Luke Combs is one of contemporary country music’s biggest live draws, headlining stadiums all last summer on his Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old Tour and playing country festivals. But this summer, country fests are mostly absent from Combs’ tour schedule. While he headlined Stagecoach back in April, bringing out surprise guests Garth Brooks and Good Charlotte, and later crashing the Backstreet Boys’ set, Combs is now taking hits like “Beer Never Broke My Heart,” “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma,” and his massive crossover cover of “Fast Car,” to rock-focused fests including Boston Calling, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza.
He’s also making his debut at Newport Folk Festival, the historic 66-year-old, traditionally acoustic-leaning festival in Rhode Island where Bob Dylan famously went electric in 1965.
We talked to Combs about playing Newport, why he may have to work harder to win over its crowd, and if he’ll indulge in one of his onstage rituals at the revered fest — shotgunning a beer.
You’re not playing CMA Fest this year in Nashville, but you are making your Newport Folk Festival debut. What about that fest appealed to you?
It’s rare that you get a listening crowd, especially at one of these large festivals. And we also want to invoke the musicianship of my band, which I think is something that can be lost, especially at some of these big festivals that we do in the country world. It’s more song-oriented, as opposed to musicality-oriented, and these contemporary festivals have a bit more of that. Obviously, there’s opportunities to play covers and bring guests out and do kind of left-field collaboration stuff, and we have a little bit of that lined up.
How do you think you’ll be received by the Newport crowd?
We’re not trying to go in there and kick the door open and go, “You have to like me at face value,” because I would think that most people attending that festival would probably be like, “I just don’t know about this guy.” But that’s been like that since my career started. It’s always been about going and doing the show and making people hear it live and see it live and appreciate the musicianship of it.
I’ve had to win over fans since day one, just playing in front of people. That was always the goal. We’ve had a lot of hits, and I’m not discrediting that, but I think the live show has been the thing for us that’s really propelled it. And it’s not the flash of the show. It’s you go out there and there’s no tracks. It’s a fucking live band, playing real instruments, and live singers singing. That’s all it is.
So, you have to work a little bit more at Newport, or even at Lollapalooza?
Yeah, for sure. That’s the thing that excited me about it. It keeps me stimulated. Not that there’s anything wrong with going and playing those big country festivals, but I like the challenge of this. There’s more pressure involved in it and you have to think about it more. You have to be more engaged. It’s good and healthy for everybody to go out and have some perceived adversity, where you got to win the crowd over.
Are there signature Luke Combs concert set pieces — like shotgunning a beer — that you’ll forego at Newport? Are you bringing full production?
I mean, I might shotgun a beer. But I do love that shotgunning a beer for us is considered full production. [Laughs]
You found a whole new audience with your cover of “Fast Car,” and then built on it even more by performing it with Tracy Chapman at the 2024 Grammys. Is it safe to say you’re not playing Newport without “Fast Car”?
Oh, for sure. That was my ability to get in front of people on a big national scale and do something different. And obviously to do it with Tracy and getting her seal of approval was huge. I think it made people go, “Okay, well, maybe this guy is a little different.” I’m really grateful for that, because I do believe that opened the door to have the summer that we’re having.
You headlined the country festival Stagecoach last month and brought out Good Charlotte for “The Anthem” during your set. How’d you meet the Madden brothers?
So, my business manager used to be in a punk-rock band who were signed and on the Warped Tour and he has known those Good Charlotte guys from those days. He thought that we would get along really well and when we played [L.A.’s] Greek Theatre, probably in 2018, he brought those guys out. Do you know their real last name is Combs?
I did not.
I didn’t know that either. We always call ourselves “The Combs Brothers Band” when we’re hanging. But those guys are just great people, family men, and I saw how those guys handled themselves and handled their life. They’ve always been just somebody that I could lean on in the music versus family life game, which we’re constantly juggling as people in our situations. I’ve always wanted to do something with them and, them living in California, it was just a natural fit.
You popped up during the Backstreet Boys set too, singing “I Want It That Way.” How’d that come about?
They reached out. I grew up learning how to sing from those guys. When that stuff is coming out, 2000 or 1999, with Millennium, I’m probably 10 or 11 and that’s the age where you start developing your own music that you listen to, that’s not the music your parents listen to. And they’re the biggest band in the world at that time. I just naturally gravitated to singing and their stuff is melodically, super musical.
You looked natural singing it.
I unknowingly cut my teeth singing that stuff. That R&B, pop, vocally-inspired melodies, it’s challenging to sing. But I was like, “Shit, I can go sing the whole set probably.” That stuff is ingrained in my brain.
