Luke Combs

“I’m at this point where you just have to believe in it,” Luke Combs told Apple Music. “You have to believe in the thing that you’ve worked hard on.” And he certainly has worked hard. Combs’ rough-around-the-edges brand of country music provides a welcome foil to Music City’s polished radio fare, mixing versatile songwriting with hard-rock dynamics while always staying true to the genre’s established values. While new artists usually get a cold reception from country radio, Combs (born in 1990 and raised in North Carolina) barged right through any obstacles. His 2016 debut single, “Hurricane,” went to No. 1. The following year, his second single, “When It Rains It Pours,” also went to No. 1. By 2019, Combs was the first country artist in history whose first seven singles went to No. 1—a streak he extended to a lucky 13—and he was soon headlining arenas. It seemed like overnight success, but it wasn’t. Combs molded his signature sound—a bold, yearning tenor, Southern rock guitars, hip-hop-imbued beats—and released three independent EPs before a major label signed him. It doesn’t hurt that he has an Everyman appeal, looking, he’s said, not like a star but like a typical country fan. In a sea of styled and coiffed Nashville stars, Combs’ unkempt manner is a statement of rural masculinity. That attitude is reflected in his thick, raucous sound, but he’s also a diverse songwriter who covers a lot of ground: rowdy and loose, sweet and devoted, funny and sentimental. Case in point is the faithful and impassioned 2023 rendition of Tracy Chapman’s classic 1988 track “Fast Car”—Combs’ self-proclaimed favorite song—from his fourth record, Gettin’ Old. 2024’s Father & Sons explored personal familial relationships, a more sonically gentle output for the superstar. But 2026’s The Way I Am saw Combs revert to his classic, hard-hitting spirit. “My decisions have always come down to happiness,” he said. “Obviously, it’s great to be successful and have money and have all these things, but what it really buys you is the ability to have this freedom and live the life that you want to live.”