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Luke Combs talks ‘5 Leaf Clover’, new album & recording a song written by Eric Church

Luke Combs joins Zane Lowe on New Music Daily on Apple Music 1 to discuss his new song ‘5 Leaf Clover’ from his forthcoming album ‘Gettin’ Old’. He tells Apple Music about the origin of the song, why he’s excited to release his new album this week, the decision to cover Tracy Chapman’s iconic hit “Fast Car”, and cutting “My Song Will Never Die” for the album (written by Eric Church).

Luke Combs Tells Apple Music About New Song ‘5 Leaf Clover.

It came together pretty quick once we decided that’s what we wanted to do. The day that we wrote it was probably early 2021 I would imagine. Still kind of stuck at home at that point a little bit. Hadn’t started touring quite yet. We were about to. And it was really just one of those days where we couldn’t figure out what we wanted to write, honestly. And I had that idea on my phone for a while and I just kind of spit it out because I thought it was kind of strange, really. I didn’t think anybody would be into it. I thought it was kind of weird. And I said it and they were like, “Oh, I love that idea.” And I don’t know, I guess probably in two hours we had it done

I think it really touches on the way I feel, I guess. I mean, I think that’s an important aspect of putting music out. You want people to know that it kind of reflects what you’re doing and the way you’re feeling. And I think that song, especially at the time I wrote it, and more so every day really, is just… I just want people to know that I appreciate being able to do what I do.

Luke Combs Tells Apple Music Why He’s Excited About Releasing His New Album ‘Gettin’ Old’

For me the hardest part is once it’s done and turned in, the wait, I mean, we turned this thing in, probably last October. And so it’s like you’re waiting for months and months and months for it to come out. And then you spend days and days and days talking about it and reflecting on it. And then it’s like by the time it comes out, you’re like, “Oh geez, man. I don’t even want to talk about this album,” for the first time. But I’m really excited for it to finally come out. I mean, that’s kind of the ultimate reward. It’s years and years worth of work. And then finally people get to listen to it and you’re excited to see what they think. And you’re also nervous, right? Because I mean, this is kind of a step forward for me and in a bit of a different direction, too. So that’s kind of nerve wracking in itself because it’s like you don’t really know if people are going to love it or not.

Luke Combs Tells Apple Music About Covering Tracy Chapman’s Iconic Hit ‘Fast Car’ on His Forthcoming Album…

That song’s just always been a huge part of my life, really. I’ve always loved it and I think it’s the more and more I hear it, especially the older and older I get, it just gets better and better every time. I loved it when I was five years old.And me and my dad used to listen to that album on a cassette tape in the truck. So I loved that whole album, but that song stood out to me. And I would say it was like that song stood out above all the others even. But that’s probably the first “hit song” that I ever heard. I didn’t even know that that’s what that was, what that even meant at that time. But for some reason, that song stood out even more than everything else on that album, which was really great, too.

I think that was always the goal was just not to change it at all, really, in the sense of staying true to keeping it rooted in where it always was, I think was important.  You know what I mean? Letting the riffs be kind of the star of the show. I mean, that’s how the original track is. And I think the main differences in mine and the original is just the quality of equipment that it was recorded on, I think would be the main difference. I don’t think mine would sound markedly different. Obviously there’s some electric stuff going on that probably wasn’t there. The chorus feels a little bit bigger, just filled out drums and things of that nature. But I think it comes down a lot to the equipment. That song was recorded in probably 1988, I would imagine. This one was recorded in 2022. So obviously there’s been huge leaps in all sorts of technology when it comes to audio engineering and recording music since then. So I would say that was probably the biggest difference.

Luke Combs Tells Apple Music About New Song “My Song Will Never Die”, Written By Eric Church

That’s the first song I ever cut that I didn’t write. You know what I mean? So pretty wild. It was a pretty cool experience to be able to do that and…It was just the right song had never kind of come along. And that song was the first one that really I felt I like wanted to do. And obviously I’m a huge Eric Church fan. He wrote that song. He wrote it with my producer, Jonathan. And I didn’t hear it from either of those guys. I got a random email from a publisher that was like, “Hey, I just really think you would like this song.” It wasn’t like, “Hey, do this song.” Because nobody really pitches me songs because I’ve never cut anything .And it’s like, but everybody knows I’m a huge Eric fan. So sometimes people send me stuff that they’re able to get or hear. And I loved it and I asked him. 

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