Session 110: Luke Combs

Summary

Therapuss with Jake Shane

Episode Summary: Session 110 – Luke Combs

Release Date: March 19, 2026
Guest: Luke Combs (Country Music Artist)
Host: Jake Shane

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Overview

In this episode of "Therapuss," Jake Shane sits down with country music superstar Luke Combs. The conversation blends the series’ signature blend of humor and deep introspection, spanning everything from Luke's path to musical stardom and his experiences with parenthood, to candid and nuanced discussions about mental health—especially Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Listeners are also treated to playful banter about retail work, food addiction, country living, and music industry insights. The two also answer memorable “Tell Me What’s Wrong” questions submitted by fans.

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Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Luke’s Roots, Family, and Career (12:00–20:30)

• Nashville vs. L.A.: Luke is a "full-time Nashville guy" but enjoys short stints in other cities.

  "I enjoy coming out [to LA] for a week... grab some nice overnight oats... and then I'm like, they don't have overnight oats in Nashville." – Luke (12:46)

• Growing Up: Born in Charlotte, raised in Asheville, NC.
• Musical Start: Choir background, singing professionally from age 22.

  "I'm 35, soon to be 36, which is just gross... but 30s are awesome. It's like 20s with money." – Luke (13:34, 14:36)

• Parenting: His young sons don’t fully grasp his fame, which he hopes to explain himself to protect their normalcy.

  "You want them to hear it from you first... prepare them for that conversation." – Luke (17:25)

2. The Songwriting Process and Hit Songs (19:00–24:00, 34:49–44:50)

• “Where the Wild Things Are”: The song circulated Nashville for years before Luke recorded it.

  "Really great songs have a tendency to get passed around... you gotta listen to this song so-and-so wrote." – Luke (19:17)

• Song Selection: Hits are unpredictable; social media now strongly influences which songs take off.

  "If I was trying to pick a hit off any of my records, 90% of the time I'd be wrong." – Luke (22:29)

• Vine Era: Both reminisce about Vine’s impact on careers (Shawn Mendes, the Paul brothers, and Luke himself).
• Approach to Writing: No single method—sometimes melody, sometimes lyrics, sometimes built off a "track guy" beat.

3. Mental Health and OCD (45:00–63:00 & Throughout)

• Shared Experiences with OCD:
  • Jake and Luke open up about their histories with obsessive, intrusive thoughts and compulsions.

  "Purely obsessional compulsive disorder... all the compulsions are mental, thought-based." – Luke (50:39)

  • Luke describes panic spirals from intrusive thoughts, emphasizing that “accepting” their presence reduces their power.

  "Letting them exist is ultimately the thing that removes all the power they have over you." – Luke (56:02)

• Diagnosis Journey: Luke’s struggles began at age 13; clarity didn’t come until 21. He finds power in sharing his story:

  "It is not ultimately your destiny to be this person who… has mental illness. That's not... your definition." – Luke (54:00)

• Therapy Approaches: They discuss Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

  "It's knowing that you may never get an answer, because it all... revolves around questions that can't be answered." – Luke (57:59)

• Personal Impact: Luke is passionate about mental health advocacy, especially for young fans.

4. Banter, Candy, and Beers (64:25–69:06)

• The duo sample German squishy gummies (Cache), discuss food packaging, and reminisce about beer shotgunning.
• Luke gives a step-by-step beer shotgunning lesson, leading to a comical on-air attempt and ensuing burp.

  "For the next song, there's a moment every night after I shotgun a beer... While I'm singing, I burp and it's like, no one knows." – Luke (67:58)

5. Struggles with Weight Loss & Relationship to Food (70:41–78:49)

• Luke shares his ongoing efforts with gluten-free and intermittent fasting, noting the challenge and slow progress.

  "It's painstaking, man... real change requires real change, a fundamental change in every way that I've operated with food." – Luke (72:33)

• They reflect on food addiction, especially among artists on tour, and the challenges of breaking eating patterns tied to emotional states.

6. Tell Me What’s Wrong – Fan Q&A (82:23–98:00)

• Bad Bridesmaid: Clear consensus—stop wasting energy on toxic “friends.”
• Explaining OCD: Luke urges listeners not to feel responsible for educating others about their mental health.

  "You shouldn’t have to explain it to others; focus on healing yourself." – Luke (84:22)

• ChatGPT & OCD: They debate the tool’s usefulness vs. risk for obsessive brains.
• Toxic Friendship & Bar Fights: Advice to confront the friend, but recognize that not all friendships are permanent.
• Dreadful Breakup at Work: Time to move on from both relationship and job.

  "You are not coming back from that. Quit your job and start over, bro." – Luke (98:02)

• Overbearing In-laws: Direct conversation with the partner is recommended.
• Other relationship and life dilemmas addressed with humor and empathy.

7. Music & Pop Culture (99:29–101:00)

• Luke listens to everything from hip-hop to country, valuing "authenticity" in artists.
• Jake recommends R&B singer Summer Walker.
• Pop culture detours range from Bridgerton and Stranger Things to obscure crime dramas and German Netflix shows.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Aging and Your Thirties

  “Thirty’s are awesome. If you have the ability to do that, be in your thirties. I love it... It's like 20s with money.”
  — Luke Combs (13:58–14:36)

• On OCD Intrusive Thoughts

  "For me, a thought like that...basically sends your mind into fight or flight mode... The obsession becomes trying to understand or find an answer for why you had the thought.”
  — Luke Combs (51:51–52:27)

• On Food Addiction

  “Food is the only thing you can be addicted to that you have to have every day... It’s the only addiction you can’t quit.”
  — Luke Combs (74:13–74:42)

• On Not Explaining Your Mental Health

  “I don't think it's your responsibility to have to justify what you're going through to anyone else… focus on getting the help you need.”
  — Luke Combs (83:32–84:44)

• On Accepting Thoughts

  "Letting them exist is ultimately the thing that removes all the power that they have over you and saying, you know what? I will have these thoughts all the time. And that's just like, who cares?"
  — Luke Combs (56:02–56:27)

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Key Timestamps

• 12:02 – Start of main interview with Luke Combs
• 13:34 – Luke on 20s vs. 30s
• 17:25 – Navigating fame and parenthood
• 19:17 – Story behind “Where the Wild Things Are”
• 22:29 – Predicting hits and social media’s impact
• 34:49 – Watches, status, and luxury goods banter
• 45:00 – Deep dive: OCD and mental health
• 50:39 – Luke explains “purely obsessional compulsive disorder”
• 54:00 – Luke on redefining yourself beyond mental illness
• 56:02 – Power of accepting thoughts
• 64:25 – Candy taste-test & beer shotgun lesson
• 70:41 – Conversation about weight loss, food, and touring
• 82:23 – Start of fan-submitted “Tell Me What’s Wrong”
• 99:29 – Music taste & cultural recommendations
• 101:05 – Wrap-up reflections and final thoughts

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Tone & Language

• Language: Casual, irreverent, honest, and often humorous; leans into vulnerability and camaraderie.
• Tone: Warm, occasionally self-deprecating, and welcoming of tough conversations.

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Conclusion

This episode is a masterclass in authentic conversation—from discussing the ups and downs of fame and family, to normalizing mental health struggles without embarrassment. Luke Combs’ openness regarding his OCD, songwriting process, and food addiction offers relatable, tangible help to listeners. Lighthearted detours—candy taste-tests, pop culture, and playful advice—bring bursts of levity. Jake and Luke’s chemistry keeps the show compelling, funny, and deeply human.

Recommended for: Fans of country and pop culture, those navigating mental health challenges, and anyone seeking a transparent, relatable dialogue on music, fame, food, and life.

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Transcript

[Luke Combs]

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[Jake]

Hi, welcome back to Therapists. I know I look a little tired, but that's because I just got home from finishing my Broadway. Oh, bottom.

[Luke Combs]

What?

[Julia]

What?

[Jake]

You. Oh, so you don't watch the show?

[Julia]

No. What? Of course I don't. Why do you say but I can't.

[Jake]

Are you watching Paradise?

[Julia]

I haven't started yet, but I watched the first season.

[Jake]

Oh, the second season shits on the first season.

[Julia]

Wait, seriously? And Shailene's in it, huh?

[Jake]

He's undeniable. Are you watching Paradise? Season two is spectacular.

[Julia]

Okay?

[Jake]

Like actually spectacular.

[Julia]

Wait, what happened at the end of season one again? They escaped on the plane.

[Jake]

They went he. And he left his kids there.

[Julia]

Oh, damn.

[Jake]

To search for his wife. Because remember. Because remember she found the thing that

[Julia]

said, like, I'm out here. I'm out here.

[Jake]

Oh, my God, no. And I.

[Julia]

Full body chills. Are you watching?

[Jake]

No, no, no. Episode four. Wait, I'm going to watch episode four. A really acoustic version of Can't Help Falling.

[Julia]

So he found the. He found the wife. No, I mean, I guess I'll just watch it.

[Jake]

It's Julia. It's unbelievable. It's like actually unbelievable.

[Julia]

I have so much to watch right now.

[Jake]

We'll put it at the top of your list.

[Julia]

Paradise. Okay, I am super behind on Love Story.

[Jake]

Me too.

[Julia]

Because I was away and then Peyton was like, we can't watch it without each other.

[Jake]

And then, well, I got hooked on

[Julia]

paradise is what happened with and then Bridgerton.

[Jake]

Didn't it end?

[Julia]

No, there's new season. It's half. They do it in parts.

[Jake]

Yeah, apparently people were not happy with the second half.

[Julia]

Oh, really? I think it's the best show ever made.

[Jake]

Why?

[Julia]

It's so good. And every season gets better than the next.

[Jake]

Look, I'm not Doubt I am. I just don't like period. I don't like period pieces. That's my one thing with it. If it was anything but a period piece, I would watch It.

[Julia]

You don't like period pieces.

[Jake]

They don't have phones.

[Julia]

Like, you've watched a period piece, though.

[Jake]

Yeah, I have a movie to devote myself to. A period piece television show. Like, I don't know if I can do that. Like, I struggled with the Americans. Like, I was watching. It's a show about two Russian spies living as, like, sleeper cell agents in the US like, with a family. Like. Oh, that sounds cool, right?

[Julia]

But you don't like the period piece.

[Jake]

No, I did. I just. The first season didn't.

[Julia]

But Bridgerton's not really like, a period piece because it' like, totally, like, fiction. Like, it's not accurate of the period.

[Jake]

Yeah, but they're wearing. That's accurate.

[Julia]

And they're talking like.

[Jake]

Yeah, they just. Yeah. Do they talk like that?

[Julia]

They talk like that?

[Jake]

Like what?

[Julia]

Like, they talk like old.

[Jake]

Like what?

[Julia]

Like, they don't talk like us.

[Jake]

What do you mean?

[Julia]

Okay, I'm trying to think. I'm trying to think, like, I'm not

[Jake]

going to do it.

[Julia]

They say, like, betrothed.

[Jake]

Hate that. You know? Hate that.

[Julia]

I get it. Honestly, it's like, it's kind of uncomfortable.

[Jake]

I just don't know what it means. So it, like. Then I'm like, what are you talking about?

[Julia]

But it's like, I don't know. Everyone in it is hot too.

[Jake]

No, I know that.

[Julia]

Yeah.

[Jake]

And the music is apparently amazing, but

[Julia]

it's all like, instant. Like, thank you. Next. Like, instrumental version.

[Jake]

Are you, like, ever caught off guard by that?

[Julia]

And then sometimes I like, don't recognize the music, but I'm like, I know what this is. But it's like a string quartet on a harp version of like, We Can't Be Friends or like Yukon. Like, like, it's like the most popular song. It's like the most popular songs of now. But on, like, a harp.

[Jake]

Does it ever throw you or like,

[Julia]

the whole show is weird?

[Jake]

Honestly, what's the premise of the show? It's like the biggest show in the world. I have no idea what the premise is.

[Julia]

Okay, so basically, first season is the best season. Okay, first season. It's like, there's this. It's kind of like Gossip Girl, but, like, based in, like, the old.

[Jake]

Are they doing drugs?

[Julia]

They're do. There was, like, some partying happening.

[Jake]

But what's that? What does the partying look like? Like, what's the scandal?

[Julia]

It's like brothels and like.

[Jake]

But what's the scandal?

[Julia]

Okay, so the scandal is that there's this woman writing lady whistledown and it's kind of like Gossip Girl. And she's like, yes. And so she's like, wake up.

[Jake]

This sounds interesting.

[Julia]

Yes. Okay, so basically, like, the whole premise of the show is, like, these girls are, like, making their debut, and it's like, their first season on, like, the Marriage Mart, so they're all, like, looking to get married. And then, like, the queen, like, names a diamond of the season, and, like, the diamond of the season's obviously, like, Daphne Bridgerton, and she falls in love with the Duke. Well, do you want me to just tell you? But basically, like, there's this Lady Whistledown, like, writing because she's, like, snooping around.

[Jake]

Like, who the fuck is Lady Whistledown?

[Julia]

Queen is like, who the fuck is Lady Whistledown?

[Jake]

Do you watch? I watched the first season and did you like it? So is it a one and done for me? Like, maybe I won't want to do too. Like, it's a one and done.

[Julia]

You don't need to keep watching the seat. Like, they're like, all. All the seasons are different plots.

[Jake]

Wow. Okay. How fun.

[Julia]

Well, what else is up?

[Jake]

I am so excited that I feel like we're approaching summertime.

[Julia]

It's really warm in New York. It's warm here. I'm loving it. I'm in shorts.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Julia]

Spring has sprung.

[Jake]

Okay. Holy.

[Luke Combs]

We have nothing to talk.

[Jake]

No, no, no, no, no. I'm taking it in. I'm taking it in because, like, should

[Julia]

we, like, why are we talking about the weather? Oh, my God. Do we talk about that many things that we just have nothing to say anymore? We're talking about weather.

[Jake]

No. I hope in the summer that, like, we have a lot of really fun New York nights out that I can see happening.

[Julia]

But the traveling of it all.

[Jake]

I need to work on my anxiety.

[Julia]

I don't really even know why you

[Jake]

bother with what traveling. I know. Well, New York is the only place I like to go to.

[Julia]

But that's not traveling. Like, that's like, another version of home.

[Jake]

Yeah, but I'm lucky to say that.

[Julia]

Very lucky. But I'm just saying, like, I feel like the last time we went on a trip together, like, you didn't have, like, one minute of fun.

[Jake]

No, I'm just like, how do. I can't not be. That's who I am.

[Julia]

I get it.

[Jake]

That is who I am.

[Julia]

I get it. I get it. I get it.

[Jake]

Oh, my God. I have something.

[Julia]

You have something to talk about.

[Jake]

I just, like, don't look forward to anything that doesn't have to do with me.

[Julia]

That's and you know what? Like, that's why everyone loves you. Okay. Don't.

[Jake]

Really?

[Julia]

Yeah. I mean, like, is it frustrating? Yes. Is it funny? Also? Yes.

[Jake]

You know what? Cassidy's birthday weekend will be so fun.

[Julia]

Okay.

[Jake]

So that'll be fun. Peyton's birthday. Whatever we do for Peyton's birthday will be so fun.

[Julia]

We should go away. Yeah, I think we should go away.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Julia]

Yeah. Can I bring one thing up?

[Jake]

Sure.

[Julia]

Can we talk about how you quoted Peace, Julia?

[Jake]

That was what I was gonna say.

[Julia]

That's really sweet.

[Jake]

That's what I was gonna say.

[Julia]

I love you.

[Jake]

I quoted it in a situation that was, like.

[Julia]

It was very dramatic with you.

[Jake]

It was very dramatic. Like, it was very dramatic to the

[Julia]

point where, like, he said that and I was like, hey, I don't know if you were looking to me for validation, but, like, I can't give it to you.

[Jake]

You know?

[Julia]

He, like, fully, like, no, Edit, I meant to say. No, I know.

[Luke Combs]

I said.

[Julia]

What did you say? There's robbers to the east, clowns to the west. I'd give you my son. That's exactly what you said, didn't you?

[Jake]

I didn't include the robbers to the east.

[Julia]

The rain is always going to come when you're standing with me is what he said. And it's like, I want you to take a second and I want you to think about it, because I couldn't help you there.

[Jake]

I didn't tell anyone. I texted my group chat a few days later and I said, it's time I admit something. I quoted Peace in, like, a serious way in that situation. And Julia, no one responded. Actually, no one responded. No.

[Julia]

I think I just laughed at the message.

[Jake]

I don't. Nope. I don't remember. Cuz I would have been like, isn't that so funny? I know. You might have laughed. I don't know.

[Julia]

That was crazy of you. That was crazy of you.

[Jake]

Oh, my goodness gracious lord. I need to stop smoking weed again.

[Julia]

Really? I feel like you've been doing good with it.

[Jake]

It makes me hilarious. Yeah. Like, it.

[Julia]

But it's making you anxious again or like, it's just like, tired or.

[Jake]

I don't know.

[Julia]

I wish that it didn't make me paranoid.

[Jake]

I can't tell if I'm anxious or bored ever. I can't tell.

[Julia]

I get that.

[Jake]

That's why Broadway was so good for me. I was so busy every time.

[Julia]

So maybe the answer is you were bored. I get anxious when I'm bored.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Julia]

Yeah.

[Jake]

Oh, do you want to try? Yes. Okay.

[Julia]

The new ones? No.

[Jake]

Have you had the rainbows?

[Julia]

Yeah. This is the original ones that have you had?

[Jake]

You had the sours?

[Julia]

No.

[Jake]

You've never had the sours? Do you like sour?

[Julia]

Yeah.

[Jake]

Okay. Cheers.

[Julia]

Watermelon.

[Jake]

Now try a blue. You know what? Something that's really good about them. The aftertaste.

[Julia]

I think that they're like. They're better as you chew.

[Jake]

Yeah. You bite in and it's not what you want. And better, better, better. And then you want more. I posted a video of Cass trying them, and so people were wondering where to get them. You can get them on Amazon.

[Julia]

Oh, they're all different shapes, like a sun.

[Jake]

Yeah, try that one. That's probably a different flavor. Yeah. Okay.

[Julia]

So wild and free foam.

[Jake]

Yeah. Oh, my God. And Luke Combs tries them in this episode, too. People were wondering where to get them. You can get them at Five Below. Yeah. That one's Fire. And you can get them on Amazon if you're wondering where to get them. But we're working on getting them to more places. It's, like, crazy.

[Julia]

Wait, that is an explosion of flavor.

[Jake]

I know, I know.

[Julia]

Freaking out.

[Jake]

I know, I know. Anyhow, you guys can get them on Amazon. 5 below. There's also a store locator on the website, and I would love to take this time to invite you.

[Julia]

Me?

[Jake]

Yes, you. Talk about something to look forward to.

[Julia]

Tell me right now.

[Jake]

Are you so excited?

[Julia]

I'm so excited.

[Jake]

We are going to the Sweet and Snacks Expo in Las Vegas.

[Julia]

Oh, my God.

[Jake]

When you, me, Brett, Peyton, Kennedy, Cassidy, Alice, like, it's gonna be. We're gonna have fun.

[Julia]

Okay.

[Jake]

And Louise will come. Zach said he'll come. Manny.

[Julia]

Manny.

[Jake]

Manny. Manny. Manny. Zach. Yes, Zach.

[Julia]

Okay.

[Jake]

And we'll.

[Luke Combs]

We'll.

[Jake]

And we'll. We'll. We'll do the candy. We'll do the candy thing. We'll have, like, the best time, and then we'll go clubbing at night.

[Julia]

Wait, what's this? Why did you like.

[Jake]

Because, like, we'll just, like, probably be at the booth, like, partying, like, tearing it up. Like, there's a booth.

[Julia]

Go conscious. Go conscious.

[Jake]

Oh, my God. Should we, like, make shirts? Yeah. Oh, my God.

[Julia]

That should be a different theme.

[Jake]

I'm, like, really excited about this. Okay, well, on that note, I love you. Well, Julia, thank you for being here.

[Julia]

Oh, thank you. I missed you.

[Jake]

I missed that. I missed this, and I missed you.

[Julia]

I missed you, too. Did you?

[Jake]

Yeah, I did.

[Julia]

Be honest.

[Jake]

I did.

[Julia]

Scale of 1 to 10?

[Jake]

A 10. I miss you. Okay.

[Luke Combs]

Okay.

[Jake]

Tonight's episode is with Luke Combs, whose album the Way I am is out March 20th. He's amazing. He's amazing. I'm obsessed with him.

[Julia]

Him.

[Jake]

He really guided me through some times. I love you, pussies. Enjoy the episode. Hi, pussies. Welcome back to Therapuss. Today on Therapuss we have one of my favorite artists ever, Luke Combs.

[Luke Combs]

What's going on?

[Jake]

So I. It is. I should probably tell you, I have had the. Do you know what a crash out is?

[Luke Combs]

Yep.

[Jake]

Oh, you do?

[Luke Combs]

Yeah.

[Jake]

Oh, okay.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah.

[Jake]

What is it to you?

[Luke Combs]

I mean, to me, you're just kind of losing your mind.

[Jake]

Yeah. Okay.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, maybe you should. Maybe even you shouldn't. Maybe. Maybe it is, you know, validated, but.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

It doesn't always have to be.

[Jake]

Well, my. Mine was like half validated, half not, but I had what many are calling my Luke Combs crash out because I've been listening to only Luke Combs all week.

[Luke Combs]

Okay.

[Jake]

For my crash out.

[Luke Combs]

I like it.

[Jake]

Yeah. So it's very full circle for the past five days that you're now here.

[Luke Combs]

Yes. I'm glad to be here, man.

[Jake]

I'm happy. You don't. You do not live here full time.

[Luke Combs]

I do not. No. Not even part time.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

I'm a full. I'm a full time Nashville guy. But I enjoy coming out. I enjoy coming out for a week, you know, it's like, it's enough for me. Like, a week's like, I get it, like my fix in and then I'm like, you know, I grab some. I grab some nice, you know, overnight oats or something. You know, it's kind of like LA vibe meal. And then I'm like, they don't have

[Jake]

overnight oats in Nashville.

[Luke Combs]

They do. I'm just not anywhere near where I live, probably.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

I would imagine. Yeah.

[Jake]

But you're from North Carolina.

[Luke Combs]

Yes.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

I grew up in Asheville. I was born in Charlotte and then.

[Jake]

Oh, I love Charlotte.

[Luke Combs]

Lived there until I was 8 and then my parents moved to. To Asheville, so I basically grew up there.

[Jake]

And then when did you start? Like, you. So you were in your choir?

[Luke Combs]

Yep.

[Jake]

But when did you start, like, kind of full time singing?

[Luke Combs]

I mean, for a job? Like 22 is when I started, so that would be 13 years ago now, which is really crazy to think about. So I'm 35, soon to be 36, which is just gross. I feel like past 35, it's like really, the downhill slide really begins. I feel like at 35, you know, genetically speaking.

[Jake]

Oh, but I heard that your 30s are the new 20s.

[Luke Combs]

Dude. 30s are awesome. I would highly recommend being in your 30s. You know, if you have. If you have the ability to do that, you know, be in your 30s. I would suggest it. I love it, honestly, I really do. I feel like you're just kind of like you got yourself figured out, like, fully in your 30s, at least. I feel that way. You know, it's like you kind of like. I don't know. I mean, also, like, I. I know obviously my job is, like, set in stone. I've got some kids, I'm married. So, like, everything's kind of, like, laid out. So it kind of just. To me, it does feel like it's like 20s with money is what 30s is.

[Jake]

Totally.

[Luke Combs]

You know what I mean? Totally. That's the way it feels to me.

[Jake]

And how old are your kids?

[Luke Combs]

My oldest is three and a half and my youngest is two and a half.

[Jake]

So they, like, have no idea, like, what you do.

[Luke Combs]

They have not. Like, I feel like my oldest son, like, just found out, like, the day before this trip. Like, they've seen me, like, on tv, like, if I'm in an award show or something. Like, mom will keep him up late if she's not there. Or my parents will keep them up and, like, let them watch me sing on TV. Like, I opened the CMA awards this year, and so that started at 7 o'.

[Jake]

Clock.

[Luke Combs]

So like, we, like, let them stay up and watch me sing and then put them to bed and they recognize me on tv. They just don't really understand, like, they. They don't have any concept of, like, that. That's not normal.

[Jake]

Totally. Totally.

[Luke Combs]

Oh, yeah. Dad's just on. Everybody's Dad's on tv, right? Or, like, everybody's dad sings on TV or whatever. So I was riding around with my son on our property. Like, he sits, you know, sit on my lap and drive the truck or whatever, do his. Do his, you know, toddler thing. And there was a. My phone was on and had music playing on my phone. And I had. I think I had Jason Isbel Southeastern album was like, playing and just kind of cruising around. And I said, you see that guy on my phone? And he was like, yeah. And I was like, well, he's. He does what Dada does. Like, he, like. People, like, he sings and people want to, like, hear him sing. Like, that's what his job is, and that's what my job is. And he was just kind of like. It was like he started to put it together a little bit, right when I was explaining it to him.

[Jake]

He'll get there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Luke Combs]

I try to, like, I remember being really worried about that when I started, you know, when we had our first and even into our second, it was like, well, how do I not control the narrative in any negative way? But how do I get to be the person that tells them, right? Because I asked a few of my artist friends who have kids older than me, and I was like, hey, man, this. Obviously we live a very different lifestyle than. Than most people. And I said, I want my. I want my kids to have as normal of life as possible, you know, and protect them from the world and all these. You don't want them to see, like, everything that we see straight away. You know what I mean? I feel like that would be almost damaging in some way too. Like a young child to, like.

[Jake]

Of course, yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Be doing all this, like, buses and photographs and all this crazy stuff. So we don't, like, share our kids on the Internet or anything. And so they were like, well, you. I was like, I just kind of want them to not know. As long as they cannot know, right? And they were like, well, you have to tell them or someone else is going to. Well, yes, like, if you, like, if they go to school, like, another kid is going to tell them or another kid's parents or their teacher, like, that's how they're going to find out. And you want them to, like, hear it from you first, right?

[Jake]

So they can say, like, oh, I

[Luke Combs]

know, kind of just prepared in some way for that conversation and understand, like, oh, when people come up to dad at the grocery store, right? Why are people doing that? And help them understand instead of thinking

[Jake]

that something scary is happening, right?

[Luke Combs]

Instead of being like, why do all these people want to come say, you know, why do I want these people come say hi to my dad or whatever. So it's an interesting. It's an interesting bridge to cross, you know, something I never again thought I would be dealing with. But here we are, you know, there's been a lot of those things over the years.

[Jake]

Do you. Do your kids have a favorite song of yours that.

[Luke Combs]

So Back in the Saddle. My youngest son was obsessed with that song, but I feel like it was just because it was the first one he ever really, like, listened to, heard, and was, like, receptive to music. So it's not like. I mean, he's two and a half. So when that song came, like, when we singled that song, it was really recently, so he was just old Enough to understand. So it would, like, it'd come on the radio or, like, be in the background of something on tv. And then he would start, like, asking for that song. He knew it was me singing. Like, they can recognize my voice, which I think is crazy. Like, I've got videos of them, like, out. Like, they're out at the store. And then, like, my song will come on the speakers, and they're, like, doing this. They're, like, looking around, like, oh. They're like, where's that? Like, they think I'm, like, there and stuff. It's, like, sad a little bit.

[Jake]

No, but it's like when you would watch TV as a kid, you'd be like that this is real time.

[Luke Combs]

Yes, yes. And they would be like, they're looking around for me, and they're like, that's data, you know, like, they recognize my voice, which is pretty cool. It's pretty cool to see.

[Jake]

Well, that's amazing.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, it's great.

[Jake]

I wanted to ask you about where the Wild Things Are.

[Luke Combs]

Yep.

[Jake]

Because I was listening to it the other day, and then I was like, I. I didn't know if it was, like, autobiographical or what, but I read that the song had been floating around Nashville for a few years. And then it got to you and you added a bridge to it.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, so my actually didn't write on it at all. So one of my good friends, Randy Montana, fantastic writer, we wrote Beer Never Broke My Heart together. We wrote Sleepless in a Hotel Room together. Like, we've written a bunch of great songs together. That song had been kind of famous in town. Like, there's a demo of Randy singing that song. And really great songs have a tendency to kind of, like, get passed around and, like, people are texting them to each other. And, like, man, you gotta listen to the song so and so wrote. You know, it was honestly kind of a miracle that it had never been cut by anybody.

[Jake]

Yeah, it's great.

[Luke Combs]

I'm not sure how it's not the easiest song to sing. Like, from a. Like, a breath support standpoint. Like, you have to have a lot of breath to be able to, like, sing that song live. And I think that was probably some. Maybe some people's hesitance with that song is like, well, if. If I put the song out and it's a big hit and I have to sing it every night, well, can I even sing it every night?

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

It took me, you know, we, you know, a couple days at rehearsal to like, of singing it. You know, we record it, puts on the record. And then me and my band learn it before the record's even out, you know, because we're like, by the time we go to a show, like, if the record's been out a day, People are like, we want to hear the stuff now. So there's not like, we try to get ahead of that. And so we're in rehearsal and I'm like, God, dude. Like, I'm like, how am I going to sing this? You know? And so it just takes time and, like repetition to go, okay, well, I'll breathe in this little micro window. I have. I have to get a breath in this thing or I'm not gonna. Or I'm gonna run out of breath in three lines, right? If I just normally. In a spot where I would normally just sing through, it might be a weird spot to try to take a breath. I have to like, force myself to breathe at this moment or I'm not gonna have breath by the end. But that song, it had been. It ended up in my phone probably in2016 maybe. Oh, it's been around for quite a while. And it had already been around sometime at that point wasn't like, hey, I wrote this yesterday. Check it out, right? I didn't even get it from Randy. Randy didn't send it to me. It was just like another writer was like, have you heard this Randy song? And I loved it. And at the time, I had never cut anything that I didn't write. And I was at the end of kind of my. I guess would have been like my fourth record of getting old and which is the same one fast car was on. And we ended up the session that day and we had some time left. And fast car was in the same boat as this. Like, we had like an extra hour. And I was like, what if we just kind of. It wasn't like on the plan. Like, it wasn't on the sheet of, like, stuff that we're gonna cut. I was like, man, I've always loved this Randy song, you know, And I. I played it for Jonathan who's like best buddies with Randy, who produces my records with me, and he's like, we ought to do it, man. That song's awesome. You know, so we do it. And I didn't. Again, didn't think it would be like. I mean, I. I knew it was a fantastic song, but it's like, it's a real story song. Like, you kind of have to be.

[Jake]

It's kind of like you're. It's kind of like you're all too well.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. Like you, yeah, you've gotta like be paying attention to what's going on.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

And yeah, people just gravitated towards it. And I think that's, you know, that's ultimately what happens with all songs. I mean, I would say if I was trying to pick what I think would be a hit off any of my records, I. 90% of the time I'd be wrong.

[Jake]

What do you think is going to be the hit off your next record?

[Luke Combs]

I mean, Sleepless is definitely a hit.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

And just the amount of like impressions it has and you know, people making videos with like, you can just kind of tell now. You couldn't tell as much even 10 years ago.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

It was like the record has to be out and people have to just. It gets on the radio and then it blows up. And then it's like, that's how you find out. Now you can tease a song. I could leave the room and tease a song and basically tell you if it's going to be a hit or not. Because if it just, if it starts to go insane on the Internet, I mean, that's basically, that's the new version of having a hit.

[Jake]

Well, you know the Internet. Well, you were on Vine.

[Luke Combs]

I was, I was, yeah.

[Jake]

And you would you post like 6 second videos if you just like singing?

[Luke Combs]

Basically, Like I would. But you know how the, you know the tactic now, it's like you make a tick tock. You put the absolute best engagement part of the tick tock right at the front.

[Jake]

Oh.

[Luke Combs]

And then it cuts away and then the video starts over. You're familiar with this. You may have seen it.

[Jake]

No, I, I, Is it like when you see somebody like doing a cooking video and they're like, and then they

[Luke Combs]

write the whole thing? Or it would be like, like, let's say we're doing this little interview and you're, and you're clipping it up and I said something like super canceled or whatever it is.

[Jake]

Oh, no, we'd cut that. Don't worry.

[Luke Combs]

In, in a completely toxic world, put whatever I said that was canceled as the very first thing in the video.

[Jake]

Totally.

[Luke Combs]

And then it would start, then the video would start and people go, when's he gonna say the thing? I know he's gonna say it because I've already seen it.

[Jake]

Right, okay.

[Luke Combs]

It's like, it's like watering down people's attention spans. Like even more. Like you're going, I don't even want to watch the 30 second clip to see the good part. Show me the Good part. And then maybe I'll watch the rest.

[Jake]

Do you ever do like when you watch tick tock videos 2x speed?

[Luke Combs]

I've never, I've heard of people doing that.

[Jake]

It will change your life.

[Luke Combs]

So then you just double, like double the content.

[Jake]

It's just like. I don't want to hear it. Just get to the good part. And you like see this is this

[Luke Combs]

and this is why people are doing.

[Jake]

You can and you press down and 2x the whole thing.

[Luke Combs]

Well, let's bring vine back, dude. We'll just.

[Jake]

Do you know they are. Do you know that they are?

[Luke Combs]

That's what I've heard.

[Jake]

I know that's word on the street, but I haven't. I'll believe it when I see it.

[Luke Combs]

Does it still own. I know it was bought by Instagram. I don't like when it went away. It was one of the other big social media companies.

[Jake]

No, Twitter. It was Twitter. It was bought by Twitter. It was bought by who? Jack Dorsey.

[Luke Combs]

I wonder if he like when he sold. When he sold Twitter, if he kept the rights to that to vine would be an interesting.

[Jake]

Do you have a favorite vine of all time?

[Luke Combs]

I mean there's a lot. I mean, look at all those chickens. Was a bit.

[Jake]

You would, you would, you would like that one.

[Luke Combs]

It's like that one was like, I mean, I mean, I mean like, I mean like I always forget that like the Paul brothers were always fine guys.

[Jake]

So many people. Shawn Mendez, tons. Luke Combs.

[Luke Combs]

True. I mean, truly, it's crazy. Like I never would have thought that that would be the thing. Like that would be One of the biggest reasons for my success was like the ability to lay my own groundwork before my career even started. Like I was starting my career before it started. Without even knowing you just you went

[Jake]

into it with like no expectations. You were like, were you okay? Because I remember you were a bouncer at a club. Were you a bouncer at the time that you were posting these videos?

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, probably, yes.

[Jake]

Okay. And so you were just doing it

[Luke Combs]

to around kind of bouncer and I worked at Izod. Folding clothes at an Izod store.

[Jake]

Is that a Southern thing?

[Luke Combs]

It's like you rocking Izad right now, Berg. Oh, I was like, it's like, yeah, it's very like like yachting, polo. That kind of vibe. Like. Oh, so you were a country club Kind of.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

It was a retail store, like in an outlet.

[Jake]

Okay. What was your retail voice? If I came in and I was like, hi, I'm an Izod like, I have a friend that works retail and she puts on an insane retail voice.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, you would just be like, hey, sir, how are you doing today? You know what I mean? Like, you kind of up the, you kind of up the tone a little bit, you know?

[Jake]

Do you ever deal with like a really difficult customer?

[Luke Combs]

See, here was my thing. It's like, like it's pet peeve for me is like, let's say I go into a store. It's a great store. I know what I want. And I know not everyone's like me. I can understand that. But let's say I go into a store and you're at the ends, like, you need any socks? We're running a deal on socks. They got stuff, like they're selling me at stuff on the register. Like it's too late, it's the end. Like, I don't. If I needed socks, they'd be up here. I would already have the socks if

[Jake]

I is that way. I don't think I've ever been to a store that's tried to like bargain socks with me at the front.

[Luke Combs]

You have not been to Izod then? Yeah, because let me tell you what, when I was working there, that, that's the thing is it was like it was part of your job to like push the.

[Jake]

Did you get commission sale? No, that's horrible.

[Luke Combs]

Of course not. Right, so then you're doing the like super uncomfortable thing that I hate people doing to me. The forced to do it to other people.

[Jake]

Right?

[Luke Combs]

And then you're like, you sure you don't want a nice Henley shirt, dude? And people are like, it's, it's the summer. Why would I want a Henley shirt?

[Jake]

What's a Henley shirt?

[Luke Combs]

We gotta get you. We gotta up your game, dude.

[Jake]

Well, what is that Lee shirt?

[Luke Combs]

It's like a kind of like a long sleeve. Like a thermal long sleeve. Okay, pop it up. We need.

[Jake]

Okay, can somebody get me a photo of a Hennessy shirt?

[Luke Combs]

It's like a. Almost like a waffle knit kind of like.

[Jake]

Oh, I love a waffle knit.

[Luke Combs]

That would be a Henley.

[Jake]

Okay. I kind of want to go to Aiza with you.

[Luke Combs]

It might be.

[Jake]

I've never seen that before.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, this.

[Jake]

Exactly.

[Luke Combs]

Waffle knit. Yeah, yeah, that's probably. Waffle Net's probably the new word. Yeah, say Henley's probably like if he called a dresser a Chesterfield or something would be like, you know what I mean?

[Jake]

Like now a Chesterfield.

[Luke Combs]

A Chesterfield Papa Google on it. It's a real thing. It's a Real thing. It's also. I feel like I'm aging myself. I got that particular one from. It was a joke from Family Guy.

[Jake]

I love Family Guy.

[Luke Combs]

And it was Brian the dog was dating a woman who everyone felt like was too old for him. And he was like, she's not too old.

[Jake]

I could never get past the Brian thing. Him. Like, it's weird.

[Luke Combs]

It was kind of weird.

[Jake]

I could not get, like, imagining him like a human. Like, yeah, it bugs me out till no end.

[Luke Combs]

But the. The way that they communicated in the show.

[Jake]

Yeah, no, it still bugs me out that he.

[Luke Combs]

That this woman was too old from him for him. Is like, they're in the bedroom together, and he's like, hey. She's like, get me this thing out of the Chesterfield. And he's like, what? And she's like, well, you know, the. And she says a different thing, and it's just a super old words for a dresser. And then he's like, maybe she is too old for me because, like, she's saying stuff that's not even a thing anymore.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

Finley is my version of that. Now I just say waffle knit.

[Jake]

Do you think I look like Stewie from Family Guy?

[Luke Combs]

No, I do not.

[Jake]

Okay. Because I've seen some people. People say that sometimes. Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Does not look like a football.

[Jake]

I get Stewie. I get Rumpelstiltskin.

[Luke Combs]

I don't see it. I don't see it. I think you look like you. You know what I mean? You look like you, man. You know what I mean? There's nothing wrong with that.

[Jake]

Well, thank you.

[Luke Combs]

Hell, yeah. Your head is not a football, first off.

[Jake]

It's quite large.

[Luke Combs]

No. What's. If you're going fitted hat, what size are you wearing? Do you know?

[Jake]

So, no, but I. I have like, the.

[Luke Combs]

If you're an eight ball, like, you're getting. You're getting there. Like an eight. Like, an eight is like the highest hat they make of. Like, it. Like if you were like a. Like a hat. Like a baseball hat. Like, I know this is a baseball hat, but like a flat.

[Jake]

No, that's a. That's a trucker hat.

[Luke Combs]

It's a trucker hat, but like a flat bill. Baseball hat that's fitted. There's sizes. And when you buy them, it's like seven and a quarter. Seven and a half. Seven and five. Eight. Eight is the biggest one that they make.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

I don't think. You're not an eight, dude. You're not an eight ball.

[Jake]

What are you wearing right now?

[Luke Combs]

This. My. My fitted size 7 and 5 eights.

[Jake]

I kind of want to go shopping with you.

[Luke Combs]

Come on, let's go to Lids, dude. We'll see. We'll see what hat size you are. We gotta get you up.

[Jake]

Dude. What is. Liz.

[Luke Combs]

I forgot. You are kidding. I like this. This is nice. I feel like I'm telling you all these old man things that I'd like. You need to know. In my opinion, which is lids may not even exist anymore.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

Like, was it a part of your youth to go to the mall?

[Jake]

Well, once I went once.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah.

[Jake]

And I went to Hot Topic.

[Luke Combs]

Okay. Hot Topic. Very mall. That's a very mall store. Spencer's Gifts. Very mall store.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

Imagine Hot Topic. But it was more like. How would you. It's like everything had, like, the Nightmare Before Christmas on it. But it was like a dildo.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

Well, you know, it was like, the weirdest.

[Jake]

They have Auntie Annie's at all the malls.

[Luke Combs]

Yes. That's very Orange Julius. Very Mall Julius. Orange Julius. It's like a smoothie. Like a smoothie place that's, like, connected to Annie Ann's. Like, Annie and slash. Orange Julius, 100.

[Jake]

Oh, it's like Baskin Robbins.

[Luke Combs]

Slash, whatever's with Baskin Robbins.

[Jake]

Always.

[Luke Combs]

John Silver's Taco Bell. I mean, like Taco Bell, kfc. You know, it's kind of like a combo deal.

[Jake]

Okay. What's your favorite chain in the South?

[Luke Combs]

Bojangles is going to be up there. You probably don't know what that is. If you don't know what Lids is, you probably don't know.

[Jake]

Do you know what a Bojangles is? Yeah, it's Miss Alabama over there.

[Luke Combs]

She loves Bojangles.

[Jake]

I can't tell.

[Luke Combs]

Bojangles. Fantastic. They got breakfast all day. It's like biscuits. Biscuits and gravy. That kind of. That kind of deal. Cookout.

[Jake]

So I've heard.

[Luke Combs]

Cookout.

[Jake]

So I've heard.

[Luke Combs]

Unbelievable.

[Jake]

Yeah, I've heard. It's amazing.

[Luke Combs]

You get a corn dog as a side. Like, how are you beating that? You know, a quesadilla is a side at cookout. Like, you can get a tray with a hamburger and you get two sides. So you can get a quesadilla and a corn dog.

[Jake]

Oh, it's like a good deal. Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. It's like, that would be like seven bucks for all that.

[Jake]

Wow.

[Luke Combs]

And you can add a milkshake for, like, a dollar fifty. It's insane.

[Jake]

What's your favorite type of milkshake?

[Luke Combs]

Gosh, man. I don't know. Like, I feel like I'm going like Blizzard Town in my head. Like DQ Blizzard kind of vibe milkshake. I would go probably like, like a chocolate malt almost. I feel like would even be like, I know that's not technically not a milkshake, but I like the same cloth for sure.

[Jake]

I like a black and white.

[Luke Combs]

That's nice. I like that.

[Jake]

I.

[Luke Combs]

If I'm going, if I'm going Blizzard, I'm going like, like mint chocolate.

[Jake]

I'll see that for you.

[Luke Combs]

I'm a mint chocolate guy. I love a coffee ice cream.

[Jake]

Me too. You know that's my favorite thing.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, coffee ice cream is like, oh my God. It's number one for me.

[Jake]

So what I do my favorite thing in the entire world. My favorite, favorite smoothie in the entire world. A coffee smoothie. Cuz it's like ice cream.

[Luke Combs]

I can't say I've ever had one of this.

[Jake]

Okay, so I need to take you next time you're in New York, shop it.

[Luke Combs]

Like, I'll take you to all the old mall stores that may not exist anymore.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

Lids, Spencer's Gifts, Gamestop.

[Jake]

Like, oh, I used to. Were you a Pokemon kid?

[Luke Combs]

A little bit.

[Jake]

I was a big Pokemon kid, as you can probably assume.

[Luke Combs]

What's wrong with being Pokemon?

[Jake]

No, I know nothing's being wrong.

[Luke Combs]

I mean it's a dude Pokemon. You got the old collection, dude, you might be a millionaire.

[Jake]

Like, well, so my friend's brother is a collector. But I was a. I liked the Game Boy Advance.

[Luke Combs]

Oh man, I loved Game Boy.

[Jake]

What games did you play on that Game Boy man?

[Luke Combs]

I put Paper Boy was like, that was top. I got that for Christmas one year and like my parents had to like rip it out of my hands. Dude, I was obsessed with Paper Boy.

[Jake]

I used to sleep with my Game Boy underneath my pillow so I could stay up all night and like your

[Luke Combs]

parents would be like, all your stuff's put away.

[Jake]

Yeah. Yes. Yeah. And then you're like, you know, with something that we have in common actually.

[Luke Combs]

What's that?

[Jake]

Watches.

[Luke Combs]

I noticed.

[Jake]

I know you did.

[Luke Combs]

That's nice. What, what's your top?

[Jake]

My top? My. My top is my Nautilus.

[Luke Combs]

What's the dream watch an aquanaut that we don't have. Aquanaut. It's a guy. I don't have an aquanaut.

[Jake]

I want an aquanaut because I want to wear it during the summer when it's hot. Because the rubber band, rubber strap. Yeah, that's. That's the dream.

[Luke Combs]

The cut. I didn't realize the cut. The Strap thing. I didn't know that. So when you buy the Aquanaut, this. It comes with a full strap. Like it. The rubber strap. There's no. There's no buckle.

[Jake]

Like, oh, they cut it.

[Luke Combs]

It's not like for you. You have to go in and they size it and then they cut the strap. So then that watch is like, if someone else. If you were to resell that watch, it's only. And it was for someone that has a bigger wrist than you, they'd have to buy a new strap.

[Jake]

Okay, okay, tell me, what is your top? Favorite watch?

[Luke Combs]

I mean, that's gonna be tough.

[Jake]

I know.

[Luke Combs]

I mean, there's a lot I don't know. I. I love it all, to be honest. Like, I don't have any particular one that I'm like. I really love a Longa, which is like a German brand. It's got more of a kind of like a almost independent German brand that kind of. It went away, like, ceased business for a while, and then it came back, and in the. In the late 90s, that kind of, like, reinvigorated the brand. I love those. I just think they're like. The craftsmanship of those is, like, wild, you know, like, if you look at it through the loop or whatever in the back, like, it's like. Everything's, like, engraved. It's like stuff you almost couldn't even see with the naked eye. Like, you're looking at it, and then you put the loop in, and you're like, I didn't see that stuff. Yeah, that was in there.

[Jake]

So you know what I'm realizing as you're saying these things to me? I actually am not that big of a watch guy. I think there's levels.

[Luke Combs]

There's levels.

[Jake]

I think I just like the status it gives me just full transparency.

[Luke Combs]

But you would. Here's the thing, though, is you will, like, ultimately delve into that, right? Because, like, the further you get into it, it's just like a. It's like a deep hole that you can just never get out of.

[Jake]

Totally. Yeah. It's. I. I mean, I definitely have the bug. I have the bug, yes. But, you know, I definitely not into the. I've just gotten to weight, so I can feel. I like. I like a heavy. Not a lighter, you know, Depends on the.

[Luke Combs]

Depends on the metal, you know, a titanium watch, that's an expensive watch, but it's going to be super light.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

Which is what some people like about it. It's different strokes for different folks, man. It's like something you like Might not be something I like. And that's. I think that's great, to be honest. There's something for everybody, of course, in that. In the watch world.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

And really all price points, too, to be honest. Like, you could spend a bajillion dollars on a watch, or you could spend a hundred dollars on a watch. Like, there. The barrier to entry is not money.

[Jake]

I just feel like, to me, it feels like this. I don't know. Does it ever make you feel, like, a little more attractive? Like, when I put it on, I feel, like, sexy.

[Luke Combs]

I feel like it get. I feel like it definitely gives you some confidence.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

And I think, like, when I'm on

[Jake]

a date, I always go, like, you're like. And if. And then if they don't care, then I'm just like, it.

[Luke Combs]

I mean, look at me. I'm not pulling my sleeve down.

[Jake]

Of course, I could easily be, like, on a red carpet.

[Luke Combs]

I always go, you just kind of jingling. You're like. You're like, make sure my dude. They'll tailor.

[Jake]

Yeah, I've tailored suits, so it shows my watch.

[Luke Combs]

I've. Yeah, I do the thing where it's like. It kind of like my left arm will be. The sleeve is a little bit looser than the right sleeve so that it can pop out of the sleeve easier. As lame as that sounds. That's the thing.

[Jake]

No, it's honest.

[Luke Combs]

Full transparency.

[Jake]

Yeah, full transparency. Okay, question. So when it rains, it pours. I mean, you spoke to God that day. You wrote that song.

[Luke Combs]

I love that song.

[Jake]

You. So, okay, how. I just. I need to know because out of all of the songs I listened to this week during my Luke Combs crash out, that was the one I use. I made her send me videos of her listening to it in college because it was her college song.

[Luke Combs]

Jam.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Absolute jam.

[Jake]

So I just need to know from start to finish how you started writing it. What? Because it's a very, like, you know, like, it's very, like, clever and quick.

[Luke Combs]

It's got some pace to it.

[Jake]

What's your favorite? Well, what's your favorite part?

[Luke Combs]

Okay, my favorite. My favorite line in the song is ex, future mother in law, first.

[Jake]

It's great.

[Luke Combs]

It's great because you're so memorable. Like, and I. When I came up with that line, I was like. I was like, real proud of us. I was like, people. I was like, yeah, that was like. That was good, you know, because you're,

[Jake]

like, listing all these, like, good things that have happened, and you're like. And by the way the best part is I don't have to see her ass mom.

[Luke Combs]

Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And like here's I'll give my buddy. So I wrote it with one of my best friends in the world, Ray Fulcher and our buddy Jordan Walker. And we're. When I paint the picture of writing the song. So like you got to think. I have no albums out. I've released six songs over the course of my probably three years doing music at this point, all on my own accord, like just as a. Basically a college flunk out student and I moved to Nashville. I'm basically writing with, you know, any. The guy at Subway I would write with. You know, like I'd be like, let's write a song like anyone that would write with me, right? So I basically would start going to writers nights. And basically you, you spend a lot of time networking and meeting people that you feel like you have, you know, a lot of things in common with or that like the same kind of, you know, style of country music you like or whatever it may be. And so I had met Ray and Jordan just kind of doing that and go there that day. The. It was my idea. When it rains it pours. But in my mind it was gonna be this like George Jones, like super slow, like tears in my beers. Like my wife left me and I'm sad like at the bar. I can't get any worse than this. And so I remember Jordan going, I'm pitching the idea like let's do this song. Because you spend the first, you know, half hour of the right. Like, well, what are we gonna write today? Like, what's your ideas? What's my ideas? You know, and you're kind of floating stuff back and forth. I pitched that idea was selling them on it and they loved the title. And Jordan was like, what if we made it? Like, what if we made it an up tempo song? Because the title, when you see it, you would immediately think, well, this is going to be super sad.

[Jake]

What does when it rains it pours means? Can it be both good and bad thing? I don't understand.

[Luke Combs]

I think it you. I think in it it is a saying that is only meant to be like when it's bad. It's really.

[Jake]

That's what. Yes. Okay.

[Luke Combs]

That's.

[Jake]

That's how I took it.

[Luke Combs]

When it rains it pours. Like it can't get any worse.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

You know what I mean? And so he flipped the script on. His idea was to flip the script on the phrase of like, well, let's make it all good stuff, you know what I mean? And that was a brilliant idea. I mean, all credit to Jordan, like flipping like the song would not be anything like what it is without his idea. I remember his roommate. So none of us had publishing deals at the time, Nothing going on, no record deals. Like, we are basically all incredibly unsuccessful at this time. And Jordan had a roommate, super nice guy named Andy Albert. And I remember he was in a different room. We were right in a Jordan's house. And he's in there, he's working on. He's like mixing a demo that he had written with somebody else. And we're just about to start the song and he kind of comes through to get something out of the fridge or whatever. And Jordan's like, hey, man, you ought to like pop in, pop in, write this song with us, dude. And he was like, oh, dude. He's like, I'm good, man. I'm working on this other thing. And didn't write the song with us. And it wound up being it's like almost Double diamond song.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

And so Andy has since had like a bunch of other hits with other artists and stuff. So he's great. Like, he's having a great career. But Jordan for a while was like, man, really should have popped in that, that day, huh? Like, we even asked you if you wanted to come and say he would always go.

[Jake]

Did the song kind of just flow though? Because this, you hear it here? It's a flow. It like flows the whole song in general.

[Luke Combs]

It was, it was like a really fun. Right? For sure. Because once Jordan said that, I'm like, well, let's. Let's just dig into like, it being, you know, just goofy, like. And there at that time again, there's no like, there's no pressure at all, right. There's no, like, well, we sure could use another hit. Or it's like we really need a song. It was like, I'm just basically getting reps in. Like, it's almost like you're at practice. Like I'm writing songs every single day. So like. And so is Ray and so is Jordan. Not with each other, but every day we're writing with somebody different. So like, I'm trying to do any and everything, all styles. Like. And so when I get, you know, rarely do you get like, let's write this like up tempo, like tongue in cheek song. Yeah, like that. There's not many people trying to write that stuff in town.

[Jake]

Did you start, what, by writing the verses first or the chorus?

[Luke Combs]

How did you like approach every Song is different. You know, the process of. Of coming up with something is always different. And I think sometimes it's a really cool guitar lick. You know what I mean? Like, I would imagine. I don't know this for a fact, but I would imagine when Tracy Chapman wrote Fast Car, she had the lick first, okay.

[Jake]

And the lick is like.

[Luke Combs]

I would imagine that was the first thing she found and was like, I have a glick that I really like. That's really cool. I should make that. I should just mimic this guitar lick that's super, in my mind, recognizable because again, you don't know until the song comes out. And so she really loved the lick. Again, this all speculative. And then she writes the verses melodically to match that guitar lick. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes I. I have guys I write with that aren't super musical. Like, they're not like melody, big time melody guitar guys. And sometimes they'll come in with a whole, like, here's a bunch, like almost a poem of like, here's this. Here's these five or six lines. And I really like how they all fit together. Now let's come up with a melodic thing that we feel like would match this vibe, okay. And it just can. It can be anything. I mean, anything. Like sometimes some guys come in like. Like, we call them track guys. Would be this. And so like, they. They come in like almost. I don't want to say dj, it's not the right word, but like almost. They're almost like a producer. Like, they would come in with an entire song that's written basically, that has no words to it at all, right? And you just press play. So imagine listening to you Proof by Morgan Wallen. No words. You come in and go. And it's just that. It's just the beat and it's just the music for that song. And they're going, this is a smash. Now what do we. Now what do we say to go with that thing? Because we feel like that's really catchy or there's a thousand different ways to skin a cat. And like, in the music business, that's another Southern ism for you, right?

[Jake]

But you, you clock.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, but there's a million different ways to do it.

[Jake]

You like cats?

[Luke Combs]

Two cats.

[Jake]

I would not peg you for a cat guy.

[Luke Combs]

Something about us cat guys, you know what I mean?

[Jake]

Ever since I was a kid, I have, like, probably Since I was 7, I've really struggled with OCD. I'm a very. I very, very, very obsessive thought. So that. And I'm Very superstitious. So they kind of like become one. I have, like, wishful. I think it's called magical thinking otd. But

[Julia]

just leave it.

[Luke Combs]

Just leave it. Just.

[Jake]

What the. I've had OCD since I was 7 and my, like, OCD is very obsessive about, like, am I a bad person? Did I do this bad thing? Like, am I like, kind of like stained? OCD is like how I would phrase it in my mind. Like my life is stained. A lot of people will treat it as like regular anxiety, but it's like really, really different. Like, it's just a different type of anxiety. I can't describe it because it's so obsessive. But people don't really talk about it a lot. Like, they really do not. Except in girls. They also showed it, but it's like, really? It's a horrible disease. There is a website for this called NO cd and it is the world's leader in OCD treatment. It is covered by insurance. Life comes with, like, accepting the fact that sometimes you have to manage something instead of just trying to shut it out entirely. And that's why OCD treatment, at least to me, is so important because I know it's going to be a part of me for a really long time. But, like, if I can manage it and make things better, like, I will get like hours of my life back sometimes. Something very helpful with OTT is erp, which is exposure and response therapy, which I find personally helpful to me. Like, I did it back, I think in like 2020 and it was like, I used to have this OCD thing where I had to add a song to a playlist four times. And I really love music, so that was really hard for me. And the exposure therapy I took would like, make me see sit there in that uncomfortableness. But you really sometimes just do need someone to like, hold your hand and like, be like, I'm specialized in this. Like, I will help you. And the best thing about NOCD is that all their licensed therapists specialize in erp, which is exposure and response therapy. You meet with them in live, face to face virtual sessions. And at least for me, like, all the therapy I do nowadays is virtual. If you are struggling, no CD is a great resource for OCD treatment. You can go to nocd.com/jake to book a free 15 minute session to get started. That's nocd.comjake.

[Luke Combs]

well, I mean, you got to be who you're gonna be, dude.

[Jake]

I know, but to what extent?

[Luke Combs]

To the extent where you're Ultimately happy for the rest of your life.

[Jake]

Chill.

[Luke Combs]

You know what I mean? Like, you can't want to end up with somebody who's like, man, I wish you would be different.

[Jake]

Right. Have you ever been in a relationship like that before?

[Luke Combs]

No, honestly, I haven't. I've always been pretty selective on that stuff. And I've always, I've always just kind of been like one. I don't want to change anybody else.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

And I don't want anybody to change me either. And that's like, that's just upfront. And I feel like you kind of got to get ahead of that.

[Jake]

Okay. I mean, people don't change. Do you believe people change?

[Luke Combs]

I believe people can change. I would, I think it's probably more uncommon than a lot of people would like you to believe. I think it takes a tremendous amount of work, whether that's physically or therapy wise. Like, there's some. You have to do some serious coal mining to get to, you know, the next layer below that, you know what I mean? And to rebuild it back up in a different fashion. It takes a lot of work. I think it is doable. I just don't know that people on the Internet are doing it as much as they say they are.

[Jake]

Right. And then, you know, people also don't,

[Luke Combs]

or they're not being as transparent about it, of course. I mean, so the relationship thing for me is, I mean, ultimately will, you know, it will happen at the right time and, you know, I mean, it will, when it presents itself, you'll, you'll

[Jake]

know, you know, the year of. Yes, right. What was the worst year of your life? Okay, 27.

[Luke Combs]

No, so I'm 35. 27 was rocking.

[Jake]

Okay, well, I'm sorry. Speaking to someone that said it was the worst year of their life because of Saturn return. But I, I, you don't know if you.

[Luke Combs]

So I would think worst year of my life was pro. Would probably be like 21 for me. Okay, so turn 21. I had really bad, I have like really bad OCD from time to time.

[Jake]

Me as well.

[Luke Combs]

And like to the point where it can like affect like outcomes of things in my life. You know, basically, like crippling to some extent, like beyond, like I need to straighten the rug, you know what I mean?

[Jake]

Like, it's not.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, there are some people that do have that and it can become like a crippling thing. Most of it is mental stuff, but 21 was the year I struggled the most with it. And it's another year where you feel like it's supposed to be the best year of your life. Like, it's supposed to be this big. Like, I'm finally a real adult. I can't rent a car, but basically everything else. You know what I mean? And so that was tough for me because I. I was in school at Appalachian State. I have a ton of friends. I have great parents that live an hour and a half away. It's actually my birthday.

[Jake]

Happy.

[Luke Combs]

Oh, well, it was. Yeah, it was actually my birthday. My parents came up. I remember it was yesterday. Because anytime I have these moments, it's like a nuclear bomb going off in my head. Like, you can't forget it.

[Jake]

You're like OCD moments.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. Like, they basically can start like instantaneous.

[Jake]

Like what, like what is. How does that manifest? Because I have OCD as well, so I know it can manifest in like a bunch of different ways. Like when you have an OCD moment or a flare up, what happens, like in your head, if you don't mind me asking?

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, no, I don't. And it's basically like mine is based on, you know, a lot of it all obviously all deals with intrusive thoughts, of course. So my particular, you know, sub variant, whatever you want to call it is, is medically classified as purely obsessional compulsive disorder, which is a bit of a misnomer because there are a lot of compulsions, but none of the compulsions are visual. So it's all, all the compulsions take place in my mind, thought based compulsions which are. Which is an attempt to negate or basically, you know, think away the intrusive thoughts that are giving me anxiety, thus creating more of the intrusive thoughts because you're giving them basically attention. Right? Like.

[Jake]

So like a thought based compulsion would be like making your brain think about something what?

[Luke Combs]

And it would be like, make. Trying to convince myself. So let's say, for instance, like, let's say I'm walking down the street, okay. And there's a bunch of cars coming and random thought flies by my mind. It's like, what if I jumped in front of those cars and jumped out in front of them?

[Jake]

Right?

[Luke Combs]

People have those thoughts every day. Everyone in this room's probably had some thought like that today, right?

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

So for me, a thought like that, and it doesn't always do this, but given the right moment, the right state of mind, the right, like all the stars line up in the shittiest way, you have one of these thoughts and it basically, it basically sends you your mind into like fight or flight mode. Like, you basically, like initiates like this insane, like, panic attack moment. And you try the obsession becomes trying to understand or find an answer for why you had the thought.

[Jake]

Totally, right, Totally.

[Luke Combs]

And then the other compulsions are trying to not think the thought again. And so giving that much focus to the thought makes your brain send it again. Because it's basically saying, there's a man with a gun in front of me. I should be afraid of it, right? And then that. So it sends the thought again, right? And you're going, God, still really afraid of that. How do I not think of that? And accepting that there's a man in front of you with a gun that might shoot you is the only way to not be worried about the man in front of you with a gun that might shoot you. And that's the hard thing to understand when you're in the grips of that thing. You know, I have a huge passion for mental health awareness because it was such a huge part of my life and it affected my life so heavily. You know, there's a lot of passion that I have for talking about it and saying, hey, you know, if you're a young person. Because this started for me when I was probably around 13, but I didn't really even know what it was till I was probably 21 or 22.

[Jake]

And you were saying, and you're just going, what is this?

[Luke Combs]

What is happening? Why does this happen? Everybody, once every six months or once every year. Like, what is this? Like, I hate this. Like, it's getting worse. How do I get rid of it? You know, like, why is it happening to me? You know? And then basically you. Once I figured out what it was, I was able to do a lot of work, some with counselors, some without, on my own accord, to now be able to, like, live a really fulfilling, like, awesome life. That's basically, I wouldn't say a hundred percent free of that, but 98 to 99 free of it if it ever does pop up. I basically got the sword in the sheath that I need to pull out if I ever need to do that. And so one of my biggest passions is letting young people know that that, that doesn't define you as a person. Like, that is not ultimately your destiny is to be this person who has a. Who has mental health struggles or mental illness or whatever it may be. Like, that's not the thing that's going to be the definition of your life. It won't be the way that you're remembered. You know what I mean? Like, it's so Important for me to, like, let young people know because I went through so much, like, stress and grief and all these things, like, on my own. I'm an only child, too, so it's like, I don't have. There's no brother or sister to, like, talk to about it. And not that I wouldn't. Like, my parents were aware that I was struggling.

[Jake]

And were they supportive?

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, very much. Okay. But then also, they're. You know, as a parent now, I can imagine they're probably really afraid and scared.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Because at that time, like, we don't know what it is. They're like, why is he. What is he even talking about?

[Jake]

Well, OCD wasn't spoken about ever, really. Like, so what I had. I had no idea what I had.

[Luke Combs]

Right.

[Jake]

And then my dad, because mine was very, like, ritual based and a very. What's the word? Superstitions based. So, like, if I don't do this, this will happen.

[Luke Combs]

Exactly.

[Jake]

Which is, like, based in what I'm thinking about.

[Luke Combs]

Sure, absolutely.

[Jake]

And so my dad would be like, well, just stop. Like, just stop. And it's like, I literally can't.

[Luke Combs]

You know, my dad would say that from time to time, too. And it was all with the best of intentions, of course.

[Jake]

My dad was like, they were just scared.

[Luke Combs]

Know what to do.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

So he'd be like, well, well, damn. Somewhat. You stop thinking about it.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

And I would go, well, yeah, dude, that would be nice.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

That is the goal of the whole thing. Like, that. It's interesting that the whole. Ultimately what you want to happen is like, you want to get rid of the thoughts. You don't want to have the thoughts anymore, but trying to get rid of them makes them come back. So letting them exist is ultimately the thing that removes all the power that they have over you and saying, you know what? I will have these thoughts all the time. And that's just like, who cares?

[Jake]

Like, you are not, like, it's coming. Kind of coming to terms with the fact that, like, you are not your thoughts. Like, your thoughts are not physical beings.

[Luke Combs]

Exactly.

[Jake]

Are you. Do you mind if I ask if you're on medication for it at all?

[Luke Combs]

I'm not.

[Jake]

Oh, wow.

[Luke Combs]

And haven't been for. I went on medication for it when I was probably 18 for six months.

[Jake]

What. Do you remember what it was probably

[Luke Combs]

like, I want to say, like, some. Probably like a generic Zoloft.

[Jake]

Yeah. I was. I was just on Prozac.

[Luke Combs]

I just switched to Luvo because they didn't know again. They, like, they're like, well, you just have anxiety, Right.

[Jake]

It's very, very different than anxiety.

[Luke Combs]

Very different. It causes anxiety, but it is not. The anxiety is not the root of the issue. Like, basically, cognitive behavioral therapy is the only way.

[Jake]

What is that? Because I think I need to do that.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. It's basically like. I don't want to describe it. At risk of not being able to describe it properly.

[Jake]

No, well, it's whatever your experience was with it.

[Luke Combs]

I haven't done any personally any CBT with my stuff, but I know that it involves like a therapist helping you through the tools. Kind of like I was explaining earlier. It's like, okay, well, when the thought occurs, you flip the script on the thought. Right. Like, it's like, okay, well, it's like, oh, my God, what if I. All of a sudden I don't love Jesus anymore? And then you. That sends you into the spiral and that's your obsession. Right. And then it's like, okay, maybe I don't. And that would be okay if I didn't in.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

It's not needing the answer is like the thing that sets you free from the things.

[Jake]

It's like, it's knowing that you may

[Luke Combs]

never get an answer because it all. It all kind of revolves around the. It's questions that can't be answered.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Is the thing. And even, like, even though the bus. Jumping in front of the bus example, you. We, in theory could answer that. They don't care about. They're not afraid of getting hit by the bus.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

They're afraid of why they're having the thought about jumping in front of the bus. And what does that mean about me as a person?

[Jake]

It's kind of like when you're watching, like a detective murder show and you're like. You're like, right, I could do that. And then you're like, wait, am I a murderer?

[Luke Combs]

Violent thoughts are one of the top ones that people that have. What I have are. It's horrible because it's basically all based in the antithesis of your identity of yourself. So you basically go, okay, well, I feel like I'm a really good guy. And then do you have a thought about picking a knife up and throwing it through somebody's head?

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

And then you're like, why would I have that?

[Jake]

Why would I. Why did I think that that must

[Luke Combs]

mean that I'm some.

[Jake]

Yes.

[Luke Combs]

Murderer.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Something a lot of people have. Relationship based is another very common one. Like, it would be like, okay, well, what if I don't love my kids? Or what if I don't love my significant other. And then they become obsessed with that must mean that I don't love them or something, even though they do. And that's the only reason they're worried about it is because they do. If you did it, you wouldn't be worried about it.

[Jake]

Oh, wow.

[Luke Combs]

If you said, I'm worried I don't love my wife, why are you worried about that? Because you love your wife. That's why you're worried about it.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

Because not being in love with your wife would then thus give you anxiety or give you this panic inducing moment. And again, I'm no therapist, but I've done my 10, 000 hours figuring it out many times over.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

You know, again, and not that I'm anyone should seek any, you know, therapy.

[Jake]

I mean, that's for me, pretty therapeutic for.

[Luke Combs]

But it's like me just there are just ways to explain it that sometimes the medical terminology is, can be very intimidating for people. And trying to understand, like, what does this mean? What are all these big fancy words mean? And what is cognitive behavioral therapy? I don't, that's scary.

[Jake]

It sounds scary.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, it's like. No, yeah, just call it like getting over it therapy. You know what I mean? Like, there's something that's like, relatable to people, you know, like the country music version of therapy. Just like, you know, But I don't know, I, I, I, I, I feel sad sometimes knowing that there's other kids that went through what I went through.

[Jake]

Yeah. But now they have you to listen to and talk about.

[Luke Combs]

And I hope they see it, man. And I hope that more, you know, I wish more artists would come out with their, whatever their mental health stories are. And a lot of them do, you know, But I wish it was more commonplace because I think seeing someone who has reached a level in, you know, in the viewer's mind of really high success or someone that they look up to or someone that they admire overcome the very thing that they're struggling with, is in and of itself like, so powerful. I cannot imagine, like my favorite quarterback from a kid being like watching a podcast and hear him describe this. Like, I get the most messages after I talk about stuff like this, on things, because people go, I didn't know what I had. I'm 20 years old right now and I've never been able to, like, you know, there's no, like, it's hard to describe. And then when you hear someone else

[Jake]

say it, it's also scary to describe because sometimes those thoughts are like, this person's judging me.

[Luke Combs]

Like, the person I'm telling is going to be like, this guy just told me he wants to murder people.

[Jake]

Right, right.

[Luke Combs]

And it's like, no, no, no, no, no.

[Jake]

That's not what I thought. I'm having those thoughts 100%. Yeah. And it's a. It's a very scary disease.

[Luke Combs]

It is, man. It is. And it's crippling, man. You know, it really is. But if you have it, you can get over it. If you have any other mental health stuff, you can get over it and have a great life. Just know that, period. Yeah.

[Jake]

Do you have any songs that you have written that are about that?

[Luke Combs]

I have one that I wrote that's. It is yet to be released. It's not on the new album either. I wrote it in Europe a few years ago with some good, good friends of mine. It's called Breathing Underwater is the name of it. And it's. Yeah, it's kind of about that in a roundabout way, you know, I mean, not really roundabout. I mean, it's straight at it, but there's no, like, I'm not like, hey, I have mental illness. More of a songwriter version of that. You know what I mean? But, yeah, man, I. You know, and I think. I don't know that that's the perfect version of that song. I don't know that I've written the perfect version of that song yet. I really do like that song a lot personally because obviously I can relate 1000% to it. You know, it's truly like my story. Not. Not directly, but my feelings towards those things sometimes. But then again, I think you have to do it in a way that is approachable to others. And I don't. Just don't know that I've nailed that yet. Something I would love to do.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

But again, it just takes time. You know what I mean?

[Jake]

Of course.

[Luke Combs]

But, yeah, I have no. No opposition to. To doing that kind of stuff.

[Jake]

Thank you, booking.com for sponsoring tonight's episode.

[Luke Combs]

Episode.

[Jake]

Booking. Yeah. Okay, so basically, summer is coming up. We are in the middle of March. It's about to get warmer, and everyone is going to want to start planning trips. I know me and my friends have already started trying to plan our summer trips. Okay. Booking.com is the best place to plan these trips. Okay. Because everybody in the friend group has a different tailored taste to what they want. So, like, if you want a hotel that's walking distance or with a bath or with a terrace or what, like, you can put all these things in and find the perfect hotel and the perfect stay for you guys so you can have the most fun on your trip. And it also just shows you, like, a bunch of different hotel options, like, and their walkability and what they have. And, like, it's just like, it's a Google for hotels, but, like, so much easier. It's amazing. And that's how I really feel about it. Like, that's how I really feel about it. Like, so, yeah. Alison. I used Alice for the whole entire Japan trip. Alice usebooking.com and it was an incredible experience. Thank you, booking.com for sponsoring tonight's episode. And thank you for, I guess, helping plan my trips. Find exactly what you're booking for at booking.combooking. yeah. Book today on the site or in the app. I saw you eyeing these candies.

[Luke Combs]

I was taking a look. I'm trying to. Everyone's loving them out. Everyone's rich.

[Jake]

You want to try one, though?

[Luke Combs]

I'll try one.

[Jake]

Okay. They're called caches. Yes. Yes.

[Luke Combs]

I've never said no to a bag of candy, so.

[Jake]

Okay, so I'm gonna give you. So these are a. These are a German candy. They're my favorite candies in the entire world. Okay. So these are the wild, the squishy wild, and free gummies. So they say, like, giddy up, cowboy and stuff.

[Luke Combs]

I'm in. Dude.

[Jake]

You know, I think you're gonna gag,

[Luke Combs]

so I'm gonna grab a couple.

[Jake]

Okay. And do you want to cheers?

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, let's cheers.

[Jake]

Okay. But you have to eyes. Eyes.

[Luke Combs]

Okay. Yeah. That's a nice texture on those. The bite's good on there.

[Jake]

Isn't that fire?

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, it's really good, actually. You're going above and beyond on the packaging. I can only imagine the problem is probably. Probably quite nice.

[Jake]

Have you also noticed my shirt?

[Luke Combs]

A little Miller, little camo shirt.

[Jake]

I kind of. Well, you know, we have the Miller because there's. I've heard that. Well, I've seen the video of you teaching how to shotgun a beer, and I was thinking we could do that here.

[Luke Combs]

Let's do it, man.

[Jake]

To do it right now.

[Luke Combs]

I'm in. Let's do it.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

I like it. Basically, normally you just like you're just gonna pop a hole in the can. Right? Is the kind of the idea.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

But if you're going pro level, you're going to want to pop the hole in line with the mouthpiece of the can. So you get this part on up. You want that facing up.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

This where the part you would Drink out of. You want it facing up like that. So then when you crack it, the beer can't come out of here. It can only come out of this.

[Jake]

Oh, okay.

[Luke Combs]

Because if you crack it like this,

[Jake]

it would all just pour out. So crack it like that.

[Luke Combs]

So you're gonna want to. I go like on. And then I tilt and then like this.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

All right.

[Jake]

Okay. So.

[Luke Combs]

So when we pop it like.

[Jake]

So this go. And so this will. So like this.

[Luke Combs]

And then you'll go. Yeah, but physics wise, now the air bubble is right here. I usually do it like this.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

And then all you.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

So you can do fingers. It's probably not the best idea to do.

[Jake]

No, I don't think that would be good.

[Luke Combs]

Okay. This is gonna. It's always gonna spill to some extent. This is the best version of it.

[Jake]

No, no, no, no. I. If it spills, that's okay. Roof.

[Luke Combs]

Roof to the ceiling. Okay. Once you're at the ceiling, you crack it. Okay.

[Jake]

Ready? Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

One, two, three.

[Jake]

Oh, j.

[Luke Combs]

How was it? Do you get cut? Dude? Do you get a little cut going? Are you good? Just a gas bubble. We got a gas.

[Jake]

Gas. Cheers eyes. Oh, my Lord.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, that gasp will get you.

[Jake]

Dude. Oh, my God. I don't know if Anyway. In your mouth. Shut up. Wow.

[Luke Combs]

It wasn't a zero out of ten. I've seen worse.

[Jake]

Can your. Is your wife good at it?

[Luke Combs]

Not. No, not really. No. Just do it. Just do it. Don't fight it. It's going to happen whether you want it to or not. It's just going to happen. Yeah. Now you saw the burps. You're feeling the burp.

[Jake]

It's coming.

[Luke Combs]

So imagine you're doing that. You rip one on stage and you're immediately into another song.

[Jake]

Oh, wait.

[Luke Combs]

So for the next song, there's a moment every night after I shock on the beer, we're in the next song. While I'm singing, I burp and it's like, no one knows that I burp. Okay, question in like a breathing. And I'm like,

[Jake]

is it true you bring somebody up to shotgun a beer with you at your shows?

[Luke Combs]

Usually, yeah.

[Jake]

Okay, so we're coming to your Vegas show.

[Luke Combs]

We gotta step it up for that. We gotta. We gotta work on it. We gotta get some practice in.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

Give some reps.

[Jake]

But we're really. Oh, it's come. I think the burp is.

[Luke Combs]

You'll know. It's gonna be like. It's gonna be a full blown. It's not gonna be like a. It's gonna just like a deep from the bowels.

[Jake]

Oh, my God, I'm scared.

[Luke Combs]

You think you just forced, like, co. Like carbonated water into your stomach, like, a rapid rate.

[Jake]

Okay, hold on.

[Luke Combs]

Here's the thing. If you stop thinking about it, it's almost like the ocd. You stop thinking about it, and it will happen, and you'll be done thinking about it, and all of a sudden we'll be talking. Okay. Anyways. Yep. Yeah.

[Jake]

Are you excited to teach your kids how to shotgun a beer when they grow older?

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. I don't even know that I'll have to teach them. Do you get them in the right college? They'll teach themselves.

[Jake]

Where. Where do you want them to go? Or I guess you don't care.

[Luke Combs]

I would love for them to go to Appalachian State. That's where I went. That's again, very selfish reason for wanting them to go there is just so, like, I could go to football games and, like, like, tote around at parents weekend and, like, watch the game and stuff.

[Jake]

I mean, but how cool would that be?

[Luke Combs]

That would be very sick, you know, but anywhere, man. Also be cool, like, it'd be really neat to, like. Because I'm. I'm like, die hard, like, loyalty guy. Like, I'm. I'm Carolina Panthers die hard, like, till the, like, if we lose every game for the rest of my life, I'm still gonna be wearing the stuff.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

But that also lends into, like. Well, I'm not. I don't really ever get an opportunity to get new teams into, like, the lexicon of things that I'm obsessed with. So if my child went somewhere else, you'd be excited. I would then have an excuse to be, like, insanely devoted to, like, another thing that I have no association with. And that would be a valid reason for doing that.

[Jake]

Totally.

[Luke Combs]

A little bit extra. You've yet to get one. Dude, I'm feeling for you.

[Jake]

I think I'm scared. I think I'm scared.

[Luke Combs]

And you don't have to be scared, man. It's. It's gonna be good. Don't force it, though. It might hurt a little bit. You know what I mean?

[Jake]

Okay. Okay. Well, so now. Now is the time in the show. Oh, well, I never asked you what you were therapist about. What are you therapist about today I'm pissed about.

[Luke Combs]

You know what I'm pissed about?

[Jake]

What?

[Luke Combs]

The difficulty of weight loss is the thing that I'm pissed about, man.

[Jake]

Have you. Have you been on a journey?

[Luke Combs]

Oh, bro. Yeah, it wouldn't tell, but it's been. I mean, I. Shoot, dude. I've been gluten free for two years. I've been. There you go. There you go. Gluten free. Besides beer.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

And whiskey and stuff.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

I wouldn't pass any celiac.

[Jake]

Like, can I tell you what helped me with my weight loss? Because I actually recently went on a journey.

[Luke Combs]

Sure.

[Jake]

I cut out dairy for a bit.

[Luke Combs]

Okay.

[Jake]

And it really helped me. Besides, like, Greek yogurt and stuff.

[Luke Combs]

Sure, sure.

[Jake]

But just, you know, like, very cheesy things, very creamy things. Cutting that out is my. The number one thing I'm walking.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. Oh, man. It's. It's been. Yeah. For me, it's like, I do intermittent fasting every day. Yeah. So I don't eat till 12 every day. Shut it down by 8, unless I'm drinking. You know what I mean? That was the one, dude. That was the full blood. I told you it was just gonna creep out. Like, you're gonna forget about it and then you're gonna. Yeah. So I'd say the, like, the fasting has been really good for me. It's balancing family life, work life.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Time. Like, I don't mind working out, man. I. I don't love it. Like, I'm jealous of people that love it, or I think they're lying to be quite right. But, like, I don't mind doing that. And it's just really slow, dude. It's so slow because, like, I don't. There's no shortcuts. Like, I don't want to, like, do the injection thing. And nothing against anybody that does. It's just not my cup of tea and it's not my personal preference. So it's just been, like. It's just painstaking, man. It's like. And again, comes back to the thing we talked about. Can people really change?

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

I think real change requires, like, real, real change. Like, it's a fundamental change, like, in every way that I've operated in my, you know, relationship with food, man, for my whole life. I mean, for 33 years, man.

[Jake]

Also, though, like, people with OCD can get really obsessive about food as well. And then that can make this.

[Luke Combs]

Well, and it also. It also, like, when you're basically spend 90 of your day in a state of, like, pure anxiety, sometimes the only escape you have is, like, food. Pizza, dude.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

You know what I mean? Like, or whatever. And then it becomes like. Then it becomes like, this friend that understands you or whatever. I think that, you know, a food addiction is a highly understudied Thing. And I think that, you know, my manager, he was really big when we first met. He was, I mean, 400 and something huge. I mean, he's six four. He was a mountain of a man. And he got. He got gastric bypass surgery because he was getting to the point where he was like, man, like, I'm. This is life threatening. And so he got that. And he has the best quote, man, because he, he's a big advocate of like, food addiction and like, how serious it is and people don't understand it. And you know, he's like, people scoffed at me my whole life of like, well, I'm addicted to food. I have this big issue with food. Everyone's like, dude, just don't eat steat less or what? You know what I mean? He said, food is the only thing that you can be addicted to that you have to have every day. So when you quit cigarettes, you don't need cigarettes to be alive.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

Don't need alcohol to be alive.

[Jake]

Right. But you can go cold turkey on those things.

[Luke Combs]

It would be like, if you had to do heroin after you were abusing heroin, you still had to do it every day.

[Jake]

Wow. Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

And so for him, he's like, it is like, basically you have to like, barely, like, you have to figure out how to like, suppress your addiction but also eat and still be alive and eat every day. And he's like, that's the thing that people don't understand. It's the only addiction you can't quit.

[Jake]

Also, mixing the fact that you're on the road all the time, certainly it is so hard to eat on a routine. Yeah, it's impossible. Schedule's hard because after a show, I'm sure sometimes, sometimes you're like jacked up on energy.

[Luke Combs]

And dude, post show food is. After show food is like the most Evil Invention, dude.

[Jake]

We. We used to always eat at like 11pm when I would do shows. And like, the amount I got home, my mom was like, you're hefty.

[Luke Combs]

So I remember going like my first big tour I was on where I was like, opening boss. Like the big deal. Like, I'm like, dude, I'm big rock star. Like, this is cool. You know, I'm like first to three. Like, nobody cares at all who I am and stuff. I'm opening for Brantley Gilbert. Such a fun tour. So much fun. I'm first to three. So our set is 25 minutes. 20 minutes playing these big arenas, like hurricanes are kind of starting to crush. Like, like the set is on fire, you know? And we're. So we're playing, like. I mean, the whole set. We probably played four or five number ones in 25 minutes. They just weren't number ones yet.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

So we'd go into, like, end with Hurricane. First songs, when it rains. Then we're playing one number away. Then we're playing she Got the Best of Me. It's like. And it's all these songs that ended up being huge hits. And Beautiful Crazy 25 wasn't written yet at that time.

[Jake]

Banger.

[Luke Combs]

Banger, though.

[Jake]

Banger. That note change at the end goes stupid. Are you ever nervous you won't hit it?

[Luke Combs]

All the time.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. All the time. I'm nervous about being terrible.

[Jake]

Sorry. Sorry, I interrupted you.

[Luke Combs]

No, no, you're good. You're good. But I remember, like, we finished the first night of the tour. Finish the show again. We only played 25 minutes. So you don't really even have to, like, do any. Like, it's not hard, right? You know what I mean? To, like, do 25 minutes, like, always. Stuff is like, we're not. Like, I don't work construction, dude. Like, it's not hard. It can be mentally exhausting at times, but physically and, like, comparatively to what other people do, like, it's a total cakewalk.

[Jake]

Like, right?

[Luke Combs]

Anyone that pitches, like, oh, you don't know what it's like, and blah, blah. I get that mentally, it can be taxing, but keep it in perspective. Let's be real about what we're getting to do here, right?

[Jake]

We're not working nine to five.

[Luke Combs]

Exactly. I'm not working in the summer sun on the side of the interstate somewhere, you know? And I'm sitting on the bus after the show. Like, I think Brantley's probably playing or just finished playing. And I get this, like, you know, bus is, like, parked on the street. Somebody's, like, knocking on the bus. And there's this guy there, and he's sitting. And I'm like, hello. Hey. And he has an entire catering tray of Chick Fil A chicken tenders. And I'm like, what is this? And he's like, after show food. Like, after show food. What is that? He's like, well, we get it every night. Like, we buy it every night. Like, the tour buys it for you. And then you just. It just shows up every night. And I was like, this is gonna be bad, dude.

[Jake]

Yeah. Do you like Chick Fil a gonna

[Luke Combs]

be good for me? I like it all, brother. That's the problem.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

You know what I mean? I like it all, dude. You know, and, you know, from salad to fried chicken, dude, it's like, there's nothing in there. I won't give.

[Jake]

Fried chicken and salad also fantastic. I gotta take you to Jones on third. They have a good fried chicken salad.

[Luke Combs]

It sounds fantastic.

[Jake]

Best fried chicken salad.

[Luke Combs]

I'm gluten free, though, so fried chicken, I'm probably out on. Okay now, right?

[Jake]

You know, has gluten free helped you? I've been debating it.

[Luke Combs]

I feel like it has. And I started doing it for my OCD stuff.

[Jake]

My dad. My dad, when I was a kid and I used to have temper tantrums, would be like, you. You cannot have gluten. It makes your mood so much worse. It makes your thoughts so much worse. Is that true?

[Luke Combs]

I mean, it has worked for me quite well. So I would. I'd give it a shot. I mean, it can't hurt. I mean, do it for two, three months and see what you think.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

I mean, maybe it's not for everybody. I don't think there's one answer. I think some of the food stuff is a big answer. And it. For you, it may not be gluten. It may be seed oils or something. You know, I mean, something for everybody. I went and did a food panel. Is what I did is basically, they did a blood draw and they tested against hundreds of different ingredients. And the results are like, my. My number one thing was basically, like, any and all grains and gluten. We're all in the red.

[Jake]

You can't cut out grains.

[Luke Combs]

You can.

[Jake]

I love rice so much.

[Luke Combs]

No, no. Rice was not rice. Not rice. Rice is like. Rice wasn't on there. Mine was like, oats.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

Barley, gluten. Totally wheat. Excuse me. Still. The shotgun's still coming back. Yeah, but it was. It was on my other two wild cards, so all grains, apples.

[Jake]

Wow.

[Luke Combs]

And goat cheese.

[Jake]

Goat cheese is heavy. You know, apple sheets and apple a day.

[Luke Combs]

So my doctor, when we were. Because I was really, really. It all started with, let's get, like. Let's get this OCD thing, like, dialed in. Do everything we can do to keep it at bay. And, you know, outside of the tools, we already have. And so we did the food panel, and my doctor suggested that. And that went really, really well. And so then from there, me and my doctor started talking about. So I've always wanted to lose weight. Always had trouble losing weight. I don't understand why I can't lose weight. And she goes, I've always been kind of bigger myself. And she said the thing that Helped me is I did this food panel thing and said one of my biggest inflammation causing foods was kale. She was like, I was eating kale in my smoothies every single day. Because I'm like, kale is healthy. It's, it's so individualized person to person. So like, even though a food is quote unquote, considered healthy and it is, right? It's very like subjective.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

It's sure it has lots of vitamins in it. We can all agree that healthy food is healthy, but healthy food is not healthy for every single person. And just because something is healthy doesn't mean your body responds well to it. Like if, like if strawberries caused you inflammation, you have crazy inflammation. You're like, well, I don't understand. I'm eating strawberries every day. And then you find out, well, your body doesn't respond well to eating strawberries. So it's a food you should avoid in general.

[Jake]

I should do a food panel.

[Luke Combs]

Should do a food panel.

[Jake]

Do you do it with me? Yes.

[Luke Combs]

I've been looking at it all day.

[Jake]

Okay, so let's. Yeah, let's do it.

[Luke Combs]

It's really great. I mean, it really did and it's really helped the OCD a lot.

[Jake]

Okay. Meds can only do so much. I'm on them, but they can only do so much.

[Luke Combs]

And the reason that it helps is these inflammation causing foods or whatever. And again, I think that's subjective as well. Like what foods cause inflammation? I think we can agree there's certain ones that cause more than others. But individually speaking, your response to this may not be the same as your response to this.

[Jake]

Totally.

[Luke Combs]

This food that quote unquote doesn't cause inflammation may cause inflammation for you.

[Jake]

Right, Right.

[Luke Combs]

It's so I feel like healthc care should be so personalized and I feel like it's really generalized. I feel like that's kind of an issue that we have and that's, you know, it's tough.

[Jake]

What do you think causes the issue of healthcare being generalized as opposed to personalized?

[Luke Combs]

Oh my gosh, I have no idea.

[Jake]

Right?

[Luke Combs]

I mean, I got no idea, right? I mean, that's like asking me some math question.

[Jake]

Have you ever seen the video of Jojo Siwa outside of Craig's? Have you seen that video?

[Luke Combs]

No.

[Jake]

Oh my God, JoJo, you've never seen this video. Okay, anyway, guys, well, it's time we get into the tell me what's wrongs.

[Luke Combs]

Okay.

[Jake]

My sister is getting married and I'm her maid of honor. One of her bridesmaids who I hate is getting mad at my sister for planning her wedding before hers. Oh, she's a total narcissist and is accusing my sister of trying to one up her. I want to punch her but fear my involvement will only make it worse. What should I do?

[Luke Combs]

Friends. Out. Out. Your friend.

[Jake]

Oh, you think no more bridesmaid for the friend.

[Luke Combs]

No more. No, no more friend.

[Jake]

I think so too.

[Luke Combs]

No more friend. Dude.

[Jake]

Like, yeah, that's narcissist.

[Luke Combs]

Friend. A friend doesn't do that by the way. So not a friend. Ultimately someone that you want to be friends with or it's a one sided friendship. Out.

[Jake]

Right. That's crazy.

[Luke Combs]

Gone. Friend.

[Jake]

That's narcissist. Oh my God. This is about ocd. I have, I, I have a really tough time explaining my OCD to people. It's even more educated people who know it's not just so you're like really clean. I feel so crazy sometimes and can tell I'm annoying the people around me even though I'm really not trying to. I'm working on my OCD as I go through life, but what are good ways to give context to my behaviors without just saying ocd?

[Luke Combs]

I think that's interesting. I, I don't think it's your responsibility to have to justify what you're going through to anyone else. First and foremost, I don't think it's your responsibility to explain things or it's not your fault if someone doesn't fully understand. I think you have to stay on your journey of healing yourself and getting better and adapting, you know, to the cards that you were dealt. And to some extent it is that ultimately it's like you do have OCD and that what it is and it's not a stigma thing. It's not bad. Like, I don't think that it's your responsibility to explain it to other people and nobody should be pressuring you to like justify it or describe it like that. You have enough going on if you have ocd. Like you shouldn't have to.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Fill people in on like, what is it? Like pop on your. Pop in the endless Internet in your phone and figure it out. If you can't figure like, why ask for me? You know, like you are not an expert on ocd, nor do you have to be. You know what I mean? Like you should just focus on getting the help you need. If somebody else needs context, that's their problem. To be, to be quite frank with you, I think.

[Jake]

Do you ever use Chat, GBT Pro? All that's really bad for ocd.

[Luke Combs]

In what way?

[Jake]

Like, I don't know. I read an art. I saw an article about it once. But at least from. From what I'm understanding is that you can find reason in anything. Right? So, like. And so like, the thing you say this so like, the. I. You'll be like, I am sneezing. I literally have a video about this. I'm sneezing and my arm hurts. And chat will be like, actually, that's because sneezing and your arm hurting, it will just find anything because it knows everything.

[Luke Combs]

Sure. And I. And I. You know, it's funny, I've thought this a time or two when I've used it. I'm like, man, this could be really scary for, like, someone with my particular form of ocd. It could be a very deep rabbit hole to come out of. But I have used it as a tool in my OCD as well.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

Because there are sometimes, there are these methods of thought that I use from time to time when I'm struggling or when I'm like. It's like, well, okay, so like, you have to identify the, like, the reason for the thought. Right. Like, it's. It's hard to kind of try to explain, but, like, to have this unanswerable question, you have to be, of course, again, okay with the not knowing the answer.

[Jake]

Right, Right.

[Luke Combs]

So I was having some OCD based around, like, I was like, I wanted to like, touch my elbow or like, whatever.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

And I was particularly struggling with, like, why am I worried about this and why, like, I. So in my mind, I'm trying to. I'm trying to do the thing I normally do of like. Like getting. Boiling it down to my reasons. And so I got curious about this. This was earlier in 20. January 25th. I was kind of having a little bit of a flare up and I couldn't really come up with the, like, the conclusion that I needed. I felt like to get to the place I needed to be to, like, quill the thoughts coming in. So I popped it into GPT and I'm like, hey, I'm trying to do this based around having pure ocd. I'm not looking for any, like, reassurance. Like, I'm not, like, this is not me, like, seeking relief from my anxiety. It's me going, help me, help me explain to basically to myself the thought process of getting from here to here.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

Because I'm looking for. It's kind of hard to explain. It's deep OCD stuff, but it's like, I Needed to know, like, okay, so I'm not worried about. I'm worried about the, like, the need to, like, touch my elbow or whatever like that. And I'm almost worried about, like, why do I want to do that, right? Like, one, like, hat, like, help me get to an answer. And it's like, this is this thing. And then I went, oh, okay.

[Jake]

So, yeah, it can be helpful as well.

[Luke Combs]

Like, so then I was able to immediately, like, put it in the place in the, like, get well library that it needed to be to, like, complete the equation of, like, getting over.

[Jake]

Okay, tough. I see how that could.

[Luke Combs]

It wasn't like, me going, like, please tell me I'm a good guy. Like, that could be really bad.

[Jake]

Right?

[Luke Combs]

For sure. And you should not do that.

[Jake]

For sure. I was on a double date at the bar with my best friend and our partners. One thing led to another, and my best friend got very drunk and aggressive. He was being crazy, and I was trying to calm him down, and he. And he socked me in the face and started this embarrassing bar fight. I've known him for 15 years, and nothing this intense has literally ever happened. My partner hates him now, obviously, and refuses to hang out with him. I don't really have a question. Besides, how do I navigate the situation?

[Luke Combs]

I would say that not all friendships are meant to last forever.

[Jake]

You think? But do you think, like, one situation like that can cut?

[Luke Combs]

I think it's not always. I think sometimes I think it's time to have a serious conversation with this person and go, what the are you doing, bro? Like, you hit me in the face at a. In public.

[Jake]

Have you ever been in a bar fight?

[Luke Combs]

Never at a bar. I've been in some fights, but never in a bar. Even though I was a bouncer, it was my job to kind of make sure the fights didn't happen. Was kind of.

[Jake]

Would you pull people off of each other?

[Luke Combs]

Oh, certainly, certainly.

[Jake]

You know, did you ever see a girl be like, stop?

[Luke Combs]

Oh, yeah, that happened every night. That was, like, every night occurrence. My college bar. Like, tensions are high in there. This back to the friend thing, like, you got. This is a serious conversation, right? There's, like. There's apologies owed.

[Jake]

There was maybe drugs were maybe involved.

[Luke Combs]

Certainly. Maybe also not an excuse, by the way.

[Jake]

No, of course not. But I'm just saying.

[Luke Combs]

But, yes, like, yeah, that's a. Yeah, you gotta have serious. You gotta. It's a grown man right there, dude. Like, it's time to. Somebody's gotta own up to something there. Yeah.

[Jake]

My Uber driver Loki admitted to manslaughter while he was driving me to a party. I'm so unconfrontational that I just smiled and waved. I. I don't want to give any details, but maybe I should report this. It was an automobile accident, and it seems like he totally got away with it. I'm not worried I'm in danger, but, like, do I do anything with this information

[Luke Combs]

that is. That is a highly nuanced situation there.

[Jake]

It's kind of giving. I know what you did last summer. Vibes.

[Luke Combs]

Yes. It. Like, I feel like I would need some. A lot more detail on. On what's going on there.

[Jake]

Was he, like, you studied homicide stuff?

[Luke Combs]

Yeah, but I want to be like, did he say, like, he hit a guy and got with it because he was, like, exonerated from the thing.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

Found innocent? Or, like, there's a lot of different ways to interpret that saying, if he was like, yeah, hit this guy in my car and drove off and nobody knows about it, That's a different story.

[Jake]

Right. So.

[Luke Combs]

But there's some. There could be, like, you could, in theory, say, oh, I don't know if you can really get away with manslaughter because manslaughter in and of itself is kind of like, oh, my God, sometimes accidental. Right?

[Jake]

Okay. Right. Yes. You studied this.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah. It's like.

[Jake]

Yes.

[Luke Combs]

Getting away with it is an interesting.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

Thing. Like, you can get away with murder in theory, but, like, that seems like that's what you would say in the question. Like, if the guy was, like, getting away with manslaughter is such a, like, specific thing.

[Jake]

What is manslaughter?

[Luke Combs]

Manslaughter is kind of. It's. Again, it's a kind of nuance. Like, and it's state. It can be state to state.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

Like, some states what's first degree murder, and the other states would be manslaughter.

[Jake]

But what's the. Like, what is that?

[Luke Combs]

I would say that, like, man's like, there's involuntary manslaughter. There's voluntary manslaughter, which. Voluntary manslaughter will be like, I did something inherently dangerous, and I knew that it could result in someone dying.

[Jake]

Totally.

[Luke Combs]

And I did it anyways, and somebody died.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

It wasn't like you set out and said, I'm killing this guy.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

It wasn't murder. That's murder for sure. And then in voluntary manslaughter would be, I did this thing that, like, is normally a socially acceptable, normal behavior, and it resulted in someone dying, and I am at fault. For that person's death.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

So, like, it's. It's almost too vague of a question to answer. I would, you know.

[Jake]

Yeah, go to the cops.

[Luke Combs]

Be like, steve, that drives a Hyundai launcher. Yeah, just let me know somebody, dude. Like, yeah, just let them know, I guess one star review immediately, maybe reported. Pop it to Uber. You know, that maybe somebody working for them is bragging about potentially killing somebody. You know that. Which I would think would be of concern to them.

[Jake]

Do you have like, okay, so you said you watch Stranger Things, but do you like detective television shows and stuff? And like, I do.

[Luke Combs]

Like True Detectives.

[Jake]

True Detective Season 1. All time.

[Luke Combs]

All timer.

[Jake]

I mean, all the time.

[Luke Combs]

I mean, honestly, what is it? Season three?

[Jake]

Season three was good. Season two was not season two.

[Luke Combs]

I didn't like season three. I liked season three was a lot better than season two. And nothing will ever touch season one. I mean, season one. Okay.

[Jake]

What about Sinners with Bill Pullman?

[Luke Combs]

Haven't seen it.

[Jake]

What?

[Luke Combs]

I have to see it.

[Jake]

Oh, my God. It is the. Oh, my God.

[Luke Combs]

You think I would love it. Love.

[Jake]

Have you seen the sin? It's the sinner, not sinner. Sorry. It's the sinner.

[Luke Combs]

The sinner.

[Jake]

It is outstanding. Okay? I promise you.

[Luke Combs]

Do you like True Detective season one?

[Jake]

And you're saying I like. I like almost everything.

[Luke Combs]

What's the stream?

[Jake]

It was on what, the center? Yeah, it's on Netflix, but it was like an a. Whatever it was called.

[Luke Combs]

It's like a mini series kind of thing.

[Jake]

There was three seasons, limited.

[Luke Combs]

Oh, there's three?

[Jake]

Yeah, they're all good. But season one's the best. Have you ever. Did you watch Task?

[Luke Combs]

Nope.

[Jake]

What?

[Luke Combs]

No Task?

[Jake]

You would love Task.

[Luke Combs]

I gotta get up, dude. My, like, my dad time is short.

[Jake]

Okay. Right, right.

[Luke Combs]

You know what I mean? Like, I don't get many couch.

[Jake]

Like, you watch All Her Fault.

[Luke Combs]

Nope.

[Jake]

You would also like All Her Fault.

[Luke Combs]

Okay.

[Jake]

All her Faults.

[Luke Combs]

You have to, like, send me a list.

[Jake]

I will say I watch. I watch everything. The beast in me is great if you watch that. Ever do Homeland.

[Luke Combs]

I did Homeland. I did Homeland. It's good. It's good.

[Jake]

Great.

[Luke Combs]

I did Homeland. Yes. But I gotta get. I'm glad you. I feel like you're giving me some stuff here. Oh, you know what I mean?

[Jake]

Would you ever watch something with subtitles?

[Luke Combs]

I love watching subtitles.

[Jake]

Show German show called Dark on Netflix.

[Luke Combs]

Seen it. It's great. Great.

[Jake]

No, you haven't.

[Luke Combs]

I've seen it. It's great.

[Jake]

How amazing is that show?

[Luke Combs]

Very good. Like Highly recommended.

[Jake]

It makes you think about life in the most insane way. Like, I did.

[Luke Combs]

It was really good.

[Jake]

It's really, really. Have you ever seen it? Louise, you gotta give it a go. It's amazing.

[Luke Combs]

It's German, right?

[Jake]

Yeah, it's German.

[Luke Combs]

German show. It was a German Netflix deal and it was. Was so well received, they brought it to the states.

[Jake]

Yeah, I felt like I learned German from it. D. Okay, Wild.

[Luke Combs]

Okay. Wild. Do you, like. Would you rather watch original language with subtitles or the weird dubbed over English?

[Jake]

I would. I. I think people who watch dubbed over English are, like, borderline sociopathic.

[Luke Combs]

It bugs me to no end.

[Jake]

But you're. That's not.

[Luke Combs]

Their mouths are like.

[Jake]

But it's also like, you're not watching the show.

[Luke Combs]

I did.

[Jake]

Like, you're not watching the show. That's not the acting. They're not acting. That is people. That's not real. That is not real.

[Luke Combs]

Right? Yeah, it's like, I can't. It's okay. Because they don't. It's not like they're. It's not like they're hiring.

[Jake]

Right.

[Luke Combs]

DiCaprio to re voice.

[Jake]

Of course. Of course.

[Luke Combs]

It's like your buddy from high school, they like called him in there, like, hey, you mind reading a couple sentences for this thing? And he's like, yeah, I think I got stabbed by that guy. And then it's like. And I'm like, this guy doesn't even know how to voice act. They found this guy on the street.

[Jake]

Yeah, it's horrendous. It's pretty horrendous. I can't do it. My friends can do it, but I. I can't. Ooh. My mother and father in law are too overbearing. My husband is their only son. So they're just so involved in our lives, planning our trips for us, hosting events like every other day. Oh, my God. And guilting us to come almost every time. Etc, to the point where it feels like they're making big decisions for us and always giving us unsolicited advice. But it's super hard to be annoyed because they're also so nice and helpful. What do I do, man?

[Luke Combs]

You gotta talk to your man, dude. He's got like. You gotta like. I don't know, man. There comes a time. How old are these folks? We know.

[Jake]

You don't know.

[Luke Combs]

Anonymous. Assuming you're adult ish.

[Jake]

Right?

[Luke Combs]

Like, I don't know if maybe if you're 19, I can maybe understand that a little bit more.

[Jake]

Right?

[Luke Combs]

But if you're in your 30s. We're getting to being a problem, I would think.

[Jake]

And if you break up, you know what to listen to.

[Luke Combs]

If you. For sure, for sure. When it rains a pores. You know, it's. It's. Yeah, that's a. That's a toughie, dude. I feel like it's like, tell the list. Tell the out there. Give us a little more detail. Like I need more context. I always ask for. Do you live in the same town? No, we don't know.

[Jake]

We can't help you if we want

[Luke Combs]

some real answers, you know what I mean? But I think you gotta like. You gotta like tell like. Is it they married?

[Jake]

Unclear.

[Luke Combs]

Unclear. Yeah, we gotta tell hubby perspective. Hubby, whatever. Like, come on, bro, tell your parents. Like, you kind of like, let me live my life a little bit.

[Jake]

For sure. And also like, you know, sometimes I do think that. Have you. Oh my God, you haven't seen the girlfriend on Amazon, have you? No. Okay, well, sometimes. Sometimes. Sometimes parents are really weird with their kids.

[Luke Combs]

There is. That is true. That is very true.

[Jake]

I work for my girlfriend's dad and we recently just got. Yeah, already. And we recently just got into a relationship ending fight at their dinner table because we ended up arguing about how we wanted different things in life.

[Luke Combs]

Brutal. That's like movie, dude. That's horrible.

[Jake]

I know.

[Luke Combs]

Okay, so you're out of the relationship.

[Jake]

Well.

[Luke Combs]

Oh, there.

[Jake]

We're unclear yet. The bad part is her entire family was present for it. It's been a week and I haven't heard anything from her or her dad. I'm so scared to go into work. And if I do, what can I say or do to keep that job?

[Luke Combs]

It's over. That is the end. Dude. Like, you are not.

[Jake]

I feel for that guy.

[Luke Combs]

Never coming back from that. Dude. You broke up with your girlfriend at her parents dinner table in front of her whole family at what I'm assuming is the holidays.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

Quit your job and just. It's time to start over, bro.

[Jake]

Right?

[Luke Combs]

There's no. Even if you come back from it, it will be brought up every single time that you see them for. And listen, do what you want to do. Maybe this is your person. Maybe you made a mistake. Don't.

[Jake]

But you can't have that underlying anxiety of if I get in a fight with them, I will also lose my job because that will take hold of the entire relationship.

[Luke Combs]

But you asked me. Or you asked Jake and Jake asked me. It's over, bro. Yeah, it's. It's the end.

[Jake]

Do you have a good breakup song of yours you'd like to prescribe?

[Luke Combs]

I would prescribe. I would run. Probably prescribe some real haggard for that one. That's a. I don't know if I have anything.

[Jake]

Okay.

[Luke Combs]

You know, it's time for, you know, it's time for growing up and moving on. Travis Meadows, learning how to live alone would go ahead and get that one going, right?

[Jake]

Or when it rains it for us, we all.

[Luke Combs]

We all choose sides when the ship goes down, okay? So just be on your side and let them be on their side.

[Jake]

I never.

[Luke Combs]

Things are better left the bottom of the ocean somewhere. You know what I mean?

[Jake]

What type of. Do you only listen to country music or do you listen to other stuff as well?

[Luke Combs]

Everything. I'm a huge hip hop guy. I love hip hop. I really have always loved hip hop. I really crave, like, authenticity. And whatever music that I'm listening to, it doesn't have to be something I can even relate to, man. Like, I just have to, like. I don't know, you just. I think there's something subconsciously in music. Like, as fans, we know when something is authentic or not. Even if we don't know, we know that.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

The artists that you gravitate towards that are around for a long time, obviously there's a lot of one hit wonders or people that have one or two songs that do well and make a great career out of that. But the artists that, you know, the Bruce Springsteens of the world, like, people are gravitating towards that because there's an innate authenticity to it. Right. That they don't even realize that they realize, you know, and so whatever music that I'm loving, I usually gravitate towards stuff like that. It's not, of course, not exclusively that, you know, like, I get down with Backstreet Boys.

[Jake]

Dude, you ever listen to Summer Walker? I think you'd like her.

[Luke Combs]

Okay.

[Jake]

She's great. R B. Besides. Besides you that I've been listening to this week. I have you up. Do you listen to Summer? I'm sick for her right now. I'm sick. You. I'll send it to you.

[Luke Combs]

Listen to it today. Yeah.

[Jake]

Well, Luke, I'm like, so sad you're leaving.

[Luke Combs]

Oh, my God, man. I had a great time, dude.

[Jake]

Well, yeah, I'm gonna see you again at your concert.

[Luke Combs]

Yep. Come on.

[Jake]

I'm gonna. Huh?

[Luke Combs]

Redo the shotgun.

[Jake]

Yeah, hopefully.

[Luke Combs]

Yeah.

[Jake]

Well, what did we learn today?

[Luke Combs]

I feel like we learned a lot, you know? I feel like we learned a lot about, you know, ocd. We learned a lot about shotgun aim, shotgun and beers. We learned a lot about. We feel like we gave some pretty heavy life advice to some random people. There's a lot going on in here today.

[Jake]

Yeah.

[Luke Combs]

But I enjoyed it, man. Thanks for having me, dude.

[Jake]

Thank you so much for being here. Absolutely. I'm gonna really try to end my crash out right here right now with you.

[Luke Combs]

Yep. Let's do it.

[Jake]

This is it. It's done. So thank you for coming on the show.

[Luke Combs]

Yep. Audios.

[Jake]

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