A more seasoned Luke Combs hits the summer festival circuit as a man on a mission

USA Today

05-06-2025

A more seasoned Luke Combs hits the summer festival circuit as a man on a mission Luke Combs discusses playing mega-festivals like Bonnaroo and Newport Folk in 2025, the importance of getting Americans to love country music again.
Last year, Luke Combs got Tracy Chapman to break a decade of silence by performing "Fast Car" with him at the 2024 Grammy Awards.
For his next trick, Combs is embarking on a mission to win over fans outside the confines of the country music apparatus — including those who, as he once did, eschew the genre.
The "Beer Never Broke My Heart" performer has spent the last seven years using his blue-collar work ethic and earnest songwriting to sell millions of tickets and build stardom within country's club-to-arena-to-stadium touring circuit.
His 2025 schedule, however, hits harder than the Category 10 "Hurricane" that names both his first hit single and the recently-opened 70,000-square-foot downtown Nashville honky-tonk near Nissan Stadium. And is chock full of major festivals that will bring fans from virtually every musical genre: Bonnaroo, Boston Calling, Lollapalooza — even the Newport Folk Festival.
"The next frontier is expanding my limits to embrace people who want to destigmatize country music," Combs said, while preparing recently for a Jazzfest headlining gig in New Orleans. "It's a fresh, different challenge."
Combs' push to broaden his fanbase is directly linked to the success of his "Fast Car" cover and viral duet at the Grammys.
"I don't think any of this is possible without Tracy's stamp of approval," Combs said, adding that Chapman's endorsement "has created the opportunity to showcase how my work can be loved and appreciated by people who may have thought they could never love my music."
He's not changing anything about his show's presentation, but rather leaning into the versatility of his bandmates.
"My band is so much more talented than I am with instruments in their hands," Combs said. "They'll go from country to playing Vanessa Carlton or Train, then play a bass solo over the White Stripes' 'Seven Nation Army.'"
"The kids know ball," he gushed. "We're not taking glitz, glamour, fame, flash, fire and smoke to these crowds. I will still get up there with my band, songs and talent, then give them the best live show possible that will earn their respect."
Why Combs is weaving sentimentality into latest career chapter
Combs is a warm-throated vocalist who has hit the top of country's radio charts 13 consecutive times with singles that sold the equivalent of over 70 million copies. At 35, he's also a husband, father of two sons and is aiming for something greater.
"Even though they're not old enough to see these shows, I want my kids to be able to look back on this era in their father's life and process how proud their father was of putting time, effort and passion into what he's accomplishing," Combs said.
"Fathers & Sons," his critically acclaimed 2024 album, hinted at how he aims to put his family closer to the forefront of his work.
Combs has found a way to weave his love for family into a kind of sentimentality that now emanates across his brand, allowing him to float away from being pigeonholed in country music's rough-hewn and beer-swilling stereotypical traditions.
'Some parts of country music could be for anyone'
Combs' mission to carry country's torch to pop's most profound embrace is rooted in his own childhood.
"I'm passionate about country music and have a deep knowledge of its inner workings, but I'm also someone who ran as far away from country music as I could and hated it, for a decade, when I was 10 or 11 years old," Combs says.
At this year's Stagecoach Festival, along with bringing Garth Brooks onstage to sing "Friends in Low Places" to close the festival, Combs also welcomed Benji and Joel Madden of pop-punk emo rockers Good Charlotte onstage to sing "The Anthem," which was released when he was 13 years old.
"I eventually rediscovered my love for country music and feel like, though the genre might not be for everyone, some parts of the genre could be for anyone."
Performing at the Newport Folk Festival
On July 28, Combs is scheduled to perform at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island.
The event's importance as a link between roots music's past and country music's future cannot be underscored enough.
The 66-year-old festival, born out of the "folk revival" of the 1950s, has perpetually served as one of popular music's most vital inflection points.
Within a decade of Newport Folk's founding, Bob Dylan plugged in an electric guitar and Johnny and June Carter Cash introduced the world to Kris Kristofferson.
A successful Combs set at Newport Folk could help connect country music's mainstream surge to its roots, while buoying his own efforts to grow his legions of fans.
He has sat with Tyler King, his band's lead guitarist, to tailor a "musical and unique" set list to elevate what he feels is the "best version yet" of what he offers as a live performer to people who have never heard his songs, or heard him perform in a live setting.
"An audience of listeners will hear a set that allows my band and me to do what we do best, but also respects the traditions of the Newport Folk Festival," Combs said.
More broadly, this more seasoned version of Combs looks at the summer ahead as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"We're in a rare position where we get to steward forward an era where country and pop music no longer have to exist independently of each other," he said.