“When It Rains It Pours,” one of Luke Combs ’s first hits, portrays the opposite of a family man. The country star watches as his “bitchin’ and moanin’” girlfriend walks out, later pockets a waitress’s number at Hooters, and celebrates never having to see his “ex-future mother-in-law” again. On that single and the rest of his debut album, 2017’s This One’s for You , Combs quickly developed a reputation for loud, spirited songs about drowning your troubles in a cold beer and having a good time.
But a few years later, he was shunning that image for a more grown-up Combs: a wiser, calmer man who knows when he’s had one too many. That fit with the changes happening in his personal life. Outside of becoming one of country music’s biggest stars, Combs got engaged to his longtime girlfriend (who played the Hooters waitress in the “When It Rains” video) in 2018, married her in 2020, and then had two sons 14 months apart.
For his third album, 2022’s Growin’ Up , Combs now found himself caught between the hard partying of his 20s (“Any Given Friday Night”) and the heavier responsibilities of his 30s (“Tomorrow Me”). He was a dedicated lover on “The Kind of Love We Make” and gave advice about lost love on “Going, Going, Gone.” By the album’s 2023 counterpart, Gettin’ Old , Combs was replacing the expected drinking songs with ones like “Joe,” a rare ballad about sobriety in contemporary country music, and opener “Growin’ Up .
