this game is this game is losing, guys.
Let's let's do a few more. Last time you went
to the grocery store last week.

Speaker 1 (01:29:33):
Okay, I go every week at least twice a week.

Speaker 2 (01:29:35):
Choice of grocery store is this, Okay, you're gonna like
this one.

Speaker 1 (01:29:39):
I like Publics. It's the closest one to me in
the same shopping center. I got a Sprouts nice. So
if I'm going, like, if I'm going strictly food, I'm
probably going to Sprouts, uh, paper goods, diet Coke, going
to publics, you know what I mean? I love the Publics.
I love a pub sub, but I love the Sprouts. Man.

(01:29:59):
It's like I love Sprout. It's like a less stressful
Whole Foods, you know what I mean. Like you go
in and you're not like feeling like you're in the way,
you know what I mean. I went to this Arawon place. Yeah,
oh yeah, yeah. You want to spend sixty dollars on
something going to that place, dude? I mean it's nice
in there. It is like if you had a different
variant of OCD. You love that place because everything is

(01:30:22):
like there's not expected dust in that place. Yeah, I mean,
but if there was, you would have to pay for it,
probably because it is not cheap. I'll tell you that
much great.

Speaker 2 (01:30:32):
So good, so good? Do you pack your own clothes?
It is someone packed for you, bro, I.

Speaker 1 (01:30:36):
Packed my own stuff, Dude, I might pack him for me. Dude,
I'm gonna ask man, dude, I'm packing my back.

Speaker 2 (01:30:44):
Oh good, all right, last one, last one. This one's
the last time you venmo requested someone.

Speaker 1 (01:30:50):
Oh gosh, let me look, it's probably been a while
veno request. Yeah, it's probably been quite some time. I
would say, let me see, I can pop it up here.
I'm now, I'm genuinely curious. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know
that I've requested venmo for I've paid people on but
actually requesting I don't even know that I would even

(01:31:11):
have one, to be quite honest, I've only used I've
got venmode. My buddy sent me a Venmo for some
deer stands redneck as that is. That's my last Venmo thing.
But I can't even find a time that I venmoed
someone else for something nice because I feel like a
lot of the times, like I'm not a guy. Like listen, dude,

(01:31:33):
if you're going out to eat with me, like I'm paying,
like I'm paying, Like I'm not a guy. That's like
wolves you know, just send me twenty dollars for the
check or whatever, like, uh so yeah, not not any
VENMO request for me.

Speaker 2 (01:31:47):
You puss the test, the every day guy test.

Speaker 1 (01:31:49):
I survived, Yeah, yeah survived.

Speaker 2 (01:31:51):
Yeah you killed that. The ances are amazing. I was like,
we need to we need to test a few more
people like you.

Speaker 1 (01:31:57):
Should have been like what kind of ranch would you need?
A spanning? I mean like I thought it was going
to be like what kind of diameter? You know? I'm like,
oh I was, trust me, I wouldn't either do I
wish I was. I wish I was handier than I am.
My dad is very handy, but I did not get
that gene.

Speaker 2 (01:32:15):
My dad was not handy, So I'm not handy. You
missed out there.

Speaker 1 (01:32:19):
I can. I can do it a little bit, but
not to the level I would like to. I would
love to be able to like take an engine apart
and just be like yeah, it would just amazing, dude.
People that do that are geniuses. Man, I don't care
what anybody says. Dude, that stuff is so hard. My
mind is not like uh like, math is not great
for me. It just takes me a lot of time

(01:32:40):
to do. I know how to do it the basic
stuff obviously, but like, dude, anything past division and multiplication.
I'm like, you're speaking Chinese. I have no idea. You know,
I got we got people for that. Yeah, and I'm glad.
That's the way the world is. You get somebody that's
good at that. I do the thing I'm good at,

(01:33:01):
then you're good at community bing bang, right and everyone wins. Yeah,
and everybody wins. Everybody's happy, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:33:07):
Finished, finish the sentence on these ones. As the first
thing that comes to my mind. The thing I take
way too seriously is.

Speaker 1 (01:33:16):
Video games, which games Battlefield six recently has been kind
of my uh, that's kind of been my thing recently,
like ins doable a football love. I'm a big football guy.
Take that way too seriously. Yeah, definitely video games. Are
you playing online? Are you playing I'll play online. No,
I'm not playing in suitable a online. It's too sweaty,

(01:33:37):
Like everybody's too good. You know, there's people Obviously, I
don't take it seriously enough because I'm a god awful online.
But I just really playing against my buddies. But like, man,
you're talking about like I've been out of shape, Like
I lose I'm it's like affecting my day to some extent,
and I lose a lot, so I'm not very good.
So maybe I probably shouldn't take it too seriously, but

(01:33:58):
I do.

Speaker 2 (01:33:58):
I love it the teest thing I've done recently.

Speaker 1 (01:34:02):
Oh, it's all going to be practical joke like joke related,
Like me and my buddies are just we just shred
each other all the time. I mean, it's hard to
pick a particular one, but like the jokes, Like the
jokes can be like sometimes like when we have like
me and my friends were so comfortable around each other
and like we all kind of have a similar sense

(01:34:23):
of humor and we all like know how it operates.
Sometimes I have to forget, like when we're around people
that don't know us at all or that have just
met us and we're in like full friendship like joking
mode that I'm like, maybe these people don't Maybe we
should just a little bit dial it back because people

(01:34:45):
are gonna think we're weird or they're going to be like,
these guys are complete assholes to each other, and it's
like it's all love. Yes, if you didn't know us,
you might be like, man, these guys are ruthless, you
know what I mean. Yeah, sometimes I just got back
at all, like forget that not everyone knows has known
us for twenty years.

Speaker 2 (01:35:04):
Yeah, my wife has to be like no personal jokes,
like yeah, when your guy friends are, don't make it
on other people.

Speaker 1 (01:35:10):
If there's if it's just close friends, let's avoid all these,
like all the jokes about each other. Yeah, that's that's
my pettiness right there.

Speaker 2 (01:35:17):
My guilty pleasure artist or song.

Speaker 1 (01:35:20):
Is ooh, right now, it's Olivia Dean. It's my gosh.
Her voice is so good man. That's not like something
people probably think I'm listening to. But the melodies are
so good man. It's like there's like some uh, there's
like some Amy One House stuff going on there, which

(01:35:40):
I loved her man, unbelievable. There's some like early John
legend stuff going on, like female John legend vibes, like
when he was really rocking the piano, like the albums
were real piano centric. Uh. He had that. The album
Another Again was like a soundtrack to like probably like
my junior year of high school. And when I heard

(01:36:00):
the Olivia Dean record for the first time, my wife
put me onto that. I was like this is like
like I felt like I was listening to another again
like all over like for the first time, and I
loved that vibe of that album, Like I think her
record it also came out at such a great time,
like and by time, I mean like winter fall, Like

(01:36:24):
it's that kind of like it's like holiday adjacent, like
feeling like the piano like good, like it just feels
good to listen to. So I'm I'm really I'm really
really vibing on that hard lately.

Speaker 2 (01:36:39):
I love that Two more of these Which fellow country
stuff would you call to help you bury a dead buddy?

Speaker 1 (01:36:46):
Oh? Man, Uh, it's probably Craig Morgan. Craig is like
ex military. Uh. He's like one of the most wild
dudes I know. Uh, And he'd be so happy to
like help you. He's like the sweetest guy in the world.
But like if you crossed him, I would be so

(01:37:07):
afraid of like what potentially could happen. And like he's
a guy to call him like hey, man, like I
need you to come over here, and he'd be like, well, heck, buddy,
I'll be right over there, you know, and he'd get
over and just you'd be like what do we do
with that? And he's like, oh man, I've done that
tons at times, you know, I'm like, he's just like
he's done everything, Like he's like everything, Like he's like

(01:37:28):
the perfect like man's man guy, Like he's the sweetest
dude ever. And I thought you just wouldn't ask any question.
I'd be like, well, let's get it done, buddy, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:37:37):
And he's awesome, so good, so good, all right, fast artist,
you do one next to you on a long tour bus.

Speaker 1 (01:37:43):
Ride, Okay, probably like Jordan Davis. He has been on
tour with me a couple of times, and I feel
like we're just really we have like a similar vibe,
Like our cruise are similar. Like his relationship with like
his team and his buddies, I feel like it's very
similar to mine. And he's I mean, he's a family guy,

(01:38:06):
like great dad. Another guy that I feel like is like that.
It's not a country artist. Ed Sheering is like that man,
Like he's me and him like kind of connected on
that level of like we kind of have the same
outlook on life a little bit, I feel like, and
not that we're identical, obviously we're very different as artists,
but like like you just pick up on that vibe

(01:38:27):
of like, well, this guy's like I get that. This
guy's like like me. The good Charlotte guys are like that.
Benji and Joel Madden to me are like two of
my favorite had dinner with them last night. I have
dinner with them every time I'm in LA and they're like,
I mean two of the best guys like have ever met, dude, Like,
and I just read like I love finding those people.

(01:38:48):
You have that kind of like just connection with that
kind of goes beyond like words sometimes like this like guy,
this guy gets me. I get this guy. We whether
like we're just We're just like that, We're just vibing, dude,
Like we're just we're just bros. Like from the second
we met and Jordan was like that, Ed was like that,
and Benji Joel I've been like that. Those would be

(01:39:10):
like my picks for guys, Like if I had to
spend a long time with then it would just be
like easy man, Like there would be no like, nothing weird,
nothing difficult, Like they're gonna just be easy to deal with,
Like those would be my guys.

Speaker 2 (01:39:23):
That sounds like a great tool bus.

Speaker 1 (01:39:24):
Yeah, be fun.

Speaker 2 (01:39:27):
Oh look, you've been so much fun man, Like I
felt like I've learned about you. You've been so thoughtful, profound, hilarious.
Appreciate that your good energy. That's such a good time
getting to you.

Speaker 1 (01:39:37):
I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (01:39:38):
We we end every interview the final five. These have
to be answered in one sentence maximum. We asked these
to every guest. Uh so, Luke combs. These your final five.
Question one, what is the best advice you've ever heard
or received?

Speaker 1 (01:39:52):
Wow? What a profound question. Don't ask questions? Back to
my dad, don't ask questions.

Speaker 2 (01:40:00):
Second question, what is the worst advice you've ever heard
or received?

Speaker 1 (01:40:04):
Don't ask questions.

Speaker 2 (01:40:07):
That's a good one. That's a good ru Yeah, Yeah,
that's good. That's good. Question number three, describe what it
felt like performing Fast Card with Tracy Chapman.

Speaker 1 (01:40:17):
Uh, Mount Everest like like undeniable, like just it's like
almost like out of body.

Speaker 2 (01:40:25):
Yeah, I love that. In the future, when your kids
are asked about you, how would you hope The first sentence.

Speaker 1 (01:40:31):
Goes he was the best ad nice.

Speaker 2 (01:40:34):
The fifth and final question we asked this every guest
who's ever been on the show, if you could create
one law that everyone in the world had to follow.

Speaker 1 (01:40:41):
What would it be that I hadn't considered that. I'm
sure you get some funny answers. I'm sure you get
some serious answers. I would feel like it would it
would be like, don't don't pee on the seat like
the airport like it already so enough, dude, Like and

(01:41:01):
then when I sit down and you're old piss on
the toilet like it, it's just that's the end for me, Like,
just come on, dude, like, don't be on the seat,
and I won't pay on the seat and we all
just we're adults. It's not that hard to not bits
on the seat at the airport's already gross to be

(01:41:22):
in there, you know, and don't like it's like, why
are we audibly farting and like in like at the
urnal like in the like you don't have to, you know.
It's listen, if my buddy's fart in front of me,
it's funny, dude. I think it's really funny my kid's fart.
It's really funny when a stranger farts next to me,

(01:41:42):
like just pulls the Jake brake at the urinal beside me.
I'm like, this guy's an animal, and I respect him,
but I'm also almost afraid of what he will do.
And if he's wanting to do this, he's wanting to
do anything.

Speaker 2 (01:42:00):
Now that is That's to be one of my favorite answers.
That is amazing, It is practical, it's important. I fully
stand behind it. I fully agree. I didn't realize how
bad it was and tolerable. Went to other countries totally,
and I was like, the bathrooms are so clean, totally.

Speaker 1 (01:42:19):
Why Why are all of our bathrooms disgusting? What does
that say about us? And now I can unsee it.
I can unsee how clean public bathrooms are in the
rest of the world, and I'm not okay with it.
We got it, we gotta stop.

Speaker 2 (01:42:31):
I love it. Luke comes the way. I'm Luke.

Speaker 1 (01:42:34):
I'm so excited for everything that you have coming. Thanks Jane,
love get to know you.

Speaker 2 (01:42:38):
You're awesome likewise, and wishing you all the best, all
the success, joy, Thanks for having me. Love that You're
bringing so much abundance into the world and I appreciate that. Yes,
thank you man, thank you. All Right, if this is
the year that you're trying to get creative, you're trying
to build more I need you to listen to this
episode with Rick.

Speaker 1 (01:42:55):
Rubin, follow your own inner guide. It directs us. It
might not make sense, might not make sense to us,
might not make sense anyone else. Certainly won't make sense
to anyone else. And that's okay. It's fine.

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Host

Jay Shetty

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}LUKE COMBS: The Man Behind The Success (Marriage, Fatherhood & Life With OCD)