Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Luke Combs

Episode Date: March 1, 2020

Luke Combs has had a meteoric rise to the top of the music world with two #1 albums, seven consecutive #1 singles, a Grammy nomination for "Best New Artist” and a recent induction into the Grand Ole Opry. In this week’s “Sunday Sitdown,” Willie Geist chats with the country star about that impressive journey from learning how to play guitar at 21 to the top of the music charts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sitdown podcast. My thanks, as always, for clicking and listening along. Today, I have for you one of the biggest stars in all of music, country music superstar Luke Combs. Luke's first album spent 50-50 weeks at number one on the country charts, which tied a record held by Shania Twain. He also spun off seven consecutive number one singles. He played SNL a few weeks ago. If you don't know him, I think you're going to love him. His whole deal is he's an every man. He grew up in North Carolina.

He on stage, he's not a guy who has backup dancers or a lot of production. He wears a fishing shirt and a trucker hat and literally holds a red solo cup while he sings his songs. If he's got to play the guitar, he's got a special little red solo cup mic stand that he likes to use to hold his drink, which I can report to you and you will hear later in our interview is Jack and Dyeye. diet, baby, because you got to watch the pounds when you're slamming Jack Daniels during your shows. So we got together a few weeks ago on the eve of his SNL performance, which was a huge crossover moment from him. He obviously, for the last couple of years, has been dominating the country music world. He played SNL and an entire new audience got to know him. Believe it or not,

Luke only picked up guitar eight years ago. He was a singer from the time he was a young kid, but never played guitar until he was home from college. He went to Appalachian State in North Carolina. He was home and kind of bored and picked up a guitar and started playing, taught himself, started playing local gigs when he got back to college, and really used technology, different music apps and sites that helped him push out his music and gain an audience, which now obviously is in the millions and millions. So we got together for our conversation here in New York City at a barbecue place called

Hill Country, Good Food, Good Music. We were down in the basement where they do their live shows, I think, every night. And naturally, you can see the visual. We're sitting across from each other in front of the stage with Red Solo Cups. He with the Jack and Diet, I think that night I'm going to bet that mine was a makers with a splash of ginger ale maybe just to cut it a little bit and keep myself together for the conversation. And as I said, he was a couple days away. He'd just come from rehearsal for SNL. So a big moment in his booming career.

Take some time right now and enjoy and get to know Luke Combs on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Luke, thanks for doing this, man. Yeah, man. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me. So we were just talking about SNL. This is a pretty cool deal. First time for you.

You just came off some rehearsal and got a feel in the place. What's it like to be in that Studio 8H? Man, it was pretty wild. I grew up watching with my dad, you know, every Saturday night and he would let me stay up late. You know, didn't have school the next day. And it was always cops on Friday and then Saturday night on Saturday. So it was good. It was cool being there.

You know, I grew up watching. So it was awesome. So you've had some crazy milestones in the last couple of years on this run you've been on. Where does SNL fit into the picture? It's definitely pretty high up there for me. You know, you don't get to do it like, I mean, even, and I haven't been, I'm not going to pretend like I've been doing this for 20 years, but we've done a lot in the last couple of years and there's not a lot of firsts that happen you know you hear that that people say that

you know when they're you know in their 50s and you don't get to do but there's so much stuff that we've done and been lucky enough to get to do so there really isn't a lot of stuff left that we haven't done you know and that's definitely one of them and it's definitely one that we you know wanted to get and wanted to do and so it's exciting time i've talked to other artists who've done everything too and they say there's something different about SNL you play a big arena or something stadium, but there's something about that little room on that night. Are you excited to that rush that comes with a live show? Yeah, I'm excited.

You know, my parents will be there, which is really cool. You know, my mom's only been to New York once, and I don't think my dad's ever been, so it'll be exciting for them to be there, especially because my dad's such a fan, and we grew up watching together. But it's, man, I'm looking forward to it, and there's definitely something different about it. You know, it doesn't feel like you're running the mill, like, get up and sing the song, and it's, like, over kind of thing.

and everyone's like, okay, it's time to go. It's more, it was, I mean, I've, I got a headache today from laughing. Did you? Did you? So you're shooting the promos? Yeah, but like everybody was just kind of joking around. And I'm, you know, I like to joke around a lot. So that was a good, it was a good atmosphere for me.

Are they going to sneak in some of this? I don't think so. I don't know. I mean, that would be cool. But we'll see. Maybe I'll just bust into one. You know what I mean? Like maybe that'll be my audition tape.

I'll just run up on, and just say some. The uninvited cameo. Absolutely. Just a quick walk on. It'd be a good story, right? It'd be a good story to tell. I probably wouldn't get invited back, but it would be worth the story. First and last, but maybe one bit.

Yeah, one and only appearance. We were just talking about your touring schedule. Yeah. So you just came off about five weeks ago, something like that in December, about that, and you're getting ready to go back out on a new tour. And you were saying, actually, that's the longest time. It sounds like a tight schedule to us. Yeah.

But for you, you've been on the road constantly for how many years now? Gosh, since probably 2015. I mean, pretty much nonstop, which has been fun. I wouldn't have wanted to do it any other way. I think you definitely appreciate the bigger gigs when you start out playing the really small gigs. But there's things that are different and fun about each of those. Like I would go back and play those small. gigs again just because I'm just like playing you know it's just fun to do it's not like

nobody's making me do it it's not something that it's not a job that I hate or anything like that so it's really easy to just get up there and we haven't me and my band hadn't played together I mean almost you know six weeks until this afternoon is that right we haven't rehearsed or anything I mean I didn't even seen each other I walked up and we played like one song you know we did our first run through and I was like man I was like that was fun I can't wait to do that again you know what I mean so yeah It's funny. You miss it. You know, I don't think you realize how much you miss it until you stop for, even for, you know, a month.

To me is, you know, an eternity when you're sitting at home and, you know, you're watching this thing on TV and that whoever, so-and-so is singing on there. And you're like, man, that looks cool. You know what I mean? I do that sometimes. You know what I mean? It's weird to watch stuff and go, I've done that thing. That's cool. You know, it's weird.

That's a weird thing to get used to for sure. What's the plan for the new tour, the upcoming tour? How's it different from the last one? Did you learn things on that first big tour? Yeah, I mean, I definitely learned how tired I would be for sure. It's so cool when you start out in the arenas and stuff because you're, you know, when we first went out with Brantley Gilbert two years ago, and that was the first ever arena we'd ever done.

And, you know, you're just like, wow, man, it's just so, like, overwhelming and big. And, you know, you're rolling up in one bus with everybody that you have. and you're just like, man, this is, you're watching, you know, the headliner do their thing. And you're like, man, that's incredible. There's 75, 80 people out here. There's, you know, there's 20, 30, 40,000 people in front of us to see this one guy. And it just seems like you could never get there. You know what I mean?

Like you're working towards that. But every step at some point has seemed unattainable, you know? Yeah. I mean, from this interview to. Saturday Night Live, to playing the CMA Fest. I mean, at some point, it was all unattainable thing. And so when you hit those milestones, it's pretty awesome. You know, and I try to try to just take it in as it happens.

Sometimes I'm as bad about it as anybody. Just like, we got to go. We've got to get to the next thing. Right. And do the next thing. You're busy. But having that time off, I mean, especially like, you know, just today, it was like, that is just cool, you know, because it wasn't, it's such a laugh.

minute deal too like we were supposed to be in rehearsals this weekend back in Nashville for the tour that you know kicks off next weekend so we kind of had to you know call an audible on that one for lack of a better term and actually rehearsing tomorrow we're in a rehearsal space tomorrow and got to go try to get ready for the tour and then film the show the next day and so it's pretty wild the amazing thing is those moments you're talking about where you're the opening act and you can't even see yourself doing things like S&L or SELion Arena are a couple of years ago for you we're not

I'm talking about, like, 10, 15 years ago. Two years ago, yeah. Two years ago, yeah. So what's it like on that last date of the previous tour to walk out into Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, the home of country music, see the place sold out, screaming for you, and a place you moved, what, five years ago?

Yeah. Dream of ever playing in front of anybody. Yeah, I mean, it was wild. You know, and we did so many arenas this year. I think every show we did was in an arena, or in an amphitheater, you know, which are, you know, huge. It's crazy because sometimes you go out and sometimes you're tired.

I'm sure there's NFL players that had games they didn't necessarily want to show up to, I guess. But sometimes you're tired. It's like any other job. It can be at some points. But that was a really awesome thing. I mean, we did two nights there. They wouldn't let us do a third because we had to get an NHL game moved out of there, and they wouldn't let us do that.

I bet the fans would have preferred that. They would have liked that, probably. But it was crazy. I remember coming out, you know, because like I said, we haven't ever had any time off. And so I remember walking off the stage the last night, you know, and it was like, you ever seen like a war movie where there's all this stuff going on in the background? There's bombs are going off and there's bullets going by, but it's like there's no volume. Yes.

And it's just like the main character is just walking. Yeah. you know, at just a regular pace through this chaos. Yeah. That's what it felt like coming off the stage for the last time, you know, because everybody we work with is there and people are flying in from L.A. and New York to come and be there and see the show. And my family's there and friends from grew up with.

And it was just like, man, I remember going home that night and just sitting there. It was just quiet, you know, kind of like this a bit. And it was just like, man. what's going on? What just happened? What happened this year? You know what I mean? Like, because you never have time to sit and think about it, right?

You're always on the way to the next thing or you're on the way to the next show or I've got to get to bed early so I can sing tomorrow or I got to do this so I can do that, you know? And it was just like, man, I got nothing to do for six weeks. And it was like, what am I going to do with my time? You know what I mean? Yeah. It was wild. So how do you just, even on a human level, how are you dealing with everything that's happened in the last couple of years when your first seven, singles go to number one and your first record is number one for a year setting another record.

You're breaking all the streaming records and everybody knows your name and your face and the arenas are full. How are you just you and your fiance in a room together? What do you say? I mean, I try to not think about it too much, to be honest with you. Just keep moving. Yeah, I think it's, it can probably be a pretty unhealthy thing to like dwell on, I guess. You know, if you were to just sit around and be like, man, I'm pretty cool, you know.

Like, it's just, I don't get any enjoyment out of that. You know, but it's, I don't know, it took a lot of getting used to. I don't think I'll ever be used to it. You know, it's affected my life very positively in a lot of ways, and it's affected it very negatively in a lot of ways. What's the negative? You know, obviously anything I do or say or have done or have said, you can be used against me at any time, obviously.

But, you know, you get the thing of you don't have any privacy, really, anywhere you go, you know. It's like you're always checking the temperature anywhere you go. You know, you have to make decisions based off of it, which is the thing that I hate, you know? Like if I want to go out to dinner, it's like, well, what time are we going? Do they have a table in the back? Right. Because I'm not a big, I don't really like being the center of attention. I know that sounds strange because my entire job is to be the center of attention.

But I just never, you know, I'm not comfortable with, like, you know, being, I guess, like, I don't want to say praise. That's the wrong word. But, like, being admired, I guess, is weird. So, I mean, I feel like Nashville is kind of a family town and they probably take good care of you. But how has it affected your day-to-day? This, I don't want to say overnight celebrity, but it's been pretty quick. It's pretty close to that. Yeah.

At least feels like it. It's really just. I just don't really go out much. You know what I'm like that sounds probably kind of sad, but it's like, you know, when you're constantly just, when the eyes are on you all the time, you know, you're just kind of like, you do want that, like, just sit at home with the pets and watch TV. Because that's, it's the only time you can like really truly like let your guard down. Not to say I'm like, that makes me sound like I'm paranoid or something. I'm not. But you know what I mean? Just like, you're like, man, is that like, is that guy noticed me?

Or is like, those people are staring at me, which is fine. I mean, I, because I like that and I welcome it because it's, I would much rather have that happen than not happen. Because that means people love what I'm doing. Right. You know, it's just, it's like any other job, man. You know, if you're, you know, downhill skiers, sometimes you get knee injuries. You know, I don't know. But there are just things that come along with it.

And the good has to outweigh the bad, in my opinion, and playing the shows and meeting the fans and getting to be on SNL and do stuff like this is, you know, it's really cool. Not a lot of people get to do that, but it does come with a price. Now I'm going to make you really uncomfortable and ask you to help me explain why people have gone so nuts for you

over the last couple of years. I hear the word authentic a lot. Yeah. I hear he is who he is. Yeah. He's one of us. He's a real guy who just happens to have a great voice and knows how to play the guitar. Well, they're right.

Those people are right. And writes a good song. But what would you say is the Luke Combs thing? What's the secret sauce that's made you so successful? I mean, I think probably you're pretty close to it with those things. You know, I think maybe it's just, I think the special thing is there's nothing special. You know, like there's no gimmick. There's no.

there's in my opinion it's like just like man that guy could change my oil or be the plumber or whatever but like I always had this kind of like underdog mentality you know when I moved to town it was it was pretty tough to even get a meeting let alone get a follow-up meeting or a call back or anything for a while there and and I get it man you know what I mean I'm when if you you know if you have five paintings next to each other and one of them's not very good looking. You're probably not going to buy that one until a bunch of people come in and go, I want that one. You know what I mean?

And that's what had to happen. But I had to, my thing was always, I wasn't going to wow anybody with, you know, my looks or, you know, my clothing or, but I never wanted to do that. You know, I wanted to wow people with my voice and my songs and my personality. and that takes a little bit of work. You have to go out and get in front of people and play shows and take any gig that anybody will give you at any time and play anywhere or any place.

And we did that for the last, I mean, five years, I guess. It doesn't sound like a long time, but I was doing that in college too. Yeah. I mean, I couldn't play guitar eight years ago. It's amazing. You know, and I was just, I just knew once I picked the guitar up, I've been singing forever.

And it was just, once I picked it up, I was like, oh, like this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Because people will like this, you know. People always ask me, all my buddies that knew I could sing would always be like, oh, man, you all to sing for these people or, you know, always come up at parties in college or something. And, you know, I believed in myself. I thought I was pretty good, you know.

But once I picked the guitar up, I was like, nobody wants to hear anybody sing when they're not playing an instrument. Or if there's not accompaniment, you know. Right. And even an a cappella group is you're pretending to, have instruments in the background. You know what I mean? Like it's kind of weird to just sing. You know what I mean? So it was just a way for me to, I mean, it was kind of honestly born out of like, I was living at home. I was 21. And so all my best friends from high school,

there's probably eight or nine of us that are still really close. And that was the summer where everybody stayed in their college town for the first time. But I was the one guy that moved back to Asheville from college to work a job for the summer. So I didn't have, like, any friends in town. So I had, like, nothing. I was living with my parents. I was working a job at a go-car place in Asheville where I worked in high school and all the kids that worked there, you know, it was 15 or 16 or, you know what I mean,

whatever it is. And so it was like, obviously, I'm not hanging out with them. So I was there just go to work and go home. And I was kind of sitting there. I was like, man, I don't have anything to do. really, you know, and my parents had bought me a guitar in seventh grade that I never played. I took one guitar lesson and never did anything after that. When I was, how old are you?

How old are you in seventh grade? I can tell you. I have a daughter. You're 12. 12. I was 12 in seventh grade. Thank you for that. But no, so I was 12 and it was one of those things where like I felt like my parents wanted me to do it.

Yeah. So I didn't want to do it. Right. Because I was 12. Right. And I was like, oh, my parents want to do that? I don't know. It's stupid then.

You know what I mean? I wish I would have now. And so that same guitar was in my closet when I was 21 years old in my parents' house. And I went in there. I was sitting outside sulking kind of one day. She's like, man, I'm just bored. Like, I don't think I worked that day or something. My mom was like, well, you know, Keny Chesanee doesn't learn to play guitar until he was 21.

And I was 21 at the time. And I was like, oh, she's good. If that guy can do it, then I can do it, you know? Yeah. And so I went and got that guitar, and I played. He'd pretty much taught myself guitar that summer. And the next summer I went to Charlotte and lived with my grandmother because I could play enough to...

I always knew I could sing good enough to where nobody would notice that I was a terrible guitar player. You know, like if I just played a couple chords and sang, I could get them to focus on this thing and not this thing. You know what I mean? And so I went and did, played every open mic night in the world that's ever been done and every place that's ever let someone plug a guitar into, who I would go there and play

and I just kind of kept going. Yeah. It was never, like, I never sat down one day and was like, you know what, I'm going to be the next country star guy. Like, it was just always like, there was almost like this little trail of candy and it was like, pick that one up.

Oh, well, the next step is obviously that thing. Then it was just these, like, micro goals of like play the next chord was like a goal, you know? Like, if I can learn, a G chord, then I can learn a C chord. And then that became, well, if I can play an open mic night, well, then could I book my own concert? Well, if I can play an hour, could I play

two hours? Can I play three hours? Can I write my own songs instead of playing somebody else's? Can I write enough songs to record them? Can I put them out? And can I move to Nashville? You know what I mean? Like, the goals were always bigger, but they didn't seem bigger because I was just right on the heels of them the whole time. It didn't start out

going from picking the guitar up and going, okay, how do I become Garth Brooks? Nothing works like that. And I think I always kind of thought that things worked like that until I just found something that I really liked. And it was just logical steps. It was never like a big plan or it was just I was good at this thing and I did that. And so I was like, well, what's the next thing? How can I improve on this thing? I just did.

Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Luke Combs after the break. Welcome back to the Sunday Sitdown podcast. Now more of my conversation with Luke. Combs. So the guitar came later, but people who know you, including your family, say the voice was always there. When you were a little kid singing Vince Gill songs, where did that come from? Is that a natural gift that you had? I mean, I always tell people it's, you know, I always give this, this analogy to it. It's like, people always ask me, well, how do I sing like you or how do

this or how do I do that? And I think it's, it's obviously a lot of work and a lot of practice, but it's there's a lot of natural ability you know I mean how you be taller you can't how do you be you know you could try to be the best you could go get some coach right now he teach you how to sprint and you could do it for five years and you could get as fast as you could possibly get and there's so many people who don't even have to try and are just faster than you yeah it's just not your thing you know what I mean it doesn't mean you can't get better at it but there's just like you said it's being tall it's How do you be seven foot tall?

You just are seven foot tall. And I think there was a lot of that with me. I just always saying. I just always liked it. Always. I didn't really know I was any good at it until like ninth grade probably. I just knew I liked it a lot. And people liked when I did it.

That was it. You know, that was the thing. It was like, well, I'm doing this and I'm happy. And I can tell when I do it that other people are happy. So it's simple math, I guess, to me at that point. Like, why would I not? want to make other people happy and why would I not want to make myself happy? Right, right.

You know, so that's an easy, it's an easy thing to have to wake up and do every day. So when you're at Appalachian State, when you get to college, you finally kind of put the two together, the voice and the guitar. Yeah. Is town tavern? Is that the bar where you were the bouncer? Yeah. And then you eventually started playing gigs there.

I started playing there. So I was living upstairs. Right. I lived above the bar, literally, not like, I was literally lived above the bar in between a, so there was So imagine like a little three, super tiny strip mall. Domino's pizza, tanning salon, the bar. It's a good strip mall. There was a staircase that went up.

It's wrong. Around the top. I lived in between the tanning salon and the dominoes. So I would walk downstairs, work my job as a bouncer. I also worked at an IZod store folding shirts and stuff. Like, you're asking people if they, you sure you don't want any socks to me? You know what I mean? Like that kind of thing, which I hate by the thing.

which I hate, by the way. Don't ever do that to me. I would say that sounds very unnatural for you. Yeah, it's very. It's not your bad. IZod probably, like if you picked two things, if you picked antonyms, Luke Combs and IZod would probably be pretty far off from each other.

Not a perfect brand fit, is it? Not a good fit, no. But it was, yeah, I went in, and I actually asked my boss if I could play there. I was like, hey, can I play a show here? He was like, no, because we can't have music because everybody lives upstairs, and I was like, well, I live upstairs,

and I know everyone that lives upstairs. I said, I guarantee we would all be down here. And I know the Tansansans close, and the Domino's guys aren't going to know what's going on anyways, as we know what they're doing in the back of the Domino's. So it's like, he still was like, well, I can't do it. So in my mind, I was like, I played rugby in college, and we hung out at a bar that was kind of right down the street from there.

And so I asked that guy if I could play there. And he was like, yeah, dude was an absolute wild card. He's like, yeah, just put it on the calendar. That was it. But that's how I booked the show. He was just like, just pick a day. It was a calendar on the wall in the restaurant. And he's like, just write it in.

And I'm like, there's not any red tape. There's no, like, how do we? He's like, well, you'll figure it out. So I just picked a day on there. I can't remember the exact. I still have the first dollar I ever made. Do you? It's hanging up in my house. But I charged a dollar ticket.

I made $200 bucks. 200 people came to see my first show ever, which I didn't realize was awesome. At that point, because then I played a lot of shows after that where five people came. You know what I mean? And so then I went back to work and I told my boss that I played a show at the bar down the street. And I said I had 200 people there on Wednesday night. I said, so I can either do that. or I can play here.

And so I played there every night, every week for the rest of my time there. And that was kind of one of three shows I would play weekly in Boone. And then on the weekends we would go, try to go to Charlotte or Winston-Salem or, you know, Atlanta, like Northern Atlanta, anywhere close, you know, Mountain City, Tennessee, Johnson City. You know, we slowly went out. And then it kind of come to the time to me. move to Nashville, you know, because I was like, well, I can, I could do this forever and make a decent enough living, but why not try to just do it all the way? You came pretty close to finishing school,

like a semester away. Twenty-one hours, yeah. What was the calculation, like, at this moment, it's time to go to Nashville if I want to do this for real? Well, I, I mean, I hated school. That helps. I mean, that helped. I was also probably failing out. We could pull the records on that, probably we'll find them yeah i love i love getting the uh i love getting the uh i love getting the alumni letters in the mail that you do now because somehow those have wound up at my place sure you know like hey old pal you sure you sure love it up here don't you you know which i do actually the fundraisers found your phone number all the fundraiser's have figured out that i went there for sure um no but i you know that was the thing i honestly struggled with a long time because i did

want to graduate. I just don't know honestly if I could have, you know. I don't think it was, maybe I'm dumb for saying this, but I don't think I wasn't smart enough to graduate. I just don't think I was committed enough. Yeah. You know, it's just there was nothing about it that made me want to be like, man, I just, I got to get up and go to science class today. Right. Like nothing about me wanted to go to math or science. You know what I mean? Like I was just more concerned with, you know, drinking and playing rugby and singing and I mean those were just I was like man this is all stuff that I want to do obviously you can't drink for a living so that was off the list and then uh you know I was really quickly realized I couldn't play rugby for a living either and so there was really

only one choice that leaves one thing it left one thing um and so I was like man because I was at the point I mean in 2014 when I moved I was 24 yeah and so it was like way past like you should be in college at this point. I had kind of like dropped out slash failed out, whatever it is. Like probably a year, probably like 22 is when I was like, I'm done with it. Like I'm just going to play

shows and try to make money doing that any way that I can. You know, that's how I supported myself for a few years. You were really, when you moved to Nashville, though, you were really savvy with social media and technology. Because I imagine it's the old story, you know, moved to Music City

with a guitar and a dream, but maybe that's a hard thing to do. It is. Then what? Okay, we live here, we've got an apartment, but you use Facebook. Vine was the thing, was the big thing that I started on. And you knew that that could sort of amplify your sound in a way you couldn't do for yourself otherwise. Well, just getting it out there, you know what I mean?

I mean, you have this traditional method where it's like, okay, well, how do you want people to hear your songs? Yeah. You find somebody, hopefully, that will give you a record deal or somebody of influence. that likes you enough to be willing to distribute you to those channels. You know, I was talking about it with my buddy John earlier today. Like, the Internet has revolutionized that thing where now you have the ability to take it to people on your own. And Vine was really one of the first things that ever, it's like TikTok now.

That's the big thing. It's the same thing as Vine, by the way. It is. It's the same thing. Yeah. It is. And so you just go on there and you put up whatever you want. And I would just sing little six second covers of stuff.

And I gained a following. And I ended up linking up with some other guys that kind of did the same thing as me. And they helped me out a ton. And honestly, those guys were some of the guys that helped me, you know, like, hey, man, like you need to, like, take this Vine thing you're doing on Vine. And, like, now you need to make sure you're getting Instagram followers. Like, I wasn't the guy that's, I wasn't the genius behind all that. You know what I mean?

I'd love to take credit for that. But those guys were, they had a lot more followers than me on Vine, you know, at that time. I mean, some of them, like a million, I think are just insane amounts of followers. But I had like $78,000, which was enough to sell my songs. Right. Because then I used that platform to, when I put my first couple of songs out on my own, I was like, hey, like, go buy these songs or check them out, you know, kind of thing. And I remember I was making probably, I mean, a couple hundred dollars a week, you know, probably four or five.

I mean, on a good week, $600 a week, you know, which for a 24-year-old without a degree. Sure. Who's just playing music is pretty awesome. You know, I recorded these three songs. I put them out. And I remember I was sitting in my neighbor's apartment above the bar, still lived above the bar. And so I distributed them on this service called Tune Corps. And so what happened was they would, you know, you know, he'd put it.

your songs out and then you get paid like that send you like a monthly statement you know and so I guess they make you wait two months for before your first one so you're kind of catching up or whatever it is I don't know why they do that but I was I remember sitting there and I knew it was getting close because it was March and it just my birthday my birthday's March 2nd had just been my birthday and I put the songs out in January of 2014 and I remember sitting on my friend's couch and I was like man be cool to get that check you know what I mean like a couple hundred $100 would be awesome. I remember opening my thing up and it was like $11,000 in there.

And I was like, holy shit. Like, I got to go buy an Xbox. Like, I got to get some little debbies. Like, I got like, what can I get with this money right now? You know what I mean? Like, nothing an adult would purchase. You know what I mean? So I went and got an Xbox.

I remember that. Oh, you did? Absolutely, I did. Because I didn't have the one or whatever. I'd just come out. I love your priorities, by the way. box little debby's. Listen, when you're living in an apartment by yourself at 24 years old, that's what you're getting, right? I had a beer, like one beer in the refrigerator at one point.

That was it. That was the only thing I had. Do you get some beer to with the 11 grand? I got some beer with the 11 grand. And then I used that money to record my next three songs, which to me was the logical step. So I wrote three more songs that I liked. One of those was she got the best of me, which I re-recorded for the deluxe. And that song came out. And The next thing I moved to Nashville in September, so I used that money to fund the move and like a security deposit on my apartment. And I was getting checks. I mean, not 11,000, but I mean, up until I put hurricane out, I mean, I was still making probably $3,000 a month. Wow.

I mean, just off of, I mean, not doing anything. Right. I mean, I have a job. I was just writing songs every day for seven or eight months. And then I put, I was down to like my last $200 because I'd spent. the rest of my money to record the six songs, which would end up being the first half of this one's for you. Right. And so I'd get those six songs recorded. And my producer, Scott, was like, hey, man, we got to master these songs. And I had never mastered my other. So I, and I did

my little redneck accounting of like, well, this is how much it's going to cost because I did these three and these three. So I'll just add that together. And that's what it's going to cost. And it, I mean, it was pretty close to that. And so I had that amount of money, Because I knew I was like, man, if I don't get these songs out, then like, I'm going to be screwed. Right. Because it was getting old enough to where it wasn't going to be enough to pay my rent every month. You know, I needed to put something else out to be able to keep writing and trying to get a publishing deal or trying to get a whatever. And so he comes to me and says, well, we need, I think it was $1,200, like $200 a song to master.

And I was like, man, that's expensive, you know? And I said, I got $200. bucks. So we had already tracked all the six songs, but I hadn't sang any of the vocals yet. I had just sang the tracking vocal, like in there with the band. We went and cut the final vocal. And so I called Scott. I listened to all the songs, and I said, listen, dude, this song Hurricane is the only song that we could possibly use the vocal on and put out. So I spent my last 200 bucks, mastered that. So that's one song, 200. Yeah, 10 bucks. And I said, I'll just put it out as a single instead of putting it out as an EP.

And so that's the only time I ever sang that song was on the track. Is that right? Yeah. Mastered it, put it out, sold 15,000 copies the first week. And then kind of the rest is history, I guess. You know, use that money to record the, you know, master the rest of the songs. And it was pretty awesome, man. It was crazy.

So how do you explain what happened with Hurricane? After it's released, blows up. How did your life and career change? change off that song. When did you feel like, oh, we've got something here? I don't know, because a lot of things happened from that point on. I mean, that was just the spark that lit the thing. You know, there was a lot in between.

I mean, you know, meeting, you know, my, you know, managers, Kappi and Lynn. Lynn signed me to an independent record deal before I signed with Sony. She's since, you know, partnering with Kappi on my management stuff. And, I mean, that was a huge thing. I mean, obviously meeting Kappy. And then Kappy introducing me to Lynn. that was a huge thing. I mean, that was a massive deal.

Because at that time, it was just, I was just making a good amount of money, and that was it. There wasn't a publishing deal. There wasn't a manager. There wasn't a booking agency. There wasn't anything else going on. You know,

and so I did get a little book and deal at a smaller agency, and they put me on a lot of really good small shows, like small opening gigs, like $200, $250. And I remember thinking myself, like $250 bucks. I go play in the street and make $250.

Are you kidding me? But you don't realize, like, I get, it's like, man, you don't make a lot of money when you start, you know? Unless you're, you know, you can make decent money playing bar gigs. And but then you can easily get spoiled by that when you move to Nashville and then all of a sudden you're down like 10 pegs from where you were. I mean, I was playing gigs. I was making, you know, I mean, some gigs making $2,500 a night, which, which, you know, which, you know, just really good. You're paying the band.

And so, you know, I might only walk with 500 bucks for a night's work. I mean, I was completely content with that doing something that I like to do. So I happened to go, okay, I remember when my first show was coming up, I was panicked because I was literally going to make $1050. And I had to rent a van, which I didn't own a van, had to pay the band guys, which I mean, they're minimum going to be $100 a night. or guy. Right.

So you're talking, I'm in the whole $700 and $800 just playing the show. You know, and I didn't have the money at that. I hadn't got the money from Hurricane at that time. And that's this really stressful spot because you're like, I know I can do this, but like, how do you do it? Because I didn't have a record label going, oh, well, we'll just give you, you know, $50,000 and you can use it and pay it back when you're done. Right.

You can't walk into a bank and get a music loan. That's not a thing. I didn't have you credit at that point anyway, so it wasn't really an option. But I figured it out, you know, and it was wild, but there are so many things. I mean, once we started playing shows again, I hadn't played for eight months, probably at that time. Because my band back in North Carolina, they didn't come to Nashville with me, so I came by myself. I met a guy, and he put a band together. He's still in my band to this day.

We were at songs together, and that was huge. Putting the band together was big. You know, getting that little book and deal and then on to my, you know, awesome book and deal that I have now was huge. There were so many things, you know, playing the Opry for the first time was a big step. And obviously signing my deal with Sony and, you know, kind of, I kind of didn't go on a traditional radio tour like most people do. Because things were going so fast already. And we had already booked the Brantley tour. He booked me for that tour before I signed my deal with Sony.

Wow. Like he had just heard my music and was like, I'm taking that guy out. Wow. Like I don't, and then Nashville, that doesn't happen a lot. Yeah. You know, it's usually like, hey, well, this guy from here's asking you to take this guy or, you know, it's a body of yours that's, you know, rights and he's got a deal over here. And so for him to just take me out, you know, without a deal or without, me, I'm not even a publishing deal at that time, you know. And so it was, it was all these little things that just kind of, there was so much luck involved, too.

It wasn't just talent or songs or stage presence. I mean, it's all those things compounded with these incredible instances of luck that have to line up so perfectly. You know, and up to this point they have, which is awesome. I mentioned your first album, first one you ever put out, went to number one, stayed there for a year, which is unbelievable. Crazy. What's that phone call like or that email like when you first hear that it's gone number one? number one the first time because you've done well on a certain level and you don't know how it's going to go when you put it out in the universe. No definitely yeah and it's number one. It was crazy

man you know because hurricane had just went number one before the album came out and that was wild but things were so different for us like I feel like kind of Nashville was so kind of a little bit behind like what me and Lynn and Cappy were doing or what we thought we were doing and what I felt like I was living, you know, I would see, you know, friends or guys that I had written with or knew that had these, like had a traditional, you know, major label deal or this. And I was thinking to myself, like, man, well, that guy's, you know, he's doing this thing. And I'm over here selling, you know, 2,000 tickets, you know what I mean? And like, and it was just a weird, things didn't go in, like, the order that they were supposed to go. Usually it's like, you get your deal.

you know, they spend a couple years to, you know, figure out your sound. And I'd already figured all that stuff out. You know, I knew what the people that were coming to see me, like who they were and what they liked and what I liked and what I wanted to play. And that was just being myself, that was it. You know, like, I'm lucky, you know, because that's a hard thing to do. Finding out what you want to do and how you want to say it and what you're doing. So many people struggle with that for such a long time. And I think that's why it does take.

traditionally, you know, they say it's a 10-year town. And then a lot of that time is spent figuring out, well, what's my thing? What's my place in the country music world? You know, am I more a songwritery guy? Am I more a poppy guy? Am I more a fulky Americana guy? Am I this? Am I that?

And luckily, I had just found my thing. And so that was an awesome phone call, you know, because we had recorded that album before I signed my deal with Sony. you know, I'd recorded the six songs and then Lynn, and she helped me record. I think I signed on February 28th, and I recorded the album March 1st. I took a day off for my birthday, March 2nd, and then finished the album on March 3rd. And then that was it. And it didn't come out for, that was March of 2016, and it didn't come out until June of 2017.

So I just sat there on that album, you know, but it was all. for the right reasons, you know, I'll give Lynn a lot of credit. I'm like, get it out, get it out, get it out. I want people to hear it now. You know, and she helped me understand a lot of things that I wasn't privy to, you know, because I've been telling her, like, oh, well, if we get a deal, like, we're not putting hurricane to radio, that's been out for a year. And she goes, yeah, you've got 50,000 streams on it, but like 50 million people listen to

country radio every week. And I'm like, oh, yeah, so nobody's heard it, really, I guess. You know what I mean? But I didn't know that. In your world, in my world, I'm like, dude, my fans are over it. Yeah. You know, like, it's never going to be a hit song because they don't, they've already heard it. They're not going to hear it, you know.

And she was like, well, there's so many people that haven't heard it at all. You know, if you've gotten in front of 75,000 people and 50,000 people like it, imagine if you got in front of 75 million people. You know what I mean? So it was kind of wild. And so it was always like Lynn would set a release date and we would talk about stuff. and that date would get closer, and then she would have to talk me off the ledge of like,

hey, we're going to have to push it another two months, you know? And I was like, yeah, like this thing's never coming out. You know what I mean? Like I recorded this thing 50 years ago. But it was the right decision, you know, and I think having those people in your corner too is the huge thing. Like having people you can trust,

having people that you connect with, people that you get along with, people that you care about. You know, I wouldn't discount that. in the process at all. You know, I think sometimes it can get a little machiny. Sure.

You know, and for us, it's always been, you know, no matter how many private planes are on or, you know, what country we're flying to, I mean, me and Lenny Capi can sit down and talk about anything. You know what I mean? And that's something that I really value a lot is just, you know, as much as they've helped me, you know, and as much trust as they've put in me and trust that I've put in them, you know,

it's just a, I think it's a super rare thing. And I think if you looked at a lot of people who have a really long career, there's probably a lot of that going on. The team has probably been together for quite a long time, you know, from the crew guys all the way up to the top people, you know, I think loyalty and things of that nature are super important. So lucky to have that. Find good people and hold them close.

Yeah, definitely. People you like being around. You work with them. You know what I mean? They're some of my best friends in the world, though. There's nothing better than working with your best friends. You know what I mean? So it's fun.

So as quickly as all this has happened, what does your family think about this? Those people who listen to you singing the Vince Gill's songs who gave you the guitar you put in the closet in seventh grade. What do they think? I mean, my parents are super proud. You know, I'm an only child. So I always told people if I screwed up there wasn't like a good son or good dog. There wasn't like someone that was going to be an attorney or something. That wasn't an option.

You know what I mean? So it was either I was going to be, you know, a bum or do this. So I had to do this. But no, they're super proud. I've always been very supportive of anything that I did. You know, if I wanted to be a rodeo clown, they would have been like, man, you're just the best rodeo clown there's ever been. You know what I mean?

There are those kind of folks. And so obviously they're thrilled, you know, with the success. And obviously financially, I've gotten to help them out a lot. They both retired early, you know, paid their house off and stuff. That's got to feel great. That's like the first thing I did, man, you know. For really before I bought myself anything, you know, I wanted to do that for them. Because, I mean, how many people get the opportunity to thank their parents for, you know,

I mean, I know a lot of, you know, not everybody comes from the same situation. But, you know, my parents didn't have a lot of money, you know, and, you know, didn't make a killer living. And, you know, it was a, we got by kind of thing. And I never knew that, you know, and I'm very appreciative for that. You know, they never brought that stress to me or on me or, you know, it was just like, we're going to get the, we're not getting the jumbo pack of colored pencils. We're getting the regular, black colored pencils. You know, I just thought that's the way it was.

You know, I didn't know there was a reason behind it. And so it's, that's been great to see them, you know, be able to go travel and experience things they've always wanted to do. and, you know, fly on, you know, cool little planes with me and, you know, Coda. I don't know. Shit. I mean, we've done so many things that we've gone to played Red Rocks on Mother's Day this past year, and my parents got to come to that.

And they were up here for S&L, you know, and just things that most people would never get to do. You know, getting to watch them do those things is the whole reason that I do it. And, you know, I mean, I don't do it for me. You know, it's great. It's great having a Rolex. you know, but it's like, but it's, you know, this doesn't, this is cool, you know, but it doesn't bring me any happiness, you know what I mean? It's just getting to watch my, you know, some of my best friends and the band and, you know, Lenin Cappy and just people who are good people,

get in to watch them live their dreams while I live my dream, you know, it's, can't beat that, man, you know, that's just, that's the way it, the way it ought to be in my opinion. Stick around to hear more from Luke Combs on the Sunday Sitdown podcast right after the break. Welcome back to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Now more of my conversation with Luke Combs as we get up and mix some drinks in those red solo cups. All right. So what are we going to make your drink? I think we're making a drink. It's Jack and Diet. That's it.

Jack and Diet. Do we have the diet? We got the diets and the soda. Oh, we got the gun. A man here hooked me up. We got this. Okay. Okay, let's, so this is on show night. This is the Luke Combs drink.

There is no soda gun at the shows, however. But we got this fancy little ice scoop right here. Also, I don't have one of those at the show. They're just going to get you. You know what, actually, if we're going real show drink, I don't do any ice at the show. You do no ice. I do ice when I'm having a drink.

Right. Show drink, though, that's bad for your voice to drink cold stuff. Oh, is that right? Call me lame. So I actually go. So you do hot jack and a hot diet? Well, the diet's cold. The diet's cold.

But I would call this a patent-in-stage drink, so you're going to go hefty on that. You're going to want to go up to the zero. That's a strong pour. Because you think, if you think, during the show, you may get two of these. Okay. Well, that's all right, then. And so you're going to be good after that. Uh-huh.

And then you're going to, like I said, we don't have a soda gun normally, so I'm going to bring it up for the camera there. Yep. So normally you just crack open a Diet Coke. Right. Do this kind of thing here. Everyone always asks me, why is there two cups? There's two cups because you just get out there. Yes, sir.

That's a professional right there. That's it. That's going to be heavy, by the way. You're going to like that. Or you're going to like the way you feel. You might not like the way you taste. That's nice. That's a heavy drink, for sure.

And with the diet, not as many calories. Not as many calories. As you can tell, I'm also into fitness a lot. So I'm going to make my cell phone here. You're going up to the O? I'm going up to the O. Is there a night when you'll go to the L? No, there's no.

No L night. There's no coming back from going to the L, pal. You know, I mean, unless you drink two of them, I think one, it might as well not put any diet in there. I've had a few shows where I'm like, man, that's a lot, you know. Now you walk out with that and it's, that's your starter, okay? And then halfway through, you'll get another one going on. So it usually gets like, it usually will get pretty warm because I really don't, a lot of my songs don't have big, like, breaks, pauses in them.

So I don't have a lot. And sometimes you'll see me a lot where, like, I've got this little cup holder on my thing. And sometimes it can become like a nervous habit. Like, I'll be walking around singing. and I'll grab my drink and I'll be walking around singing and then I realize like man I don't even have any time

to drink this drink at all like in between the lines or whatever so I'll be walking around and then I'll just go put it back in there haven't drank out of it at all and I always wonder if people notice like if they're like he didn't even drink out of that

they're going to notice now now they're going to notice for sure but it's yeah and I got my my guitar tech he has this he just has a bottle of jack we got a setup and write at his little guitar rig there

and he'll pull me one. And sometimes he'll sit me like, he'll sit me two up there. And one's got jack and dine and one's got water in it. And he's looking at me like, he's like, which one do you want? You always go for that. Always go for this one, honestly. Has this always been your thing? Like, you're playing those shows in college.

I mean, I drink, you know, beer a lot when I'm not playing. You know, but when you're playing, it's like, I'm like burpee, dude, you know? Like, beer is not the best thing to not burp. No, that's not. There's a lot of grimacing going on back behind the camera. A audible groans, actually. A lot of college. Recently out of college-aged women are like, this guy is super gross.

I knew that guy in college. Let's all be honest, you're all burping at home. Don't lie of us, okay? But it's, yeah, man, it's just, I've always just simple. Like I said, it's hard to mess up. Yeah. Not a bartender in the world. Can't make a jack-and-eye.

You don't want to burp in one of your beautiful ballads either. Beautiful crazy. Loses something with a burp in the middle. And let me tell you, if I had to do a resume, for a job, my number one skill would be burping when nobody knows that I'm burping. Okay? I'm telling you there are moments when you would be shocked if I told you I just burped right there. I'm glad you never have to apply for a job where you put that out of resume.

Because that would not get me a job. That's top thing on the resume. We're not talking like that's at the bottom. That's the marquee thing. Like you lead with that. Can burp without people knowing in the workplace. A stealthy burper. Absolutely.

Absolutely. I am a, cheers, man. Cheers. Yeah, cheers of that. Here's the burps. Yet another highbrow conversation on the Sunday Sit Down podcast about the relative merits of burping. My big thanks to Luke Combs for a great conversation. You can catch him on his What You See is What You Get Tour right now. In fact, they just added some more dates through the end of the year.

So you can check that out, see if he's coming to your town. I'm joined now on the Sunday Sit Down podcast by both the producer of this fine podcast and the producer for Sunday today of the Luke Combs interview, Maggie Law. Hey Maggie. I will. So a quick note on the Red Solo Cup. So he has two. Right. You got a double cup. And the one underneath is for mixing. So you pour the diet onto the jack. Then you pull it out and you mix it in the other cup. I have to say, I did not know that. I thought it was maybe for like it was too cold to hold on stage or something like that. So learn something new every day. I also love that he's like, you've got to have diet with your Jack. because you've got to watch the pounds.

The galleries, just in case. So you are a country fan. I am a huge country fan. I am a country fan. I went to school in Nashville, which is where I learned to be a country fan. And I have to admit, I didn't know a ton about Luke Combs until you taught me about Luke Combs. And I love his music. His music is great.

His album, What You See is What You Get, which, as I said, is also the name of the tour. It's one of those start to finish, a great album. And when you meet the guy and you hear his story, you like him all the more. Yeah, he's, I feel like, I mean, he's sort of. of has that, you know, not exactly overnight, but like almost overnight success story. And he's still so humble, you can tell. And I love that he came. And, like, his whole team was there because he was on SNL. And like you said, it was like such a big moment for him. And everybody was in town. And he just seemed so, like, grateful for the team and support. And he's known on tour for thanking everybody in the arena. He's like the people who are cleaning up after us, the people who are working at the tickets. Like, he is just so grateful for where he is. And it, like, is really reflected in his music, too, which I love. And he was shouting out people during the interview who's, We should explain they were his team, basically, his manager and the people who've been with him since the beginning. And as you say, he goes out of his way to credit those people with his rise as well. I didn't realize actually until afterward when we shook hands and we said, thank you.

And some of them, his team came out and they said, we were all in tears listening to that because I think they hadn't sat and start to finish his whole story and hear him talk about it. I think that's so nice about this kind of interview that you do is for somebody like that, he hasn't done a lot of these for him to really like sit down. and be like, wow, where have I come in the last five years to, like, look back on that. Yeah, it was so interesting. I think what speaks to his appeal is he was talking about how Nashville is known as a 10-year town where you have to figure out your thing. What's my sound? What's my look?

He's like, I didn't have anything to figure out. I knew my sound. I don't have a look. I wear a trucker hat and a fishing shirt. That was his thing. I'm not going for a look. I just hope people like my sounds. And I think it's so nice to see that kind of authenticity rewarded in this massive way.

like he's been. Yeah, and he has such a huge fan base, like, within the country world. And it's so interesting because he sort of built that before even moving to Nashville with, like, like, you were saying, modern technology. He just put himself up on the internet with, like, six-second vine clips. Yeah. And he built this huge following, and people, like, thousands of people are now selling out arena, you know, coming to his shows.

And it's just, it's just fascinating that he landed in Nashville and sort of, like, already knew what he was doing. Yeah. It's really fun for me, too, and probably you as a producer, to just catch somebody in this moment where he's made. He's made it in country music. He's beyond made it. He's seven number one singles and setting all these records.

But now he's at that point where you, S&L to me, I think, and he said was the crossover moment. Now all these other people are going to learn. And this second album debuted not just at number one on the country charts, but on the billboard chart. So it's like he's like all, you know, he's basically on the precipice of being everybody will know him, not just country people and country fans. Yeah. He might be a different kind of name for a lot of people who listen to this podcast who may not have known him coming in. Hopefully you enjoy getting. getting to know him and I think you'll like his music. Maggie, thank you very much.

Thank you. And thanks all of you as well for tuning in this week. If you want to hear more of my full-length conversations with our guests every week, be sure to click subscribe so you never miss an episode. And, of course, don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sitdown podcast.