Thursday Thoughts with the Boots & Whiskey Podcast
Well hot damn, here we are with week two of this series! Pretty bad ass all the love we got from last weeks blog, so to everyone on last weeks list, thank you again. Listen, if you weren’t on the list last week and you’re a local, don’t be upset. There is a TON of solo artists I didn’t put on there I wanted too and could have, but didn’t…I suck…I’m sorry. Jared Reinert is my biggest regret NOT on that list. But don’t worry, there will be more lists to come.
Today we are going to talk about one of my favorite artists in the circuit today, Mr. Luke Combs. Luke put out a new album last Friday, which is his third full length album to date and there have been MANY blogs and comments about this album ‘Growin’ Up’ since then, but this is going to be my take.
I want to start with the first album he put out, so you can understand better my comments on the latest.
His Freshman Full Length Album came in 2017 with ‘This One’s For You’, the songs on this album are undeniable. This was a sound country music hadn’t heard in quite some time from a kid from North Carolina. Who the hell was Luke Combs? Where was he going to go? What was he going to do? This album gave us hits like; ‘Hurricane’, ‘When It Rains It Pours’, ‘One Number Away’, oh fuck it. The whole goddamn album is hit after hit after hit. Let’s be real there about that. ‘This One’s For You’, and ‘Lonely One’, are my favorites on this album.
This album was so damn good, he followed up with a rerelease in 2018 with 5 more tracks on it and they were just as good, if not better than the original album the year before. Legit, looking over these 5 songs and I can’t think of one that I would skip. ‘Houston, We Got a Problem’, is by far my favorite in this new listing but they’re all bangers. The only song on this album that I could never hear again because it was over played is ‘Beautiful Crazy’. I absolutely love this song, I wanted it to be my wedding song when I first heard it before it was on radio, but now…I skip it every damn time.
Honestly, if you haven’t listened to this album front to back at least a million times, you have some serious issues or you hate Luke Combs.
So now that I have totally fawned over ‘This One’s For You’ and the genius that was, let’s talk about his Sophomore album ‘What You See Is What You Get’ released in 2019.
So, at this point 3 years in a row, we have either a new or added on to album from Luke Combs.
This album had everyone wondering what was next for Luke. He releases a 17 track follow up to his debut album. We got some pretty decent songs off this album including the over played ‘Beer Never Broke My Heart’, the very under rated ‘Refrigerator Door’, and of course the song that makes me sob like a fucking child every time I hear it ‘Even Though I’m Leaving’. This album is solid, don’t get me wrong, but it’s no where near as good as ‘This One’s For You’. There shouldn’t even be a debate here, but I am sure someone out there likes this better than that. It’s ok to be wrong, because if you think that then…you are just wrong.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a solid album … solid … doesn’t hold a candle to the first.
Now…here we are … the latest album ‘Growin’ Up’. I am sure if you’re reading this, you’re on listen 3.2 million. So, you’re either going to agree; hate; love; or be indifferent with my take of this album.
Full 100% transparency I wrote all of the above previous to listening to ‘Growin’ Up’. I didn’t really listen to any of the singles off this album except for ‘Doin’ This’, and let’s face it, it’s a killer tune. It’s probably one of the best on this album. Now, I had listened to the songs that came out but I didn’t LISTEN to the songs if you get what I am saying. It was a passive listen. And on knee jerk, I didn’t care much for them. With what I heard I wasn’t entirely sure how I was feeling about Luke going into this album. So last Friday, I go to Spotify and I start it. I listened all the way through. Then I found myself listening to it again. It was on this second time through I realized it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. It isn’t the best out of the three to date, but it’s solid.
I really enjoy the 90’s Country sound you hear throughout the album. I was surprised that ‘Any Given Friday Night’ wasn’t chosen to star the album off. I think it would set a better introduction to it. It definitely would have fit into how the other albums start. The longer I write this and the more I listen to these songs to remember what I want to say, this album is actually better than I give it credit for.
The only thing I will say, is that it does sound like a lot of the other Luke Combs songs. But I guess that makes sense right? That’s why we love him, cause it’s consistent, we know exactly what we are going to get. I mean his team, song writers, management etc. is just flat our solid.
They constantly talk about Morgan Wallen and his friends that write with him including Hardy and Ernest and everyone loses their minds. They are a great team, but ya know what? I would take Luke Combs, Ray Fulcher and Drew Parker over the others any day of the week and twice on Sunday. I know…bring on the hate. Trust me I love Wallen, Hardy and Ernest. But there’s something about Comb’s, Fulcher, and Parker that they write and release that “country music” sound. I enjoy the more country sound, and I am 100% Team Morgan Wallen. But I’ll let you fall fight that out in the comment section below.
So overall I would give this album a solid 7.5/10. It has a lot of replay value, it has some songs on here that will blow up for sure. Once ‘Outrunnin’ Your Memory’, is released to country radio, it will be a number one song. Luke and Miranda Lambert duet, two powerhouses, two of the top artists in their genre. Game over folks. Pack it up, close the door, it’s a number one without even a question. I am sure there will be a few other number ones on this album, I am just not sure which ones.
Well, there we have it. This is my thoughts on this album and all of the albums to date. I think we will do more album reviews in the future depending on the artist and I think our concert reviews are going to be in blog form as well going forward with short little videos for them. Let me know what you think!
Cheers ya’ll
Thank you all for reading along and listening to the show. Check us out on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio, Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, Twitter all of the above. And check out our website at http://www.bootsandwhiskeyentertainment.com