Luke Combs’ “Gettin Old” Never Seems to Get Old
Written by mccormacke1 on April 13, 2023
Country Superstar Drops Highly Anticipated Fourth Studio Album
By Ben Petruk
Fans of Luke Combs have known what they were getting from the superstar’s fourth studio album Gettin Old, but we always seem to forget how impactful his music is to our lives.
Gettin Old is an indirect second half to his previous album, Growin Up. The two album covers fit together to complete a picture, and the songs on each LP fit the overall theme of the albums.
Gettin Old starts with the track that binds the two albums together in “Growin Up and Gettin Old.” The leadoff song is a very emotional story of wanting to still be your young self while also learning to become a more mature, slowed down person. This song definitely fits the current album’s themes of maturity, understanding, and humility. All such qualities illustrated in this song perfectly guide the listener on what they are about to embark on.
The album moves into different stories that continue to touch base on the three main qualities in the album. “Hannah Ford Rd” illustrates a young man having a secret relationship with a girl on a road her dad named after her. “You Found Yours” is about the little things in life that help people find meaning in their lives.
Every song on this album has a very deep meaning hidden through beautiful instrumentals and vocals. The writing of these songs are extraordinary and highlight how great of a writer Luke Combs and his team are. “See Me Now,” “Where The Wild Things Are” and “Take You With Me” are each upbeat songs with lyrics that may bring you to tears. Songs like “The Part,” “Back 40 Back” and “My Song Will Never Die” really portray emotions through the music and the lyrics alike.
The hits of this album are all vastly different, but each are the highlights of Luke Combs himself and his discography. Some of such highlights are his songs about humility. Starting off in 2017 with song “This One’s For You,” Combs sings about his thanks to everyone for his music. This leads into “Without You” in What You See Ain’t Always What You Get, which was highly regarded. Afterwards, he released a radio single “Doin This” that became a number one song.
Yet, after all of these tracks, he seemingly peaks on Gettin Old with the song “5 Leaf Clover,” where he acknowledges how great his life is, but he would have always been okay with less- He questions how he got so lucky. This track can make new listeners appreciate Luke Combs as a person even if they don’t like his music. The instrumentals are beautiful with the duet between a guitar and fiddle. The entire song can make the listener feel happy about their own life as well as appreciate that of Combs’.
Another hit is a gorgeous live song about Combs’ wife, Nichol Combs, titled “Love You Anyway.” His love songs before were compiled into The Trilogy, including the songs “Beautiful Crazy” about the couple’s start in dating, “Better Together” about their engagement, and ‘Forever After All” about their wedding. “Love You Anyway” is very different from the previous three songs, as it works with love and heartbreak. The track explains that no matter how bad she breaks his heart, and no matter how tough the road could be, he will love her regardless and whether it works out or not. Just writing this made me feel something. The song’s powerful message definitely stands out in comparison to The Trilogy.
The final hit is actually a cover of the iconic song by Tracy Chapman, “Fast Car.” This song is a major sense of relief for many of his fans because Combs’ performed this cover on a livestream at the height of the Coronavirus caused lockdown. To give a lot of fanservice, he recorded this song for this album during such time of isolation. Conveniently, it fit the theme of the album and sunk in smoothly. Just like in Chapman’s original version, the guitar riff and chorus live in everyone’s brain rent free.
Once again, Luke Combs delivers an album that his fans will love from start to finish. Luke Combs is not Morgan Wallen, trying to break every imaginable record through different styles and genres. He is breaking records through what he knows. Combs is content with who he is and the music he creates- and this album solidifies that. He may not ever have as many casual fans as Morgan Wallen, but there is no doubt that this album reminds every country fan that there are two heavyweights in the county music division.
Photo from Amazon Music.
