Luke Combs‘ album Growin’ Up is out now.
While this is Luke’s third album, the process of making it was different for Combs and his production team, “The recording process of this album was really complicated and convoluted, honestly, obviously new producers. You know, me, Jonathan Singleton, Chip Matthews, we’ve had to figure out how to work with each other. They had to figure out how to work with each other. And so it was really fun. Because we got to have a lot of creative, different conversations that we had never had before. And try different things. And we did gosh, I couldn’t tell you how many studio sessions four or five or six. Just recording a bunch of different stuff and trying different things and recording different songs and recutting songs. And it was just fun.”
Luke gives special kudos to his co-producers, “I mean, Chip, and Jonathan worked their ass off on this album, so shouts out to them. Maybe it wasn’t as fun for them as it was for me.”
The recording of Growin’ Up was also complicated by world conditions that developed in the early days of the making the album, “It was crazy because we had started a little bit of this recording kind of before COVID Some of these songs were recorded before. Some were recorded during some were recorded after you know, and had this big tour sitting right in the middle. So it was crazy. It was a crazy experience to get to this point. But I’m glad we’re here. I’m glad people are finally getting to hear it. And looking forward to people getting to hear some more.”
The first song that people got to hear from Growin’ Up was Luke’s number-one single “Doin’ This.”
Growin’ Up track list;
1. “Doin’ This”
2. “Any Given Friday Night”
3. “The Kind of Love We Make”
4. “On the Other Line”
5. “Outrunnin’ Your Memory” feat. Miranda Lambert
6. “Used To Wish I Was”
7. “Better Back When”
8. “Tomorrow Me”
9. “Ain’t Far From It”
10. “Call Me”
11. “Middle of Somewhere”
12. “Going, Going, Gone”
One of the tracks that fans have been interested in hearing is “Outrunnin’ Your Memory” which features Miranda Lambert.
Luke shares, “Wrote the song with Miranda Lambert, it’s kind of an interesting story. We had talked about writing before in passing. And I’ve always been a huge fan of her writing. Obviously, man, I think she’s one of the best artists, writers of, you know, not only our generation, but of all time. And so we got together and wrote at her manager’s office and, you know, had thrown around some ideas and, and, you know, couldn’t really land on something we loved. And I had come up with an idea with my buddy, Dan Isbell, the day before this write with Miranda. And so I pitched that idea to her. And she was like, oh, I really liked that idea. And I was like, man, I wouldn’t feel comfortable writing this without my buddy, Dan, because we kind of came up with this idea together. So I ended up calling Dan. He dropped whatever he was doing to come to come write with us that afternoon. And in like the hour that it took for him to get there, we ended up starting a completely different idea, which is ‘Outrunnin’ Your Memory.’ And so we had had the chorus done, Dan got there, helped us knock out the rest of it. So it’s me, Dan, Miranda, love this song. I really do. It’s one of my favorites…has such a kind of a different feel than some other stuff. I feel like we’re kind of progressing the sound and I really love this song and shout out to Miranda for singing on it with me. I think it adds a whole new whole new flair to this song that wasn’t there before. So I hope y’all love it. It’s one of my favorites.”
When it comes to the project’s title, Growin’ Up, Luke says, “I’ve spoken about this album, kind of being transitional, because I’m at this transitional stage of my life where, I still feel like a young kid. I’m growin’ up a little bit however.“
Part of that growin’ up for him was that this week Luke became a dad!
So, along with his new single “The Kind Of Love We Make” hitting country radio, the album coming out, getting ready for a tour, and now a baby…there’s a lot going on for Combs…
Another track that everyone has been waiting to hear is “Middle Of Somewhere” – which shares the same title as Luke’s tour launching later this year…
Luke shares the story behind the song, “’Middle Of Somewhere’…wrote this song in Montana with Randy Montana and Jonathan Singleton. And I just really love the place that…you know, me and my wife live now. And it’s just a place that I’ve talked to so many people here that are so proud to be from here. And it’s a place that so many people have probably never heard of, and even my friends, in Nashville, we live almost an hour away from town. And people are like ‘God, you live in the middle of nowhere.’ And as I was talking to people here, and this idea popped in my head is like, people call this the middle of nowhere, but to the people that live here, it’s the middle of somewhere. And it’s such an important place to them. It’s such a huge part of their life. They were born here, and a lot of these people will be here for the rest of their lives. And it’s a place that means so much to them. So I feel like that middle of nowhere thing is just, it’s not that to everybody and I wanted to write that song for everyone that lives in a place like this, and especially for the people that live in the little town that I live in now.”
Luke’s The Middle Of Somewhere tour with Jordan Davis and Morgan Wade, and Lainey Wilson starts in September with back-to-back dates in Maine.
Luke Combs’ new album Growin’ Up is available now – and it includes his current single at country radio, “The Kind Of Love We Make.”
Photo Credit: Jeremy Cowart
