Luke Combs has a new song out, and it isn’t like anything else he has released before. The father of one just released “Joe,” a song he wrote with Erik Dylan and James Slater, from his forthcoming Gettin’ Old album, out on March 24.
“There have been some folks in my family that have struggled with alcoholism and addiction through the years,” Combs explains of the inspiration behind the song. “I’ve got buddies who live a sober lifestyle, and I’m sure y’all know someone who has struggled with these type of things, or maybe you, yourself do. This song (“Joe”) is really important to me for that reason. Our genre has so many songs about drinking and partyying. Hell, I’m probably one of the worst culprits of it. There’s nothing wrong with that I don’t think, but sometimes I wonder what someone in the crowd who doesn’t dirnk, or struggles with addiction is thinking or feeling when there’s thousands of people around them screaming “Beer Never Broke My Heart,” or “1,2 Many.”
“I’ve always wanted a song for those people to have for themselves,” he continues. “To have a song they can sing at the top of their lungs and feel like they’re not forgotten. When Erik Dylan sent me the work tape of this a few years back, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. So if you’re reading this and this song speaks to you, I hope you love it. This one’s for you.”
New song “Joe” available everywhere now. pic.twitter.com/y22lfYEP2l
— Luke Combs 🎤 (@lukecombs) February 24, 2023
Combs is aware that much of country music is devoted to drinking and having a good time, which is why he wanted to include “Joe” both on Growin’ Old and in his setlist each night.
“I just think sometimes, we’re out and all our songs are about drinking and going out and partying,” Combs explains to Taste of Country. “Not all of them but that’s a common theme throughout our genre at the current time and it kinda always has been, looking back.”
The North Carolina native’s current single, “Going, Going, Gone” is in the Top 5 on the charts. He just dropped “Love You Anway,” inspired — like most of his songs — by his wife, Nicole.
“Valentine’s Day 2020. I was playing a show and had dedicated ‘Beautiful Crazy’ to Nicole and said, ‘If you’re in here (the arena), I love you. If not, you know I do anyway,’” Combs explains. “Unknown to me, my buddy Dan wrote down ‘Love You Anyway’ as a title in his phone after hearing that, then he told me the story later that month when he and I were writing with my good friend Ray Fulcher.
“We loved the idea as a title and decided to write about loving someone so much that even if you knew from the beginning they were going to break your heart, you’d love them anyway,” he continues. “It came off very poetic and we wanted to find the words that could really give meaning to what we were trying to say, but as we say in the song, we didn’t know if there were deep enough words made for that.”
Combs will embark on his World Tour in March 25 in Arlington, Texas, and will play in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and more, before wrapping up on October 19 in the UK. Riley Green, Lainey Wilson, Flatland Cavalry and Brent Cobb will serve as the opening acts for some dates, with Cody Johnson and Lane Pittman taking over opening act duties for some of the overseas dates as well.
Find all of Combs’ music, as well as a list of his upcoming shows, at LukeCombs.com.