Luke Combs has, so far, written all of his own hits, but he has also written songs for other artists as well, including Gabby Barrett. It was Barrett who first revealed she had a song Combs wrote for her on her forthcoming new record, which Combs now says is one of the best songs he has ever penned, even though it wasn’t even written for him.
“It’s a song from a female’s perspective, so it’s obviously not a song I’m going to put out,” Combs explains on SiriusXM’s The Highway. “It doesn’t mean that it’s not a great song. I think it’s one of the best songs I’ve ever written, to be completely honest. But it’s obviously a song that I cannot do.”
Combs not only writes for himself, but enjoys writing for others as well, even though those songs often don’t get recorded. The North Carolina native understands why, although he says the reasoning artists don’t want to cut his songs is flawed.
“I think a lot of times there can be a lot of hesitancy from artists in town to cut another song that another artist has written that they didn’t cut,” Combs acknowledges. “I think the thinking behind that is, ‘Well if he didn’t cut it, it must not be good enough.’ It happens to me a lot. I’ll have a song that I’ll really think is great, and just doesn’t fit where I’m at, doesn’t fit the album cycle that I’m in. or It’s just in a strange time. And I’ll send that to my publisher, and say, ‘Hey, pitch this.'”
Combs, by his own admission, frequently sends songs to his publisher, but they rarely get recorded by another artist.
“I could count on one hand how many outside cuts I’ve had, from anybody. Carly Pearce, Lee Brice, I wrote that with Carly,” Combs says of her No. 1 single, “I Hope You’re Happy Now.” “Two Zac Brown songs on his most recent album, I wrote those songs with him … One time I’ve gotten a call. It’s like, ‘Hey, so-and-so artist heard the song you wrote that you didn’t cut and wants to cut it,’ because in my mind, everyone’s afraid. ‘Well if Luke didn’t cut it, it must not be good enough to be on his album, so why is it good enough to be on my album?'”
Combs may want other artists to record his songs, but he hasn’t included any outside songs on his own albums, until now. The 32-year-old is, for the very first time, including three outside songs on his new Gettin’ Old record. Combs wrote 15 of the 18 tracks, also including one penned by Eric Church , “My Song Will Never Die,” which Church wrote along with Travis Meadows and Jonathan Singleton, and “Where The Wild Things Are,” written by Randy Montana and Dave Turnbul .Combs also included a cover of Tracy Chapmans’ 1988 hit, “Fast Car.”
“I just like that part of it so much, the writing thing,” Combs previously told Billboard, explaining why he never recorded outside songs before. “I’m sure that my albums would probably be even more successful if I cut outside songs because [there are] songwriters a lot better than I am, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.”
No word yet when Barrett’s new album will be released. Gettin’ Old will be out on March 24. Combs will embark on his World Tour in March 25 in Arlington, Texas, and will play in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and more, before wrapping up on October 19 in the UK. Riley Green, Lainey Wilson, Flatland Cavalry and Brent Cobb will serve as the opening acts for some dates, with Cody Johnson and Lane Pittman taking over opening act duties for some of the overseas dates as well.
Find music and tour dates at LukeCombs.com.
