Luke Combs has been one of the biggest names in country music for years. However, he remains one of the genre’s most down-to-earth and genuine figures. As a result, fans won’t see him making any grand speeches at the 2023 CMA Awards.
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Combs is going into tomorrow’s CMA Awards with four nominations. The North Carolina native is up for Entertainer of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year. Additionally, “Fast Car” and Gettin’ Old brought him nominations for Single and Album of the Year, respectively.
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More than nominations, Combs is going into the night with an impressive track record. He took home Entertainer of the Year in 2021 and 2022. He also won Album of the Year last year for Growin’ Up and in 2020 for What You See Is What You Get. Additionally, he was the CMA Male Vocalist of the Year in 2019 and 2020. As a result, he’s a favorite to win the categories for which he’s nominated.
If he does win, no one should expect him to give a long acceptance speech. Recently, he spoke to Audacy’s Radio Row host Sabrina Sergio and shared his thoughts on speeches.
Sergio wanted to know if he had a speech ready just in case he won his third consecutive Entertainer of the Year Award. “I’ve never done a speech. Ever. For anything,” he said. “I feel like it would just be bad luck to start now, you know what I mean,” Combs added.
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“I always just kind of wanted to, like, say what happens in the moment. Whatever emotion I’m really feeling,” he explained. Combs went on to say that he hates “scripted stuff” and never wants to pretend to be anything he’s not. “I don’t want to make some thing that feels disingenuous,” he added.
However, he isn’t just against giving big prepared speeches. He’s not big on hearing them either. “The second the index card comes out, as a fan, I’m checked out,” he said. “The card comes out, I don’t believe it. Don’t want to hear it. The card is a lie.”
Then, he elaborated on his distaste for index cards. “The card feels very political. It feels like you’re like ‘I’ve got to make sure to say this thing.’ Pretty soon, we’re gonna be dropping ‘Shout out to Mountain Dew’ in there.” Instead, Combs prefers a simple approach: “Thank the wife and the kids and peace out.”
The CMA Awards air live from Nashville on Wednesday (November 8) at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images
