Luke Combs’ highly anticipated new album Gettin’ Old came out today (March 24) and to celebrate, he stopped by The Bobby Bones Show to talk about the new music. He talks about why he chooses to work with certain brand deals and the one he turned down. We also find out his thoughts on the current issue with concert tickets!

When Combs announced his new album Gettin’ Old at the beginning of this year, he confirmed fans suspicions that this new project would act as the second half of a double-album, following the release of the first part called Growin’ Up, that came out in June 2022. It’s a big week for Combs, not only did he release his new album, but he also has the number one country song this week with “Going, Going, Gone” He and his wife just announced they are expecting another baby boy due in September, and tomorrow (March 25) he kicks off his World Tour. The tour dates are already completely sold out! He’s been facing the same issue many artists currently are with people buying tickets and reselling them for astronomical prices. He said they’ve been using Ticketmaster Verified for years, and it helps, but it’s impossible to fully stop that from happening. He said it’s something that needs to be addressed in some shape and form, but he’s not sure how to go about it.

When he made the Growin’ Up album, he knew it would be the first half of a two-album project. He had been sitting on a song he wrote a long time ago called “Growin’ Up and Gettin' Old” and was waiting for the right project to release it on and knew this was the moment. He said when he recorded all the songs for both albums in a three-year period and doesn't think of that time frame as not separate. He didn’t record them separately for the different albums. So, when they picked out the songs for Growin’ Up those songs felt entirely different to him than the ones chosen for Gettin' Old. He said when they were coming up with track list for both projects, some songs sounded so different and he didn’t want to put them out on a big album. He wanted them to live separately and have each song have their moment for people to hear it.

He co-wrote 15 of the 18 songs on Gettin' Old and said this is the first album he’s released where he didn’t have a hand in writing every song on it. He admits there was probably a time he said he’d never include a song he didn’t co-write, but now he respects the songwriter too much and when he hears a song that is good, he’ll put it on the record. It’s maturity that relates to the Gettin' Old album title to be able to understand it doesn’t have to always be your songwriting.

Combs hit the country music scene hard in 2015 with his first song “Hurricane,” and since then, has become unstoppable. He’s started to save footage of his career so 15-20 years from now he can do a Garth Brooks type package of his whole career. He admits the thought of putting all that footage together is odd and that they don’t have too much from way back when he first started. At the time you’re not thinking you should be documenting this moment. Also, there was social media but it wasn’t as big as current day, where now everything is documented because it’s just become a normal lifestyle.

Bones recently saw Combs at The GRAMMY Awards, and he said the all-genre award shows are so different from the country ones. He said the country shows you at least know most of the people there, but when you go to the GRAMMY’s you’re just one of a million people there. He says it’s a weird experience. Combs did his first GRAMMY performance of his song “Going, Going, Gone,” and said during it he didn’t look to see who in the crowd was watching him, joking that he’s a horrible guitar player so he was mainly focusing on not messing up.

These days, Combs gets offered a lot of great brand deals. But he reflected on one he was offered a few years ago that he didn’t think fit his personal brand. Someone wanted him to make a new cereal and he turned it down. He’s thankful he’s in a position where he can be picky with what he chooses to work with and is able to turn down offers to protect his personal brand. He said that’s more valuable than doing everything that comes your way. He also thinks about every move he makes and what his grandkids would think about it when they see it.

When Combs is at home, he spends a lot of time in his garage and the only music he plays is a cassette player which plays whatever is in it. But, when he’s in the car he listens to a ton of new music. He and his wife also watch a lot of murder mysteries when they’re together, which he said he loves because before he pursued a career in music, he wanted to be a homicide detective. He likes to also spend his free time playing video games.

Before leaving he answered some uncomfortable questions from listeners:

How much money does he have in his wallet right now? $1 and an old hotel key.
Does he want to open his own bar in Nashville? He would like to but has no plans yet.
Does he hate or like when he gets compared to Garth Brooks? He feels indifferent to it. It’s cool and he would rather be compared to Garth than others.
Will he ever reveal the pseudonym name he used? He wrote one song for Wheeler Walker Jr. under a pseudonym, but won’t reveal which one.
Could he write a guaranteed hit in one hour? He said he could write a song that he felt was a hit, whether it becomes one remains to be seen.

Luke Combs new album Gettin’ Old is out everywhere now!

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