Luke Combs believed in himself so much that he spent his last $200 to further his career.
Videos by American Songwriter
The country singer revealed as much during an interview with Today‘s Willie Geist, sharing that he was faced with an expensive choice in late 2014, the year he moved to Nashville.
“I record the songs. I sing the track and vocals, sing the vocal, mix it. And then I hit my buddy Scott up, who was producing my stuff at the time,” Combs recalled. “And I’m like, ‘Hey, man, let’s release these songs.’ And he’s like, ‘Well, we got to master all the songs.’”
Combs was devastated to learn that doing so would cost him $200 per song.
“I’m like, ‘What is it? What does it make? Does spit out a gold bar at the end or what?’” he said. “… I had 200 bucks left. I’m like, ‘I can do one song.’”
Combs bet it all on “Hurricane,” spending his last $200 to get the eventual hit mastered.
“I spend 200 bucks, do ‘Hurricane,’ put it out, sells 10,000 copies the first week,” Combs said, before noting that he had “no deal, no manager, no nothing going on” at the time.
Luke Combs Bets on Himself
He proceeded to use the money he made on “Hurricane” to master the rest of the songs and record the rest of the album. That led him to meet his manager and sign a record deal.
“Here we are. It’s crazy. Crazy!” Combs said, before quipping, “It did spit out a gold bar in the end, actually. It really did.”
The experience taught Combs that “you can’t be afraid to be on yourself.”
“When it came to my career… I was always a glass half full guy. The no wasn’t no, it was not yet. It was always just striving to be better,” he said. “It can happen, man. I’m proof positive that it can happen. The goal is not the destination. It’s the journey, dude. Getting there is the fun part. So just enjoy it, man.”
Now, Combs is gearing up for the release of his latest album, The Way I Am, which is due out March 20.
“This album is just fastballs,” Combs said of the forthcoming LP. “To just kind of be like, ‘I still got it.’”
The 22-track album is due in large part to Combs’ collaborators and co-writers, about whom he said, “They really carried me on this one.”
Photo by Jim Bennett/WireImage
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.