Luke Combs – The Way I Am

Country music superstar Luke Combs’s latest album is a 22-track epic made for a stadium near you. And it’s just as well, really, as he prepares to take over Wembley for three consecutive nights in July. His signature bellowing vocals take centre stage in every tune, singing hook after hook across ballads, up-tempo numbers and anthems alike. Venturing through the sonic plains of Americana, blues, rock and roll, pop, and soul, The Way I Am covers a lot of musical ground within its lavishly produced instrumental (by regular collaborators Chip Matthews and Jonathan Singleton).

The record’s opening track Back in the Saddle, a musical grand entrance of sorts (“I’ve been waiting in the wings like a dog on a chain”) encompasses cinematic blends of dramatic drone, banjo and an epic electric guitar solo. What follows is My Kinda Saturday Night, a foot-stomping tune that could awaken the soul of Chuck Berry, aptly foreshadowing the poppier moments on this new record. They come in the form of Can’t Tell Me I’m Wrong, reminiscent of the dreamy country-pop mastered by Kacey Musgraves or Sabrina Carpenter, and Tell ‘Em About Tonight, which has a whisper of old-school Taylor Swift in its guitar licks and drums.

While the music and instrumentals always feel expansive, Comb’s storytelling is more domestic, concerning itself with traditional themes of family, marriage and the occasional cowboy metaphor. Even with the genre’s tendency to keep things very literal, some lyrics on this record occasionally feel paces behind their musical counterparts. Wish Upon a Whiskey is one such track, opening with the line “Jack Daniels, black label / Empty dining room table / Here we go again / Another last resort, so help me, Jesus”. This song feels more like a Disney parody than a tear-jerker, but Combs’s vocals carry it as we swiftly move onto more poetic verses in title track The Way I Am. Written by Chris Gebulda and Rob Snyder, this is the album’s strongest ballad with a simple but resonant message and an achingly beautiful pedal steel accompaniment.

With its mostly accomplished songwriting and extensive tracklist, The Way I Am feels like a generous gift to Combs’s humongous fanbase. It’s a derivative but solid collection of crowd-pleasers guaranteed to delight “Bootleggers” both on record and on the road.