Luke Combs Will Bring Bearded, Everydude Charm Back To Country

I’m probably going to dip during this interview,” warns Luke Combs as he sinks into the couch at his label head’s East Nashville home, clutching a can of Copenhagen chewing tobacco.

- Jewly Hight

The 26-year-old North Carolina native is burly, bearded and, on this particular morning, sporting a camouflage ball cap and last night’s hoodie VITALS and blue jeans.

But Combs’ laid-back look belies a focused approach and a very modern hybrid sound. The singer songwriter’s blend of roughhewn twang, guitar-driven Southern rock and contemporary R&B rhythms sent his single “Hurricane” to Billboard’s Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs charts, where it has peaked thus far at No. 40 and No. 28, respectively. In a genre stocked with suave young men who look a lot like pop stars, Combs is quickly carving out a niche for himself as a millennial everyman.

“If I can reach the guy in Alabama that hunts,” says Combs, “and he hears that song and he sees me — like, he’s comfortable with me, my image as a person, as an artist — he’s willing to sit down and give that song a chance.”