'SNL': Luke Combs Makes Promising Debut Performance, and Viewers Weigh In

Country star Luke Combs left a big impression on Saturday Night Live viewers this weekend. The [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Country star Luke Combs left a big impression on Saturday Night Live viewers this weekend. The singer made his SNL debut in the new episode, hosted by Houston Texans star J.J. Watt. Combs' performance follows the recent release of his second album, What You See Is What You Get. Combs' first song was "Loving On You."

The performance came just a couple of days after Combs announced "Does to Me" would be his third single from the album. The song features Eric Church and was written by Combs, Ray Fulcher and Tyler Reeve.

"Super excited to let y'all know Does to Me with [Eric Church] is going to be my next single on country radio," Combs wrote in an Instagram post, alongside photos from the recording. "[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."

The single is Combs' eighth single. His other hits include "Hurricane," "When It Rains It Pours," "One Number Away," "Beautiful Crazy," "Beer Never Broke My Heart" and "Even Though I'm Leaving."

Combs is only 29 and has already seen unprecedented success in the country music business. His first album, This One's For You, topped the Top Country Albums chart for an astonishing 50 weeks, setting the record for a male country artist and trying Shania Twain's record. If Combs did not release his second album in November, he probably could have broken the record.

"I, of course, would love to beat it," Combs recently told Billboard. "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."

Combs has found success outside of the country music awards shows as well. Last year, he was nominated for the Best New Artist Grammy. He was also featured on Brooks & Dunn's re-recording of "Brand New Man," which was nominated for a Grammy earlier this year.

Combs is heading out on the road to start his new tour on Feb. 7 in Columbia, Missouri. He will also join Tim McGaw for shows in Los Angeles and Philadelphia in September.

SNL airs at 11:30 p.m. ET Saturdays on NBC.

Photo credit: Getty Images

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