Simple themes done well
Review of Luke Combs’ “Gettin’ Old”
Luke Combs — Gettin’ Old (2023)
Released March 24, 2023
Even as a recent convert to country music, I am very skeptical of the current artists coming out of Music Row. I’m well aware that not all of them are as problematic as Morgan Wallen, but I do find they almost all still fall into that bro-country style that took over the genre post 9/11. It was because of this style of country music that I shunned it and refused to engage with it at all until only a few years ago. But I cast all of this aside and tried to keep an open mind as I listened to my first all-in-all country record for this project, Luke Combs’ Gettin’ Old.
The album opens with “Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old,” which serves as the connection between the album and its predecessor, which are themselves companion albums to each other. The sound of the song is pretty middle of the road, radio safe country, but it’s not aggressively bro country in the way that much of the music on mainstream country radio is.
Because storytelling is such a fundamental element of the country genre, I was really looking closely at lyrics and narrative while I was listening. Although long with 18 songs, especially only nine months after his previous release, I think all of the songs do a good job of relating back to the theme of maturing, gaining wisdom with age, and having an appreciation for childhood in retrospect without repeating too much. There are a few themes that he comes back to again and again, like fathers and sons, legacy, and love. It doesn’t bother me that the themes of the songs are simple. I find that to be what country music does best — write about simple themes but writes about them well. And there’s quite a few songs on this album that I think do convey simple themes well.
On the central theme of growing up are songs like “You Found Yours,” that, while maybe not reinventing the wheel, is a strong entry to the country music canon about a theme that has become a staple of the genre. Other themes found often in country music are family, which can be found on songs “See Me Now” and “Take You With Me,” and the simplest theme of all, love, found on songs like “Hannah Ford Road,” “Still,” “Love You Anyway,” and “Tattoo on a Sunburn.” Combs also writes in relation to growing up about grappling with legacy and gratitude for the life he has while also acknowledging its hardships, as heard on “My Song will Never Die,” “5 Leaf Clover,” and “The Part.” But I think the best songs on the album are good, old-fashioned story songs and imagery that I feel are missing from modern country acts, songs like “Joe,” “The Beer, The Bard, and The Barstool,” and “Where the Wild Things Are.”
My favorites on the record are “Hannah Ford Road,” “Back 40 Back,” “Fast Car,” and “Fox in the Henhouse.”
In addition to contemplating his own place in country, I was surprised by Combs’ use of sonic and lyrical callbacks to other artists and eras of country. Whether intentionally or not, songs “Hannah Ford Road,” and “See Me Now” sounded like Fearless era Taylor Swift with the former also having elements of early Carrie Underwood and lyrical themes that reminded me of Trisha Yearwood’s “She’s In Love With the Boy.” The gratitude heard on “5 Leaf Clover” also brought to mind the lyrical themes of Kelsea Ballerini’s “What I Have.” Later in the album, “A Song Was Born,” pays homage to those that have come before, like Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard who are named in the song, who have paved the way for Combs. For someone who is still new to country and who tends to be hesitant to leave her comfortable bubble of artists she knows she likes, hearing sounds that are reminiscent of other artists I like helped to ingratiate me into this record.
And then there are songs like “Fast Car,” and “Still” that pull inspiration from outside the country genre. Of course, “Fast Car,” originally by Tracy Chapman and performed by Combs and Chapman together during this year’s Grammys ceremony, is a stand out on the record with Combs performing an excellent version. Lyrically, “Still” reminded me of Stevie Wonders’ “As,” which is one of my favorites of his. I don’t know that Wonder’s song was a particular inspiration for “Still” or just a similarity that I noticed. However I will have to dock Combs one point for the use of “girl” in the lyrics, but that’s just a personal gripe I have.
Other reviewers have called this his best, and without having heard his other records, I would agree that this is a very strong country record and I was pleasantly surprised. It’d be easy for me, who doesn’t naturally gravitate to the Top 40 on the country charts, to assume for all the success Luke Combs has had that he’d be like a Morgan Wallen or Jason Aldean type. But instead I think this album goes to show that mainstream country has more to offer. Sure, this album is sonically very middle of the road country, if you like that kinda thing, but I’d be more inclined to listen to this for the lyrical writing and storytelling than I would most, if not all, of what’s played on country radio.
