Luke Combs Shares a Different Kind of Drinking Song With Unreleased ‘Joe’ [Watch]
Luke Combs brings his rich, muscular voice and renowned storytelling skills to new territory with "Joe," a new, unreleased track which he shared on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry over the weekend (April 24).
From "Beer Never Broke My Heart" to "1, 2 Many," Combs has made a name for himself with drinking songs, but "Joe" tells another kind of story about the bottle. Narrated by an ordinary, blue-collar man named Joe who works at the Texaco and never shows up late or drunk, "because when I get half lit, I'm a loaded gun," the song tells a story of redemption and recovery from alcoholism.
"I can't complain, I'm doing alright / Sleeping pretty good, staying dry / Thank the Lord every morning with a sweet Amen / For how far I've come from where I've been," Combs sings in the chorus. "So here's to good days and better tomorrows / And a light at the end of the bottle."
When he performed "Joe" on the Opry stage, the song was only a few days old, the singer told the audience before he began. He'd finished it with frequent collaborator Erik Dylan earlier in the week, after Dylan started it "a while ago" with another songwriter, James Slater.
"I just thought it would be real awesome, and we finished it together. I guess the title of this song would be 'Joe.' So just hear me out and tell me what you think," the singer explained, by way of introducing his hot-off-the-press new tune.
"Joe" is the latest in a string of several new tunes Combs has shared with fans in recent months. Both onstage and via social media, the singer has made a habit of previewing songs before their official release, and another recent example is his "Growin' Up and Gettin' Old."
He's also hinted that he might be throwing a rootsy curveball at fans in the near future, sharing that he's been working on a bluegrass album as a side project. Fans have already heard his bluegrass-flavored "The Great Divide," a collaboration with Billy Strings that pivots from his usual radio-ready, mainstream country sound.