Growin' Up

by Luke Combs

Overview

Luke Combs opens up Growin' Up with "Doin' This," a typically blunt piece of quasi-biography where he claims if he wasn't a big star he'd still be singing -- "I'd still be doin' this if I wasn't doin' this." Intended as a tribute to his genuine, down-home roots, "Doin' This" winds up as a simultaneous testament to the absolute literalism of Luke Combs. Now on his third album, Combs became one of the biggest stars in country music in the 2020s by sticking to the basics, so he's not about to shake up the formula on Growin' Up. Everything here sounds vaguely like it could've been released at some hazy point in the past, a record that's proudly built on the kind of new traditionalist values that reigned during the 1990s. With his gravelly growl, Combs sounds right at home in this clean, uncluttered setting, just as he did on his previous two records, This One's for You and What You See Is What You Get. The biggest difference on Growin' Up isn't the star power that Miranda Lambert brings -- Eric Church appeared on What You See Is What You Get -- but the general sense that Combs is operating on a grander scale this time around. The album sounds bigger, crisper, and fuller than its predecessors, boasting a sense of confidence that never suggests arrogance. Maybe it never sounds as if Combs is swaggering because his songs are so resolutely modest, having no ambitions other than delivering very good renditions of shopworn themes. Name a kind of country song, and you'll probably find it here: drinking songs, songs about regret, songs about a broken heart, songs about the past, songs about fishing. They're all sturdy tunes delivered with no nonsense from Combs but also no flair. He's such a traditionalist that he doesn't bother with putting a distinctive spin on country cliches: he's happy to deliver them and maybe even inhabit them. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	06/24/2022
Label:	Columbia / River House Artists
UPC:	0194399780121

Tracks

1. Doin' This
2. Any Given Friday Night
3. The Kind of Love We Make
4. On the Other Line
5. Outrunnin' Your Memory
6. Used to Wish I Was
7. Better Back When
8. Tomorrow Me
9. Ain't Far From It
10. Call Me
11. Middle of Somewhere
12. Going, Going, Gone

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Luke Combs   Primary Artist,Guitar (Acoustic)
Miranda Lambert   Primary Artist
Jim "Moose" Brown   Keyboards
Jonathan Singleton   Vocals (Background),Guitar (Electric),Bass
Billy Justineau   Keyboards
Sol Littlefield   Guitar (Electric)
Adam Shoenfeld   Guitar (Electric)
Chip Matthews   Keyboards,Percussion,Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Greg Morrow   Drums
Steve Mackey   Bass
Jon Conley   Guitar (Acoustic)
Jerry Roe   Drums
Travis Toy   Guitar
Scotty Sanders   Guitar
Gary Morse   Guitar
Rob McNelley   Guitar (Electric)
Derek Wells   Guitar (Electric)
Mike Waldron   Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Charlie Worsham   Guitar (Acoustic)

Technical Credits

Chip Matthews   Mixing,Engineer,Producer,Programming,Digital Editing
Justin Francis   Assistant
Jeremy Cowart   Photography
Randy Montana   Composer
Dan Isbell   Composer
Reid Isbell   Composer
Barry Blankenship   Cover Illustration
Luke Combs   Composer,Producer
Jamie Davis   Composer
Thomas Archer   Composer
James McNair   Composer
Ray Fulcher   Composer
Rob Williford   Composer
Zach Kuhlman   Assistant
Shane Minor   Composer
Dean Dillon   Composer
Miranda Lambert   Composer
Ted Jensen   Mastering
Steve Blackmon   Engineer
Deric Ruttan   Composer
Jim Cooley   Mixing
Drew Parker   Composer
Jonathan Singleton   Composer,Producer