Luke Combs on Surprising Success in Country Music: ‘I’ve Tried So Many Things’

If anyone is surprised that Luke Combs is one of the reigning superstars in country music, it’s Combs. The North Carolina native wasn’t sure what he wanted to be when he grew up, and feels fortunate to have landed on something he legitimately loves, even though it isn’t necessarily what he expected to be doing with his life.

“I’ve tried so many things in my life,” Combs told Billboard. “So many different hobbies and interests and jobs. Singing was the first thing where I was like, ‘Oh man, I think I could get a lot better at this.’ But I think there’s a lot of people that don’t ever find the thing that they feel they’re good at. When you find that thing, it’s really important to expand on your affinity towards whatever it may be.”

Combs’ sophomore What You See Is What You Get album set a new record for streaming, a fact that both humbles and exhilarates Combs.

“I think it’s awesome,” Combs said. “Obviously I love country music, that’s what I do and what I set out to do: to play country music. Eventually it was going to happen, so to be one of the people that’s helping bring us up to the modern age, it’s pretty neat.”

The reigning CMA Male Vocalist of the Year also tied another record, this time with Shania Twain, for having an album reign at No. 1 on the charts for 50 weeks –– and acknowledges he could have beat it if not for the release of What You See Is What You Get.

“Tying the album record was really cool,” Combs acknowledged. “It’s pretty interesting that we kept ourselves from getting the record, because the next week we put the new album out. So that was pretty awesomely poetic in a lot of ways. I’m not a guy that sits down and tries to really scheme, ‘Well, we need to try to do this and break this record.’ I definitely want to be the best at what I do, and I have the drive to be constantly improving at things, but in no way is that something that dominates my thoughts.

“I, of course, would love to beat it,” he continued. “Everybody would love to beat it, but I’m also not going to be upset that we didn’t. I just try to be appreciative of everything we have. There’s so many people whose kids have a better life or families have a better life because of what we’re doing out here, and that’s what I’m the most proud of: Being able to bring everybody up who helped me get to this point with me. That’s the fun part of it for me.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Jason Kempin