Luke Combs Recalls Being Told He Would Never Be an Artist

With all seven of Luke Combs‘ singles hitting No. 1 at radio, including the recent “Even Though I’m Leaving,” it’s safe to say Combs has found success in country music. His success might be even sweeter because he was once told, by a record label executive, that he would never be an artist, and his songwriting wasn’t very good either.

“This person was like, ‘Well, play me three songs,” Combs recalled to Bobby Bones on The Bobby Bones Show. “And I was like, ‘OK, cool. I’m going to play these three songs, and they’re going to walk me into the best publishing thing, and they’re going to be like, ‘This guy’s great! How could you not love this guy? Give him a publishing deal!’

“I played ‘Hurricane,’ ‘When It Rains’ and ‘One Number Away,’ which were my first three No. 1s, and they were like, ‘OK, here’s the deal: you got to get better at songwriting. You got to write better songs. And you’re never going to be an artist.’ So that’s it. And I wasn’t mad.”

Combs later ran into the person who tried to kill his dreams, ironically at the BMI Awards, where he was being honored for his songwriting.

Combs just dropped his new single, “Does to Me,” which features his musical idol, Eric Church, on the track.

“Super excited to let y’all know Does to Me with [Eric Church] is going to be my next single on country radio,” Combs announced on social media. “[Ray Fulcher and Tyler Reeve] and I loved the song when we wrote it back in 2016 and thought it sounded like a Church song. We joked about getting it to him, but at the time we had no way to get in touch with him. A few years went by and we started thinking it may could actually work. I never wanted Eric to feel like it was something he had to be a part of, but thankfully he loved the song when I sent it to him and helped us take it to another level.

“Crazy to think this will already be my 8th single, which is already more than I could’ve ever dreamed of, but this is one of the coolest moments of our careers so far – a single with one of our biggest musical inspirations,” he continued. “That might not mean much to you but it does to me…”

The Grand Ole Opry member, who just made his Saturday Night Live debut, will spend much of the first part of 2020 on his What You See Is What You Get Tour, in support of his latest album. Find dates at LukeCombs.com.

Photo Credit: Getty / Terry Wyatt