LUKE COMBS: The Man Behind The Success (Marriage, Fatherhood & Life With OCD)

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You think you're too.

Luke is known for his humility, his deep commitment to his family, and especially his fans.

Today he joins me to talk about fatherhood, mental health, and how he stays grounded through it all.

Please welcome to on-purpose Luke Combs.

Yeah, thank you for having me. That was a heck of an intro. I got a lot to look up to.

You did all of it. You're doing all of it. It's amazing when I just met your team,

and they're wonderful, and the way they speak about you, wonderful, but it's genuine.

I'm like, when I hear about your reputation, your reputation precedes you before this interview.

I'm here. Luke's the nicest guys. I like hearing that.

Has that been work? Has it been hard to stay grounded, or is it just who you are?

Yeah, I think it's both. I've always thought that when you reach a certain level of success,

or when I hate fame, I hate the word celebrity, I hate those words. They're weird, and they make

me uncomfortable a little bit, but it's reality. Also accept it, and it's just weird to say it.

I don't want it to ever sound like a braggadocious thing, but I think when you get to a certain point,

like the fame or the success or the influence, it just kind of accentuates and exacerbates

the inherent person that you are. If you're a great guy, and you become rich and successful,

and famous, or whatever, it gives you the opportunity to be more of who you already are.

It gives you a chance to be more giving, or more passionate, or more narcissistic.

If that's already, if you have a proclivity to be that way, it just kind of inflates that.

It makes this superversion of who you already are. It does take a lot of work, too.

Me and my team are really close. Everybody's like, oh, we're a family out here. It's like I hear

that all the time. I truly believe it. I hope that everyone else that says that believes that, too,

but that's really the way that we try to operate. It's one for all kind of mentality on the road with

us, and I think it's not hard, in my opinion, to be kind to people. Maybe that's just because

that's the way that I am. That's down to the dormant at the hotel or my manager. In my opinion,

it's not a difficult thing to do, to just choose to be kind and be grateful for this. Even if I'm

having a tough day, I still go out of my way to be kind to people, because I think it's an

important thing to do. It's every interaction that I have with someone from a random fan I meet

at the grocery store to my kids, like every impression makes an impression, whether it's a small one

or a huge one. I always just try to be really mindful of that in my interactions with anyone.

Did you ever believe this would be your life? Never. What did you think the life was going to look like?

If you would have asked me 10 years ago or 12 years ago, I would have been really afraid of the answer,

because I had no idea. I feel like I was kind of aimlessly floating. I felt like I was kind of

checking boxes that were like, I felt like I was supposed to be checking, which was like I graduated

high school and it was like, okay, what now? I was like, well, you go to college. That's just

what happens. That's what you're supposed to do. I went and did that. I had a great time in school.

I didn't like school. I liked being at the school, but I didn't like being in school. That made

sense. I was doing a lot of that. I would spend a lot of time majoring in business at the very

beginning, and then I switched to criminal justice. I enjoyed criminal justice a lot more than I

enjoyed business. I just liked that. Studying that was interesting to me.

But it was still like, it just never felt quite right. You know, I was like, it just doesn't feel like,

and I would get scared as every year would tick by in college. It was like, I'm going to be

year closer to having to make this really important life decision that I'm like, don't feel prepared

to make in any way or don't feel good about making. I didn't really, I guess, maybe understand

or have the ability to process that at the time. It was just like, time keeps going whether you

want it or not. And so you're just kind of like sitting like the light at the end of the tunnel

gets closer, but it was almost the opposite effect. It felt like I was in this great

place. I'm in school. I love my friends. I love the social aspect. I enjoy being around

people my age that are like-minded and having the activities I love to do. It was almost the

opposite. It was almost like the darkness at the end of the tunnel was like this idea of like

being a real adult and like college ends and then you're like, you basically just go into the

workforce and then you're miserable for 30 years and then you retire. And it was like I was so

scary that like idea of that because I hadn't found like something I was passionate about at that

time. And so it was a scary proposition to go like, when this ends, what now? You know what I mean?

So that was kind of my experience there. And that was the way that I was living my life

at that time. And then when I found, you know, when I picked the guitar up, you know towards the end

of my college career, it was like immediately all made sense. It like flipped. Like the whole

script just flipped. It was like, then it was like, oh, like I'm almost out. Like now I can go do

the thing I want to go do. And it all made sense. But if I hadn't found that passion, you know,

what I would be doing right now to be quite honest. And is that what it felt like it felt like

discovering a passion? Like it felt like, oh, definitely. It almost felt like discovering what I

was meant to do. It was almost like beyond a passion. It was like, well, this is what I was like

meant to do. Like this, what I was like put on earth to do is this thing. Just because I loved

singing my whole life, man. It was like, it was a big part of my self-worth was derived from like,

my identity, I derived from like, this is the thing that I'm good at. Like I'm not good at

anything else. As far as from a skill standpoint, I thought, oh, okay, well, I'm a good friend.

Like I'm a good son. Like that stuff wasn't kind of, I felt confident in those things. But I

didn't feel fulfilled in like what will my role be in the world? Like what will I contribute to

the world? And it never had to be some big thing. Like my idea of it wasn't, well, there's some

but I feel like if you're good at something and you have a passion for it, you have this

inherent sense of like I can contribute or make the world a better place in some way by doing

the thing that I'm good at. I can positively impact people's lives by doing something that I love

to do and being great at it. And that can benefit other people in other ways. And music was my way

of doing that. Yeah. What's like a childhood memory that you have that you feel defines who you

are today. I think I have a tremendous ability to suffer. Wow. Because of the OCD things that I've

dealt with, I've talked about that stuff a lot. I almost had nauseam, some none in a negative way,

but I'm very open about it. I'm not afraid to speak about it. But that was very defining for me.

I had a great childhood. My parents were great, great home, hard work, and my parents are still

married. They're still around. So I worry sometimes when I talk about like how tough it was

being younger for me. And like I worry when my parents see these things that they think that

that has some reflection of like them as parents, it doesn't at all. You know, like they went

above and beyond for me as parents and becoming a parent myself has made me I'm more thankful for

them every day as I raise my kids because I realize how difficult it is. And I realize how hard

it was. And I've gained this great appreciation even more so for them as I raise my own children.

So I don't want them to ever get the idea that it was it was anything to do with them. But

the whole nature of that kind of OCD, there's a lot of like suffering and silence, right? And

it's given me this really great outlook on well, I know what bad is dude. Like I've been to the

bottom in here. And it's like I'm not there. You know, I still have a proclivity to be able to go

there. If certain things line up and you know, I were to have an OCD moment or something, but

those moments are few and far between and they're a lot shorter lived than they used to be. And I'm

not afraid of those moments anymore. I lived my life when I was younger in fear of like when

is this going to come back? And why does it go? I don't even know what it is at that time. It's like

I wasn't like a diagnosed, you know. It was something I felt like I even had a hard time

explaining to my parents like what they're like, what do you mean? You know, like they're not,

I mean, they weren't, you know, they're not clinical psychologists so they don't really understand,

you know. And so I can't imagine how afraid they were at the time of like, well, I wish we could

help our child. You know, I can't imagine how helpless you would feel. If my kids came to me with

something that I didn't understand, I would be like, gosh, I don't even know how to explain,

like, where do I even take them? You know. And so that was a really defining part of like my

childhood, you know, it's not the only memory, but it's the one that kind of sticks out as like

this common theme, like every couple of years, I would go through these really brutal OCD

stints without even knowing what was going on. Wow. Do you feel comfortable talking about some

of those days? Oh, certainly. Yeah. Certainly. I mean, I feel like days like filled with like

remination, you know, like a lot of like, you know, people I asked me about and what the experience

is like. And I try to describe it to people. It's almost like indescribable sometimes. Like I think

they think, and not, this is not a slight to anyone that may think this. If you have an experience

that you almost can't understand it, to some extent. And they're like, well, how often is like,

I'm talking about, you know, 95% of the day from open in your eyes to closing them at night,

you are thinking about this thing. And it's causing you the tremendous amount of anxiety and like

mental anguish to try to like find the answer to this like unanswerable question. It's scary

because it's like, you're so I think it's helped my songwriting. And I think it's helped my ability

to be creative. I think the creativity can be a blessing in a curse in that way. It can help me

create scenarios in my mind that really don't have a leg to stand on. And I can build them into,

you know, one world trade in my mind from nothing. And that can be really great. In a songwriting

sense, it can be really dangerous and like a mental health sense. So those days would be

go to bet you close your eyes and you go, gosh, like I just hope in the morning I'm not thinking

about this thing. And the second you open your eyes, it's the first thing you think of. And then

you spend the entire day either thinking about it or trying not to think about it and hoping that

it would go away and feeling hopeless and saying, why me? Why am I like this? What did I do to

deserve this? Like almost having some, like almost like there's almost like an anger to it.

A shame and guilt as well. Yeah. And you're just like what like this? Like because outwardly,

like the world around me was so great. I have this great, you know, these great parents that go

out of their way to take care of me. I have great friends. We have a nice home. It's safe. I have

food to eat. I'm in a great school. I have great friends. I have a great life. I have talent. I have

drive, you know, but that would just, she would just, I mean, it's like basically, if everything in

the room was so great and there was one pile of dog shit on the floor and all the lights went

off and they just shined on the pile of dog shit, it was like, that was the only thing I could focus

on, you know, I had to put it in such a crude way. But like, great, it's a great way. It's like

the room is perfect, but the dog pooped on the floor. I have to do is clean it up, but you don't know

how to clean it up and you can't get rid of it. And it becomes the only thing you think about. And

it's like all you focus on and like, you don't have the ability to focus on all the good or even the

mental capacity to be appreciative of the good because you spend so much mental energy on the

negative thing, the one negative thing. That would those thoughts as a kid that kept taking over

like that. So those themes, you know, they change every time. So like, if you go through, let's say

you go through a theme, you know, I'm sure you're aware of a CD stuff. It's all a theme based,

right? And you basically only have one theme at a time. It's funny, like, let's say I was worried

about, like, if I was having intrusive thoughts about like committing violence against someone

or something and they're causing me all this stress and I'm like, what does that mean about me?

What does that say about me? And then if I switch, like, if my theme were to switch to the next

day, I'm like, well, what if I was a schizophrenic? And I didn't know it. And you're like, and you're

panicked and you're completely panicked and you're all consumed by that. I'm talking in an

instant, like, I would say I've been worrying about all this violent stuff, all these horrible

thoughts and things that you don't want going through your head. The second I have that new

thought of like, what if I, what if I'm schizophrenic, right? And then you go instantly, you can think

on all the violent stuff and go, well, that was dumb. I'm not even worried about that at all.

It doesn't even seem like something you ever would have even worried about. You're like, that was

so stupid. Why did I waste three months of my life stressing about that thing? But when you're in it,

it's not like, you don't have the capability of to turn it off. You know, remember my dad would

say, and this is no slight to him. And this is, you know, this is classic, like dad stuff.

He'd be like, well, son, just don't think about it. Yeah. And I'm like, well, man,

that would be great. That's kind of the whole point of like, well, that's what I'm trying to get to.

I'm trying to figure out how to do that. That's kind of the struggle, you know. And as no

slight, because again, we I'm undied. You didn't know. You don't know what's going on.

Like no one talked about go out and take a walk, you know, and it's like, it's not that simple.

You know, I'm sure that would have actually helped quite a bit, but it's not quite that simple.

And so yeah, I mean, you know, you spend the whole day like, I mean, there's days when I'm like,

I don't even want to go to school, man, like because I'm just going to be thinking about this

all day and be stressed about it and be thinking about it at football practice and think about it

in choir and think about it in math class and think about it at lunch with my friends and just

you're just constantly, your brain just constantly bombarding you with like, these like

life or death feelings of like, you need to address this issue. It's a big issue and it has to

be addressed right now. And you you're in this heightened state of like, you're almost in like

fighter flight mode all the time. And it's just exhausting. It's so mentally exhausted, like having

this battle with yourself. And I'm very thankful to be, you know, to have gone through that.

It's definitely made me a better person and made me more appreciative of the life I have now,

the grasp on at the understanding of my own mind and, you know, thankfulness and just joy

and reveling in the good times when they're around, which thankfully now is 99% of the time.

You know, I just, I'm well equipped to have the tools, you know, and not that I'm immune to it

or anything like that, but I'm hyper aware of it. And I can, I'm more aware now of the things that

the thought patterns and the way that it happens and the way that it comes about. And I'm,

I'm an expert at combating that in my own head. And that's been a really great blessing, you know.

But I and having the platform now to speak about it and be okay with it. And it's never something

I was particularly ashamed of. It was just something that I didn't know how to verbalize and

know how to like speak about it in a way that the other people can understand. And I feel lucky to

have the ability now to be a voice for someone that's out there right now that may be in the

situation I was in and they're 12 or 13 years old. And they're going look at this guy like

maybe maybe there's if there's one kid that doesn't feel as hopeless as I felt watching this now,

like that it's all worth it to me like being able to like be that life for someone else. And

hopefully, you know, is is a really great feeling to be honest. Which relationship was most negatively

impacted in your life at that time because of it? My relationship with myself. I didn't really

have a lot of time to figure out who I was because I couldn't think about anything else. And maybe

I would have picked up guitar in seventh grade when my parents bought it for me because I would have

had time to focus on that. You know, I can't do anything about that now. And things worked out

the way they were supposed to work out. I mean, obviously, you know, I mean, here I am, you know.

And it's that that was the one that was tough is like you don't get any time to like

do all these like this kind of like much out. It was great. It was idyllic really up

besides this. I don't want to sound like it was like constant dread and doom and like

there were certainly spells of that. And it was like those were kind of like the defining

things along the way. And but there was a lot of good to, you know, I don't want to make it sound

like I had the worst life ever because I didn't. But it was it was very, very hard at times. And

it was very isolating and made you feel very alone and like very vulnerable and very confused.

You know, what is going on? Like I don't imagine my friends are dealing with this. And if they are,

I would talk to my friends about it. I mean, Austin, who I'm sure you met is my best friend from

childhood really. And I talked to him about it. You know, he knew. I mean, it's like, but that,

you know, they don't have any answers. But they're like, bro, you're it's like, it's all good.

You know, like they were always very supportive. No one was like, you're weird. I can't believe

you're doing this. Like I'm lucky that everyone in my life was supportive of my struggles. And I'm

glad that I was open about them and felt the ability to be open about them. That in itself is a blessing.

You know, I can't imagine a kid out there right now whose family is like, listen, you better stop

talking about this. I'm sick of hearing about it. You know what I mean? It's like that would just

crush is my soul. You know, it's already so hard, even if everyone is open to the whole thing.

So that would say that that was the relationship, honestly, affected the most because

if I didn't tell you, if you would have met me at 13 years old or 14 years old, like,

you wouldn't have even known. Yeah, it's something you can see. It's all in here. Like,

that's why they call it purely obsessional because the only because that's a bit of a misnomer

in my opinion, dear medical people. It's a misnomer, but there are tons of compulsions. They're just

all mental compulsions. They're not outward. So they call it purely obsessional because all the

compolt it's not like I'm like, oh gosh, this glass. I better get it. You know, this thing,

this moving this glass around and getting it to feel right is all happening in here instead of out

here. Yeah. You know, they're like checking the stove a hundred times to make sure it's off. I'm

doing that up here instead of doing it. Yeah. There's no physical manifestation of the compulsions.

So yeah, huge, huge form of life. Yeah. No, I appreciate you saying it. I mean,

you're sharing it is helping so many other people as you said, listening, learning,

trying to, you know, that kid who wants to tell their family, tell their friend, you know,

and recognize that it's not some dysfunction that they have, but just something that they're experiencing.

What does OCD look like now in your life? What happens is not any different.

I think now when it does happen, I'm just so much more aware of it, you know, and it's good,

because when it happens, I can just, I straight up tell her like when I'm like, hey, this is going on,

like just so you know, like if I seem a little absent-minded or if I'm like, if you say something

and I didn't quite pay enough attention to it, like it's not just me being aloof. It's like,

I'm kind of going through this. So she understands that. So I don't have to worry about that.

Like, I don't have to worry about her. Why are you being weird? Like, it's just an honest thing.

And she feels for me, which is nice to know that there's someone that understands what I'm going

through that's supportive of it and doesn't judge me for that at all. And, you know, I mean,

again, she's no therapist either. But I'm so well equipped now. What has been that equipped?

What's that deal? I mean, people are struggling. Honestly, the interesting thing about it is like

not giving any like any credibility or attention to the thoughts is ultimately the thing that makes

it go away, right? But the years and years and years of not knowing that your go-to is like,

think about the thoughts and try to figure it out and try to solve it. So when you do that,

like I didn't find out what I had till I was probably like 19 or 20 really. Like I didn't find

pure OCD until then. I'd been dealing with it for seven or eight years at that time. And once I

found it, but naturally enough, I obsessed about it, trying to figure it out. Like, what does this

mean? And a lot of that not not from I don't want to try to like, I'm not trying to say like,

I was really great. And I figured it out. It was basically like one of the big no-nos of OCD is

seeking reassurance that whatever the thought you have is not founded in any fact or reality,

right? Like that's the trap is like trying to solve the problem. So when you're when you're young

and you're in it, you're constantly seeking reassurance in your own mind to like discredit the

thoughts that you're having. And so I would use that diagnosis. I would go and study this.

I would go study what's pure and what's, you know, understand the way that people that have it

think and the tools and like I was looking that stuff up to try to alleviate the anxiety

from the thoughts. Little did I know and not that anyone should do this, I would not suggest it,

but little did I know I was basically teaching myself to be an expert on the disease that I had

or the mental illness that I had. And so now I'm so well versed and studied in it. And again,

not a therapist don't claim to be. Now I know the thought patterns and I'm so familiar with like

I can feel it coming on. I know when it's happening. I don't know why it happens. And I know

I just have the entire tool belt of like getting rid of it if I need to. And I think that as,

I mean, it's a blessing in a curse, you know, it was a curse the way I got to it, but it's a

blessing now. Having that knowledge, it keeps me from, you know, slipping into that state a lot,

a lot, you know. And when I talk about OCD, I mean, that's the most interaction I get from people

reaching out to me a lot. Is it, like, you're the only guy I know that's ever talked about this?

Because it's kind of like an obscure variant of OCD. It's not as common as like stereotypical.

Sure. You know, you're hearing about it more and more now that certainly, certainly. It's like

it's definitely an understudied. I mean, there was a time even 10 or 12 years ago I was looking

at up that some OCD doctors were like, that's not a real thing. Yeah. I'm like, wow, what a

dangerous thing to like say in a public like what an arrogant thing to say. Like if you've never

had it, just even though you're an expert, regardless. And I'll probably get roasted for this

online. Like how dare you say it if you've never like you like saying someone's mental condition

like doesn't exist is an incredibly damaging thing, especially given the nature of the one

that you're talking about. Because that in and at that statement in and of itself could send

someone into a six month spiral. Like that statement could kick off an entire another

episode of like life crippling OCD for someone with OCD. Because then they would read it and go,

oh my god, it's not real. I really am a murderer or I really am going to crash my car into

school. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's like just makes people like so panicked, you know. Yeah.

And I had a friend who just constantly kept thinking she was going to do something bad to her kids.

And so she had to be away from them for weeks. Oh, it's hard. I get it.

Avoiding behavior. Another terrible thing. One of the worst things you can do because then

you're given the thoughts like the power of like, yeah, that's what really is an issue. So now you're

isolating yourself from your kids. So there really is a problem now. It gives the thoughts more

credibility. So you're taking action and telling yourself these thoughts are important. So I need

to remove myself. Yeah. You know, it's crazy. Man, it's a vision. It's like a rip current in your

mind. Yeah, for sure. Your instinct is to, you know, swim this way and really you should just

do the job struggle and just swim this way. I mean, just want to swim that is all you want to do.

You know, it's crazy. It's a crazy spiral.

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You've spoken so beautifully about your parents. What's something that your parents did for you?

What's a lesson they taught you that you're trying to pass on to your children?

Yeah, I mean, I think really just work ethic. You know, I mean, my parents, I mean,

they taught me a lot of things. You know, my mom was just, you know, she's like wonderful.

You know, my dad's was wonderful. And my dad wasn't like, he wasn't like my buddy growing up.

Like he was like, he was my dad. You know what I meant? Like he was like, he was a maintenance man

at the bank. And it was like, he worked 40 hours and he came home when he mowed the grass and he

drank beer of his buddies. And like, not that I was neglected in any way. But like, we weren't like

paling around a lot because there wasn't time. He was constantly working to provide

me with food and provide mom with, you know, mom was working too. You know, so it was a very,

very working class home. And that's what our life centered around was,

mom and dad have shit to do and they're going to do it. And that's, you know, that's just the way it is.

And, you know, obviously that provided me with a lot of things. And I'm grateful for that.

I never had to wonder what, you know, clothes I was going to wear to school or what food I was

going to eat when I got home. I think those worries were gone. And so, you know, nothing but

gratefulness for that. And my, you know, it was like they, I learned so much from seeing that,

you know, luckily I'm in a position now where it doesn't have to be that way. It had to be that

way for them. There was no other option. It was either, you know, it was work and provide or,

or don't provide, you know, those were the two options they were presented with.

My life now is obviously a lot different than that. It's, I have the ability to do both. I have

the ability to do it on my own schedule when I want to and where I want to. I spend, you know,

I have conversations with people that, you know, everyone wants to know what's it like to be,

you know, musician and, you know, being when you're touring. And well, do you miss your family?

And so, well, obviously I miss them when I'm gone, but I'm not gone like that much now. Like,

I guarantee I spend more time with my kids than 90% of people probably because they're not in

school. And if I'm not here with you, I'm there. Like there, I'm nowhere else, basically,

except for dear season. But other than that, I'm not anywhere else, you know, like I'm there,

and you know, in a couple of years, they'll be a dear season to, you know what I mean? So,

I get to, you know, like when I'm home and like I'm home and I'm not, I'm not splitting my time

at home between, okay, well, I've got to do 50 work things today. And, you know, the kids are at school

and I don't ever see them. And then I leave and they're, you know, begging me to, you know,

play with them for five minutes. It's like when I come home, dude, like I'm cooking breakfast,

I'm cooking lunch, I'm cooking dinner, and like I'm changing diapers, I'm giving baths,

like I'm there, like I'm in it. You know what I mean? Like I'm hands on. I want to be, I want

them to know that, you know, at the most critical stages of my career that they were still the top

priority for me. And my parents showed me that in a different way. It was like, hey, we're going to

go work these jobs that we don't like so that you can have the best life that you can have. And so

I learned that from them. I just get to manifest it in a different way for my kids. Yeah. I like the way

you put that. Yeah. Yeah. That for you, for them, it was doing something they didn't like

to show you that their number one out of love. And yours is almost like, I'm actually going to put

aside something that I like to show you how important you are. Exactly. Yeah. It's a different

version of the same sacrifice. Yeah. Absolutely. From the outside, I'm always fascinated by how things

look from the outside and the inside. From the outside, your career, we had this like

meteoric rise. Just what was it like for you? What was the feeling that was actually happening? Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, it was certainly, but it also felt like it feels like I've been doing it for a year.

And it feels like I've been doing it for a hundred years at the same time if that makes sense.

Yeah. You know, tell me about that. Those are early years, man. We're really hard. You know, I mean,

the music industry has changed so much in the last 11 years. I mean, really have been in it

in an like an official, like I've got a record deal, like I'm promoting my music. And in the

grand way that it's done now, that's only been going on for, I mean, I guess like this would be

year 10 for me, probably year nine, maybe. Yeah. You're nine because a 2017 was my first number one.

Sound my record deal in the fall of 16 and then didn't really ramp it up until like the beginning

of 17, but had been doing stuff on my own for a long time before that. And you know, you almost

learn more doing that stuff, like doing it on your own. And you know, I wonder if people miss

that a little bit now because it's like you, you know, you almost get invited to the table

when it's time to be there, you know, instead of like fighting for this spot at the table, like

in town, like I don't know if as many people are like moving to Nashville now, like you almost know

if you're going to make it or not now because of social media. And I was one of the first people that

did that. Not intentionally. I don't want to make myself sound like a genius. I'm not. It's like

that I just got I just lucked into that. Like I had Vine came out on this big platform.

I'm just singing on there and playing little six second covers. And then Instagram comes out.

I'm doing that. And I use that as a marketing tool for myself. Again, not in like any way of like

this is the future. I don't want to be like, I predict again, I'm not trying to Steve Jobs it and

say I invented iTunes. That's not the case. I just lucked into it. It happened to be the perfect

time for that for people to be receptive to that. And now that has become the model. That is the

way you do it. So I was just one of if not the first guy to do that. I wish I could say it was

intentional. I just lucked into that really. And so when I moved to town, I had all these sales

numbers, ticket sales that to me, I was like, well, this is normal. Like this is just how could people

not be doing it this way? This is the way it goes. But I moved to Nashville. I don't really know

anyone. I have one or two connections to like some buddies that were new to town that wrote songs

and didn't have anything else going on. And I would just go out to writers nights and try to meet

people and, you know, I found like Monday people and we wrote songs together. And then, you know,

one thing turns to do another. And here we are. But I don't know that that happens as much now.

Because if let's say you were a new artist and you go, I want to be a country singer. It's my dream.

Well, you just get on TikTok or Instagram. And you write songs at your house.

And you see how people feel. Yeah. You see how people feel. And if all the sudden it becomes

this into like undeniable thing. And then the record labels are calling your house. So when you get

to Nashville, it's like the culture of that like the new people in town that are all banded

together trying to succeed and do this thing. Like that's kind of not there right now, you know,

because why would you know, when you could just stay live at your parent's house and not pay rent

and not take any risk, you don't have to go play shows because why would you? It's all an

unnecessary risk at this point. And I'm not saying that's right or wrong. Everything progresses

and changes. But I think it has kind of like unintentional consequences. And again, not that that's

inherently wrong. It's just the nature of the beast right now. So I'm thankful for that I

was of the kind of the last generation. Like I kind of got to experience both. I got to do the

social media like get feedback instantaneously, create my own space, my own community, have my own

fans before anyone else got to decide or control that process. But I also got to move the Nashville

and be a part of a culture that you know, we created ourselves and IE we being like me and my

friends created kind of our own bubble of success that we all came up in together. That was really

cool to be a part of. It's one of my favorite parts of like my whole story is like, I mean my first

seven number ones was everyone's first number one song. When my first record was turned into Sony,

there was one person on the entire record that even had a publishing deal.

There's just all people I had like met at bars and shit and like wrote songs with that are now

like lifelong friends of mine, you know, and people that I still collaborate with to this day. Not

everyone I'm still super in touch with, but the core crew is like, I mean people that I like go

on trips with and like have around my kids and stuff. You know what I mean? So it's like that's like

you can't create that artificially. It has to be an organic thing. So I'm I feel sad for some

of this generation that may lose that and they they probably have their own community and ecosystem

that I'm unaware of that feels just as great as mine. But I long for the like the nostalgia of that

is like I want other people to get to experience that the same way that I did, but they may just be

having that same experience in a different lane. Yeah, you know, yeah, at least I'm hopeful that

yeah, yeah, I can relate to a lot, or you're saying because my work kind of around the same time

2016 was the year I again, just like you know, strategy, no technique, just started sharing

what I believed and what I cared about on social media. Right. And it took 28 at that time. Yeah,

it took off. Yeah. It took off organically. Right. I didn't know where it was going. I didn't

have a plan for where I was going. Yeah. And so I can totally relate to what you're saying about

this idea of just putting something out there. And you weren't doing it because you thought the

platform was going to get you somewhere else. Exactly. It was just the platform was available.

The thing that I love about it is it creates no like barrier to entry. Totally. It's like purely

what resonates with people. It's like strictly talent based. It's like strictly work ethic based.

Like it's all based on like how harder you own the work. How much do you resonate with people?

What's your music? What do people think of your music? Yeah. So it's cool in that sense. And

whether it's a podcast or a music or I don't want to keep it imagined like or a chef like I think of

like, you know, Joshua Wiseman who's like he starts out putting videos on YouTube and he's like

now he's like this one of the most influential food creators in the world. You know what I mean?

It's just so cool that you can create something from nothing on your own accord now. And you get

to control the narrative of how your career is going to go as opposed to, you know, this kind of

nameless, like these nameless people and entities going like, well, you're going to do that and where

that. And you know, they basically they get to it's great for everybody because there's no risk

for the labels in a lot of ways. They don't have to go, well, sign 10 guys and hopefully one of them

works out and they go, now we'll just sign 10 guys and they're all going to work out as we know.

Exactly. It's going to work out. It's already proven. We have the proof right there.

So it's kind of a win-win for everybody in this situation at least I think. But it's cool man.

It's cool time. Yeah. There was a moment in your life you were talking about your family being

a priority now. But there was a moment in your life that kind of shifted you back in that direction,

right? That made you take a bit of a break. I mean, I think it was, I mean, COVID was a big reason

for that. Obviously, it was like my career was white hot when COVID happened. And it was kind of like,

it was a bummer. It was a bummer for a lot of us, you know, a lot of musicians, you know,

there's a lot of people that didn't survive the whole COVID thing, you know, like you kind of

come in and it's like all of a sudden you're, you know, I can't imagine having been a new artist,

like a brand new artist when that happened because then it's like, you kind of only get the one shot

and then if it, if it dwindles at that time, just because of what's happening in the world, like,

well, that can be kind of it. That was tough. But my family thing, you know, I, we have our first

sign text and then five months later we find out we're pregnant with our next bow. And so that

was a whirlwind. I mean, like, you know, you're having a five month old, you're figuring out how to

be a parent, have a baby. And then I'll send you have another baby, you know, you have two babies at

the same time, you know, I'm almost would have rather had twins would have been an easier transition

to be quite honest. You know, I mean, like, it was almost more difficult having like, because

then there are two different ages, but they're both so fragile. Like, I mean, when bow was born,

like, text couldn't even walk yet. So it was like, my wife's got one on the hip and one in the cradle.

And it's like, I'm out. I'm in, I'm in Australia when bow is born. And that's like crushing the

devastating things. My whole identity is that no matter what, I'm going to prioritize my wife and

my children over my job over what I do. Like, they're my number one priority. I want them to know

that. And then here I am having this moment of like, well, guess who wasn't there? Like the guy that

says he's always going to be there and that will do anything to be there is the only guy that's not

there. And so it was a, it was a huge blow to like, it was like, man, will you set yourself up to

do everything you can to be there? And then the plan doesn't go the way that you thought it was

going to go. And it's nobody's fault. Obviously, just a way of, you know, the universe's decision

at that point. I mean, he comes two and a half weeks early, you know, four days from going home.

And he decides, you know, to show up and, you know, and everyone's like, what are you playing

the tour that close, the tour is already planned. We, the tours planned before we even find out

we're pregnant with, with bow. So there's no cancel in the tour. It's sold out before we even know

we're pregnant. You know, so you have this obligation to your fans to go and, and, and do that and

put the shows on and, and power through. And I didn't, I didn't tell anyone that until

after I got home, you know, and I mean, like, I kept it to myself because, you know, there was

never this big like, I didn't want it to be as big a woe as me, like PR campaign of look how sad I

am and look how hard it's been. It's, I mean, it's, it's kind of, you know that that could happen

going in, I think. And so you have a right, you have a duty to your fans to continue the show on,

you know, I mean, even if I would have left, I would have not been home. Yeah, I mean,

I will call you in a minute. Right. It's 8 a.m. Sydney time. My wife texted me 6 a.m. Sydney time

or whatever. I don't even know what that time zone's called, but 6 a.m. So I wake up two hours

after the text of like, I'm going to the hospital. I obviously call her first thing. She's in

the hospital. I mean, thank God, my sister and I was there. My mother and I was fine in that day.

My parents lived in town. So the support system was there. And I'm, for that, I am eternally grateful,

you know, brings serious perspective to the, it takes a village kind of thing. You know, I can't

imagine my wife would have been alone during that thing. It would have been even more crushing,

but knowing that she had people that she trusted and cared about being around was a huge relief

for me. It didn't make it any easier, but it was better. And so that really shifted my focus of

like, what happens from here? Like, how do I make, you know, how do I make changes based on this

thing? Like, I dread the conversation with my son at some point. Like, because obviously he

doesn't know that he's doing a half. Like, he's not maybe going to understand that for five years,

you know, but I dread that conversation of being like, you know, well, Dad, you, you know,

you made this record about being such a good dad. And then you weren't there when I was born,

but you were there for tax and you were there for the next kid. And why was I the only one that you

weren't there for? So I worry about that a lot. Interesting. And I think that it will be okay. But

it, I have a quite yet processed win to have that conversation. Obviously not anytime soon. But

when I do have that conversation, how do I, you know, say that to a seven or eight-year-old,

and it be meaningful, I think it's bigger than one conversation. It's not like, hey, I wouldn't

there get over it. Where has it? We're not talking about it. You know, it's more nuanced than that.

I'm sure it will be a lifetime of, you know, conversations. And I'm hopeful that he'll be

understanding. I'm sure that he will. If I do my job right, and my wife does her job right,

I think he will be. If he turns out to be a good, a good person in the way that I hope that he does.

What do you think you'd say? I'd probably just break the news, you know. I think the first

conversation is going to be, I want to tell you before you find out first. I think that's the

most important thing is getting ahead of, you know, I don't want him to, to one day, you know,

have access to the internet and come across this thing. And it's, you know, Luke Holmes misses

the birth of his child to be at the show. And then he's like, well, I didn't know that. Which

child is it? And then it's like, oh, it was me. I want to never tell me, you know, I think that

avoiding that is like number one. So I think that's the first conversation. You kind of like,

let that like wash the shock a little bit of that, like wash over them. And then I think there's

a follow up conversation, which is, hey, you know, like, you know, I would do anything for you.

You know, I would have given anything to me there. But like, even if I make the best effort I can,

like there's no way I would have been there. Like he was born at by 10 a.m. And like two hours

after I wake up, he's born. It's like, I wouldn't even have been able to like get a plane and be at

the airport. Yeah, it would have been born already. So it's not like I tried and didn't make it.

It was like, there was no way that I was going to make it. And so I think I'm like mentally,

like past the guilt of it now, because I beat myself up about it for a while. I couldn't even

talk about it for a while without getting super emotional about it. And I think you just have

to move forward. And you just have to, you just have to cross that bridge when you come to it.

And I'm lucky to still have, you know, to be five years old or five years wise or, you know,

when that conversation has to happen and have had more time to process and think about it. But

I mean, so nature of the beast, man, like, you know, and if you work at the butcher shop,

you're probably going to get blood on you when you're at work or you're probably going to come

home. So I'm like, raw meat. You know what I mean? You know that you kind of knew that going in.

So for sure, you knew it could happen. You hoped it wouldn't. And it did. And so now you just have

to live with it and deal with it and address it and not let it become an issue. Yeah. And days like

these you sing, when the sky is blue and the grass is green, how much better can it be? If I got

you and you got me, we got everything we need. And even if it grew on trees, well, money can't

buy days like these. And you talk about money in that song and in rich man as well. And how

money can't buy happiness. How do you define a rich life? This is always such a tough subject for

me because I think there, you know, there's no hiding. There's no hiding that I do really well.

And that's something that I have some guilt around, not guilt from like having money or having

success. I feel like it's a question of like, why do I deserve it more than maybe someone else?

I don't deserve it more than anyone else. But you feel this guilt of like, I almost feel it's

not an imposter syndrome. It's not the same as that. But like, you feel like, man, well, I just,

I feel like I have more than I deserve or I don't deserve to have been the successful or you feel

guilty for being this successful. And you kind of get this feeling like, well, I maybe people

I can't relate to me anymore. And like, I hate that because like, I haven't changed other than

the circumstances of my life now. At least I think that I would like to think that everyone around

me would agree with that. So I'm not sounding like egotistical by saying that. But like, I would

I would be willing to bet that a lot of the people that know me well would say, it's the same guy

with a different, different bank account. And so those songs are even difficult. I find it a little

bit like cliche for me to even say that. And I danced around putting rich men on this record

because I was worried about sounding hypocritical, right? Because the whole idea of the song is

a guy in a bar who's basically supposed to, the character, his character is supposed to be a

farmer, right? Like the narrator of that song is not supposed to be me. It's supposed to just be

a guy who's in a barn. He sees two other guys having a conversation. And it's basically a guy in

overalls who is supposed to be my, my eyes, we wrote it was a farmer or whatever, an older guy.

And then a younger guy who's kind of in a suit, you know, he's doing the whole business guy thing.

And he's stressed out about the stock market. He's stressed out about work and all these things. And

you know, the farmer just kind of gives him this allegory and the song of like, you know,

hey, rich man, you know, I know you didn't ask, but I'll say this man, all the money in the world

don't mean shit, man, because it can't go with you when you die by your time or hold your wife

in kids hands. And for me, I'm very aware of how much better my life is by having things that I

have. And I'm cognizant of that. And I'm not trying to hide that. I'm very grateful for that

and the preaching of it. And I'm aware of, you know, that it makes me, it can make me sound

hypocritical in that sense. And I, I, I tussled with that a lot when putting this song on this record.

So I didn't want people to be like, look at this big blow hard telling me how to, you know,

think about my life or whatever. Like, I'm not trying to tell anybody how to feel in any way on

that song or on this record. And I think for me though, there are these moments in life

where I am, you know, you say the sky's blue grass is green. I remember that day where text was

a baby. And we're living in our house like an hour from Nashville at that time. We've since moved

and it was just beautiful outside. And it was like, my beautiful wife is there. My kid is there.

And my career is going really well. And I'm just really thankful. Some was just like,

there are these days to me that like, you can't put your finger on like why they're so great.

You're still surrounded by the things that you have and the people that you love in the same

way that you were yesterday and the same way that you will be the next day. But it's like

everything just lines up. And it's like, you just, you're almost on this like high of life.

Like, it's the birds are singing and the temperature, you know, it's like the t-weathers like that

every day here, by the way. Yeah. You know, I forget it's January. You went on that. It's like,

yeah, it's unbelievable. And it's like, you know, it's like these blue bird days and, you know,

your family, everything's just hitting on the same wavelength for what I don't really even know

to describe it. But that was my mindset writing days like these. It wasn't about, I live in a

nice house or I have this thing. It was like, it wouldn't have mattered where we were or what we

were doing. It was just everything in the universe line up that day for it to be like this perfect

day. And it's not the first one I've had and it's not the last one I'll have. But damn it if

they weren't few and far between and damn it if I didn't wish they came around more often.

You know, and you just I love those days and they're so rare and they're just that song to me

totally captured that moment in time so perfectly, you know, and I just love those days and I think

that there's nothing that I owned or nothing that I'd bought or nothing that I could buy or

nothing that I could do that could recreate that feeling. So regardless of the situation that I'm

in now there's no doubt that that money helps with those things. There's no doubt. I don't want to

sound like I was like, well, it don't matter if you got it. That's the bridge of the song Rich Man

is, you know, I say that in the bridge of that song is like, well, you know, it ain't no secret

having money is nice, you know, but making a living don't make life, you know, and I believe that.

And I know that's easy for me to say. So I don't really want anyone to out there to think that I'm,

you know, discounting the fact that I have, have it way better than a lot of people. I'm

painfully aware of that and I struggle with that to be quite honest. Yeah, I appreciate you saying

that part of just, you know, how you can walk around especially when beautiful things happen to you

and you totally, I couldn't agree with you more that it's not that you don't want to have beautiful

things happen to you. You just want it to happen to a lot more people. For sure. And you want

beautiful things to happen to everyone around you. You want beautiful things to happen to

strangers that you've never met because that's, that's the joy of it. It's only beautiful if

more and more people get 100% 100%. You know, it is, man. It's a crazy world out there. Man,

it's hard. It's hard, man. It's really, really hard, you know, and you know, when you're in,

you know, the position, God's like, I was saying, man, like, we're so lucky, you know, and you

just have to like, I do everything in my power to, to give that feeling back to other people,

whether it's people that work with me or giving lady to charity or whatever it may be or volunteering

me going to sing it something like any way I can give back, I always try to do that in any

chance that I have because that's just something my mother instilled at me at a young age, you know,

we, I grew up working at the food bank in Asheville. She would take me over there and we would work

at the food bank and, you know, she's explaining what this is and what this place is and, you know,

that at the time made me like, wow, man, like, you know, this makes me really thankful for, you know,

everything we got and, you know, I can't imagine going home and opening up the cabinet. There's

nothing in there. You know, there's no, it's not even a can of corn in there, you know, I couldn't

imagine that feeling. And so she, she forced me to do that when I was younger and I'm thankful for

that because, you know, she's still doing things like that, you know, she still goes out and works

at the, you know, at the annual shelter at the food bank in Asheville and, you know, I, I got

to go from that to, you know, after Helene, you know, that ravaged the part of the country that I

grew up in and when we put on the benefit concert in Charlotte, my portion of the proceeds, part of

my portions of the proceeds, rebuilt the entire food bank that I worked at growing up. It was

completely destroyed like completely gone. And I got to watch my success and influence have

the ability to do something that great and rebuild their entire facility. And that's like something

that you can't even put words on and like the amount of pride I have in that is immense, you know,

like my most proud moment of my career from here on out and forever will be, you know, the show

that we did that night and getting to see these charities send me videos and emails and here's

what we did and here's how this worked and here's how this happened and it's just cool to get to be

a part of that, you know, and it's not, I don't come at it for, it's not like an egotistical

pursuit. It's just like you get to like watch the money that you raised, you get to watch,

you know, people be directly impacted by these things that we got to do and I owe all that to

my team, you know, I owe all that to everyone else, like I always say like I'm the guy that works

the least amount, like I have the easiest job and the whole thing, like I think, obviously I do

a lot of things, I'm in a lot of places, I go to a lot of different things and I'm constantly working

but when you love it, it doesn't feel that way and I'm just grateful for everyone on

some of my team that allows me, you know, they're, you know, they get to be a billboard for me when

they're out, you know, meeting, even if I'm in there, you know, getting touched up before this

thing and they're talking to you and you're like, man, these people are nice so I really do believe

it's top down, you know, I try to be great and give my team the ability to be great because we

work in a good environment, we respect each other and that transfers, man, and people can feel that

because some people can feel that energy when you're around and that's my biggest point of pride

is when we're at a show, whether it's the stadium or we're going and doing a club gig for, you know,

we did a, we played a club gig last year, first time in five years and it was wild and it's like

like 850 people in the Georgia theater and Athens and like a venue we used to play and like,

it felt like the biggest venue in the world and you go back and when I'm walking through the halls,

backstage or whatever, like even the people working the doors are like, they'll say to me,

your team is the best team we've ever worked with, like everyone's so kind and so gracious and

they communicated so well and they're all professional and they're all in great spirits and like,

to me that is like, that's the legacy I want to leave behind is like, sure, I had a lot of success,

sure I had a bunch of hit records and sold a lot of tickets and sold a lot of t-shirts or whatever,

but all that be damned, like, you know, my headstone, you know, here lies good man, good dad,

good husband, good friend, good son, good boss, like that's the things that I want to be remembered for

and so I live every day trying to make those happen to the best of my ability.

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Hey, it's me Jay, and I just wanted to share this one phone call I had with a friend.

It was when I just made one of the biggest decisions in my career, and I was nervous about

how it would be received. Then my friend called me out of the blue just to check in,

and hearing their voice, their encouragement completely changed my perspective. That moment

reminded me how powerful a simple connection can be. And did you know that 2026 will mark 150 years

since the first phone call? March 10th 1876. From that one call it all grew. The first long

distance lines, the first call across America, the first across the Atlantic, the first commercial

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I can't help but wonder how many lives have changed, how many important conversations happened,

even how many lives were saved, or because people could reach each other. 150 years of connecting.

That's not just history, that's a reminder. When technology brings people together,

we can do incredible things. Connecting changes everything. AT&T.

I saw a video of you starting a concert at one point in a concert basically saying,

guys, I'm not feeling well today, I'm still going to do the show, but we're going to give you a

refund. And I'm like, dude, you did the show. You showed up, you did the show, but you were like,

I'm not going to be my best or something like that. I was like, wow, that's amazing. I remember

it was in Maine as where it was. We did two nights in Bangor, Maine, and the first night

show was great. Run of the mill show, and by run of the mill, we had a great time. It's great,

it's fun, we got buddies in town, but that venue is wonderful, by the way. We were backstage,

and they have a great, they have a fire pit going, and they're bringing you out, food, and all

the employees are so nice, and it's just a great atmosphere to hang out in. We had some friends

in town, and we're up having some cocktails, but we're all outside. I'm talking two or three times

as loud as I normally was, because we're playing music, we're having some drinks, we're staying

up late, and the next day I wake up and I'm like, man, my voice is just a little rough, not my

worst morning I've had, by a long shot. And I've done that enough times to know how it goes and

know how it's progressing. And so as the day went on, I'm like, I'm like, man, this isn't progressing

the way it normally does. It doesn't feel like it's getting much better, so I don't know,

I guess maybe around two or three o'clock, I call my manager, and I'm like, hey, the thing can

go in so hot, I'm starting to get a little bit worried, because we have the show tonight,

and I said, could you, and I've done this maybe twice ever, once was in Australia, this was

the second time, I said, I was like, I need to get a steroid shot to do the show tonight,

and I hate doing that. If you're any kind of singer, you should not get those, because they're

horrible for your voice in the long run. It's not something you should be doing a lot. It should

be an absolute emergency parachute situation, which it was for me, because I'm like, well,

everyone's here, I get the steroid shot, I'm like, okay, I'm going to be good, I'm going to get

through this. A couple hours goes by, I go to do my warm-ups, I do my warm-ups, let's say we're

on at nine, I'll do my warm-ups at eight, it's 20 minutes, 25 minutes, and then I'll join the

band, and we all hang out, have some drinks, get together, whatever, and I get five minutes into my

warm-up, and obviously, I mean, everyone's already played, dude, like the first of three's played,

direct support's already done, like people are just waiting for me to come out at this point.

I get five minutes into my warm-up, and I call my manager, I'm like, dude, I'm not going to be able

to sing tonight, and he was like, what do you mean? I was like, I don't live in a steroid shot,

like it didn't work, like it worked the first time I got it, I was like, it didn't work, it didn't

do enough, like I physically, I'm not going to be able to do it enough, and so we're having

conversations with what's the options, you know, he's like, well, we just can't look, we're just,

that's what we do, and I was like, nah, dude, that's what everyone else does, like we're not doing that,

like I'm not, these people are here, dude, like this is, those concerts, man, like concerts

are expensive, and I'm aware of that, like I have so much respect for how hard people work,

and things they sacrifice to come and see me play, because I used to be one of those people,

you know, I would work all summer to save up to go see one concert, and it was a big event,

man, it wasn't just, oh, this is the thing I'm doing tomorrow, it was like, I'm building my whole

summer around this one night, you know, and I know there's hundreds of people, thousands of people,

you know, a thousand yards away from me that have done the same thing, and I can't live with

the idea that they are going to be let down, and they're sure as I'm not going to be let down by

somebody else, that isn't me, so I told Kathy, I said, listen, dude, I said, I'm going out there,

and I'm telling him, like, and he's like, what do you mean? And I'm like, I'm going out there,

and I'm telling him, I'm on the microphone, then I can't do the show, and I said, me and the band

will play for an hour, I said, we'll play all the hits, I'll sing the best I can, but like,

we're just going to refund everybody's money, and he's like, I'm in, dude, like, whatever,

whatever you want to do, let's do it, you know, and he's, who cares about the money, like,

doesn't matter, we'll get, we'll all refund it, so go out, and usually we have like, you know,

there's a big intro song, and like, the video and all this stuff, I'm like, we got to kill this,

dude, like, we're not doing my hype up video, and then I'm walking out and telling him, I'm not

playing, so I walk out, I remember being like, so somber, and like, my heart rate is just through

the roof, I'm like, so nervous, because I've never done anything like this before, and I remember

saying it, like, hey guys, I'm not going to be able to do the show tonight, and it's like just

raining down booze, man, like, it's just people are brutalizing me, and like, as I feel like,

they have the right to do, like, I would be pissed too, right? Like, Mr. Big Tom comes out here,

and tells me he's not going to do the thing or whatever, and I go, but wait, I was like, before

you guys get upset, like, I'm still, we're still going to play the show, it's just not going to be

as good as I feel like it needs to be for me to take money from you, and use it for the better

minute of my life or my team, like, you deserve, you know, you spend all this money to be here,

and you've got hotel rooms and babysitters, and like, I can't make that right, so I still want to

give you the show, I'm just not going to take the money from the tickets, like, and I'll just,

so this is just free show, but it's just not going to be as good of a show as I feel like you

deserve for all the sacrifices that you've made to be here, and we played for probably an hour,

hour 15, and we played all the hits, and I sang the best I could, and the crowd sang,

and it was a really cool night. It was really stressful, and man, I got to give it up to my fans,

like, a lot of fans reached out to me, and they were like, hey, man, I donated my refund,

because like, we loved the show, and we thought it was still great, and we appreciate you being

a stand-up guy, and we just wanted, we just felt like it was wrong to take the refund.

Not everybody did that, and I can understand that. I wouldn't be mad if nobody donated their refund,

you know? But then we came back, I think it was two years later, we came back, like, scheduling

was crazy, but we came back and did a night there, we were like, doing stadiums, and then we came

back and did the lampitheater and banger, and it was cool, man. That's awesome. Great story. Great,

turned into a great story, but I was very stressed about that. Oh, I can imagine, I can imagine,

but that's awesome. I'm so glad you told me that story, because I just saw the clip,

like on social media that I'd seen, and I thought, wow, that's incredible, but now to hear the back

story behind it. I mean, you know, earlier, you were talking about your wife, you've been together

for 10 years now, thereabouts. It's mine and my wife's 10-year wedding anniversary this year.

Oh, that's awesome. It's fun when you've lived that life with someone. How did you guys meet?

We met, she actually was living in Nashville. I was living in Nashville. We had met in passing

a few times, not many, not more than five minutes here and there, but we kind of had some of

the same friend group, like, you know, think of like the Venn diagram. There's like a couple

people in the middle, you know, we all know what you're doing with folks and stuff. So met like that,

and she worked at BMI, which is a huge, I'm sure you know what that is, for those of you that

don't perform its rights organization that, you know, just to collect and distribute royalties

to songwriters. That's how they get paid for the most part. There's a few organizations that do it.

BMI is the biggest one, and she was working there at the time. She did kind of like specialized,

like, HR work there. BMI also puts on a songwriting festival in Key West. The Nashville branch

puts on one in Key West, and it's called the BMI Key West Songwriters Festival every year.

So much fun. So their whole office like shuts down. I mean, it's like, I can't tell me how many

people work there, probably in the hundreds, and they all just kind of go to the keys and help out

with the vents or just hang out or whatever, you know, it's not like a stressful work week.

And, you know, maybe it is for one or two people, but the rest of them are kind of chilling and

having a good time. And so they invite around 200 songwriters down there, all like kind of in the

country space. And it's cool because BMI, you know, they foot the bill for your flight. They put

you up in a hotel like it's all expense kind of paid, like trip to Key West and you play a couple

songwriters rounds and fans come and it's really fun. It's really killer. Like if you love country

music, if you love songwriting, you have to go. It's really, really great. So it was my first year

going to that. I was probably the last guy picked to go. I have no publishing deal, no record deal,

and my buddy Channing Wilson, who is fantastic. He was going down there, remember me and him were

having lunch. And he was like, he's like, man, why don't you come down to Key West, dude? And I was

like, well, it's like, I didn't get invited, you know, so he called up his rep at BMI. I was like,

hey, I mean, lunch with this Luke Holmes guy. And they, I had a meeting over there with them,

I was there. And they were like, yeah, man, like he can just live with you or whatever. So I was like,

oh, yes, I was pumped up. Get down there, run into her at an event and kind of hung out like

for the evening with friends and stuff like spent a couple hours together, hanging with friends

and stuff. And then once I came home, we made plans to get together like a couple,

like a couple of weeks after I got home, we ended up staying in touch with the attackster,

whatever, and made some plans to, uh, made some plans to get together. And you should

been dating ever since, man, you're just crazy, you know what I mean? Like, should I have any

reason to think I was cool at all, man, like I was wearing a t-shirt and gym shorts when I ran

into her and like, she was like working two jobs, like making a killing and I've got like nothing

going on at all. She just thought I was cool for whatever reasons. I thought that was pretty awesome.

So it worked out, man, it was great because she's been there with me, you know, since the beginning

and you know, seen me through a lot and, you know, we made it through the whole rise together

and all the craziness together. And she's the best, dude. I mean, you know, I mean, she really is.

Like, I just can't imagine like I wouldn't be here without her, you know, I'd have, there's 10

hit songs that I wouldn't have written, you know, because I wrote them about her, you know.

So I'm very, very thankful for her. I mean, she's a great mom and she's a great wife and a great friend

and she's just a great person. So I'm very blessed to have that like connection with her, man,

like that's been a huge, huge positive light in my life. Like having her is, you know, she's one of

the biggest reasons for my success, certainly. How did you know she was the one? It's funny as you

say this, like everyone's like, oh, it's like, oh, you know, like immediately, like for love

at first sight, kind of thing. And, you know, I think that sometimes maybe does a disservice

to, to the seriousness of like a relationship of like the level that me and my wife have, we have

grown together, you know, we have become adults together, we become parents together, we've lived

together. Like that's not something that happens overnight. Like sure, there are those feelings,

like those inherent feelings of like lust or attraction, like I think sometimes that people

can confuse that for like this love at first sight thing. And they're like, this is the person

that I have to be with because I'm so attracted to them. And like sure, the physical connection

is really necessary. But the emotional connection, I think we forget sometimes in today's day and

age, that that is like, it's like a plant, dude, and it's not something that that grows up

overnight, dude, like it's something that takes nurturing, it takes, you know, you got to water it,

you got to trim it, you got like you'd have to be doing maintenance to this thing. And when you do

that together, it, you grow better together, you know, and there is no, like this is when I knew,

like I knew that I was very attracted to her. And I knew that she was a great person. And I

knew that I wanted to spend more and more and more time with her every time I spent time with her.

And so I would say, like it just, there was never any moment where I was like, maybe this isn't

the person I should be with. You know what I mean, she never, she never gave me that. There was

never this thought of like, well, maybe this isn't, you know, it was like, there was never any

questioning it. So maybe I do did always know, but maybe I just wasn't smart enough to see that

at the time. But I think the connection that we've grown over the years is, is the beautiful part

of it, you know, and it's like, it only gets better with time. It's like wine or something, you

know what I mean? Like it's probably pretty good right out of the barrel. But then when it's,

you know, 10 years old, it's a whole different story. And then 20 years old and 30 and 40 and so on

and so forth. It's, it's a really cool thing, man. And it's, it's a blessing to get to, to get

to experience life with somebody in that way and have somebody to share your triumphs with and

your, the peaks and the valleys and all of these difficult things. Like my OCD stuff, she's very

supportive of all that. And it's like, she's always supporting me. She's never bringing me down.

You know what I mean? Like, you should have taken her shit for me. And that's important as well.

But it's like, but that's cool to me. And like, it's, you know, I don't want somebody that's

willing to just do whatever I say all the time. That's not, I don't want to get it twisted that

that's the way it is because it ain't that like, she's the boss, bro. Like she is the boss. And

I like, that's cool to me. And like, I like that. Like I like her being like, getting her advice on

like songs or getting her advice on merch. Like she's such an eye for that so much more so

than I do. And like, we've done all these cool like merch collections where it's like the

Luke and Nicole thing. It's like her deal. And she does the photo shoots and like, she's doing all

the merch and like letting her like, I can, I just trust her implicitly with that like with

not just with me as a man and as a husband, but like even with my brand and like my business. And

like, she's not someone that like, I'm ever worried about like, embarrassing me or like, you know what I

mean? And not that she ever even could. But like, it's just like having this high level of like

trust and respect for her. I like to think that she has that for me too. But it's nice on my end

to have that and feel that it's a very comforting thing to know. It's like, you know, when you go

home, there's this person that's like, regardless of everything else is like on your team no matter

what, you know, and that's that's cool. What did she see in you before you saw it in yourself?

Brother, I got no idea. Yeah, no idea. If I knew I'd be selling it about that. If I knew what it was,

man, I would be borrowing it up and putting it on the internet. You could Amazon it right now if

I knew what it was because there's some magic. That's the new thing. Yeah, Nicole's potion. Yeah,

Luke's whatever it was. Dude, I tell you what, it wasn't my model like figure by any chance, by

any stretch of the imagination. I don't know. You know, I haven't really considered that. I've

thought about it a bunch of times. Like, I don't know. I remember, I remember my dad saying to me

one time, like, I think I had this crush on like a grown high school or something. I was kind of

like asking my dad for like advice on it. And I was like, man, like, I just like, I'm like,

this is kind of cool or whatever. I'm like, why is this going on? He's like, I'll never forget

this. He was like, hey, sometimes son, you just don't ask questions. And it was like, I was like,

okay. When it comes to that stuff, I'm like, maybe I don't want to know. You know what I mean?

I'm just like, whatever. And so I just think sometimes when things are good, you don't really have

to know why. You know, I think you can, you know, then you can maybe you can ruin something like

that. I know I'm not sure, but I don't know. I mean, I think that, you know, I like to think maybe

that she could tell that I'm a good person. Yeah, I think and, you know, I think that, you know,

now she knows that, you know, I've got her back. She's got mine. You know, she, you know,

her and the kids are number one and like, I'm doing stuff for them. And but obviously that wasn't

happening when we met. Like it wasn't like we had kids together, you know, but I think, you

know, I think she could just tell like, well, maybe this guy is like, at least different than other

guys that I've, I'm not sure. You know, um, maybe she dated a bunch of losers. I don't know.

You know what I mean? I mean, I'm not sure, you know. Um, but no, she's, she's a bad dude,

but I don't know. Does she have a roast you? Um, bro, all the time. My wife first of

all the time. All the time. All the time. She rips me apart and it's like, it's awesome.

What would she say if she was here and she was roasting you? What would she say?

Hmm, trying to think what would she tell? She's like, she picks on, she's like, she's like,

she's like, you're nerdy. She's like, you're, you're like, definitely a nerd.

She definitely thinks I'm nerdy. Yeah. I like to play video games and she's like, God, like,

you know, she like, let's me do it. She's like, do whatever you want, but she's like, I'm not,

you're a nerd. I'm not going to not call you a nerd while you're playing video games.

That's funny. It's like, it's just that kind of stuff, man. She just doesn't let me get away

with anything, you know, in a good way, in a playful way, you know, for real though, don't let

me get away with nothing either. But like, she can also be super playful. Yeah. Um, she knows

herself, man, she's so confident in herself and she's so confident in like, in us and our family

and like, I think that's really cool. It's really attractive, man, to like have someone that is so

confident in themselves. And I've learned a ton from her, man. I've learned a ton about, you know,

being just, you know, proud of who I am and, you know, having, you know, these kind of strong

convictions and not being afraid to speak your mind and not being afraid to say the things that

you, you know, the things that you believe in and share your opinions. I mean, you know, I was,

I was not as apt to do that until I met her. She helped me, you know, also the thing, I

wanted to, this is a, this is a sleeper pick for everything about her is like, I wasn't a picky eater

as you can probably tell. Um, I was not a picky eater growing up. Um, but I was a little bit,

like if I didn't like something, I was like completely out on it. Like I'm like, don't like it,

mushrooms, hate it, mustard, hate it. Like, oh, there was a lot of things that I didn't like.

And she really was like, you know, you ought to like try stuff. You know what I mean? Like, you're

just kind of like, she's like, mushrooms are good and mustard is good. And I'm like, no,

it's terrible. I've hated it since I was a kid. And, you know, it's just a little, I don't know

that such a funny thing to like get out. But like, mushrooms are like probably one of my top five

favorite foods ever now. And like, I would have probably never tried them if it wasn't for her.

And I love mustard now. And it's like all these things like, and it's just that's a small example

of a bigger picture of like, she's just helped me become more confident in myself. And challenging me

and pushing me to do things that are hard and pushing me to do and encouraging me to do things

that are difficult that normally I would have, you know, faltered before. And she's just like,

you know, she's like, she's like, she's my homie, dude, you know, she's the best. I love that.

For me, or she sounds awesome. She sounds awesome. Yeah, you sing in your song the way I am.

I'm sorry, baby, I really tried to change. It's like there's something broken in my brain.

The more I try to fix it, the less I understand. But you still love me just the way I am.

And I'm like, it's like, yeah, that's on ribs, man. I didn't write that song. And that's why I love

it so much. It's like that statement so perfectly fits, you know, a lot of the themes of my life,

the OCD stuff, you know, and that was a friend of mine wrote that with another great songwriter

in Nashville. And when I heard it, it was just, it was so sonically different than anything that's

going out of town right now. I mean, there's nothing like that song going out right now.

It's a very stereotypical country sound, but probably from 40 years ago. And that's kind of what

drew me to it is like it just felt like this kind of moment that was unexpected, not just for me,

but for anyone really. It's very slow. It's way too long. It's got to just straight up steel guitar,

solo, like old steel guitar, not like cool steel guitar, like that's in like, you know,

some like poppy song, like it is like straight up like tears like some George Jones would be singing,

you know, not that I'm that, but it's like, lyrically I resonated with it so much already. And then

sonically it was just so different. It was like, I mean, it felt like an absolute like layup of a song

to do. I just felt like I feel like it's going to be a big moment for people. And I think that

that's why ultimately I chose that song as the title for this record is it just like, you know,

it's just it really does just that that's I'm so okay with the way that I am now. Honestly, at

risk of sounding ironic, you know, it's like I at 35, I obviously don't have life all the way

figured out, but I'm as comfortable if not more comfortable on my skin than I've ever been.

I feel like my mental health is way higher than it's ever been. My mindset, my outlook

is all so great. And I just, you know, I've so many people to thank for that. You know, my wife,

obviously, my kids have helped a ton and just great friends, great teammates, great band members,

great, you know, collaborators and great, you know, everybody just does so much for me, you know,

and and that's kind of, you know, that's made me into the way that I am, you know, and that's just

that title and it's all really I felt like encapsulated, you know, the message I was trying to say

with this album is, you know, this is this is where I am now, whether that's musically or as a person

and I'm just excited. I'm excited for people to hear this record. I haven't done like a commercial

project in like almost four years now and it's time and I just, you know, I hope it says received

as I want it to be. And it's not it's okay, you know, but you just have to put, you know, what you

feel like is your best foot forward and you just have to be willing to live with with the results of

that no matter what. Absolutely. And I'm more okay with that now than I've ever been. And that

going away for four years was important. It was. Yeah. And it was like, you know, it's not like I

retired, but it was like we really backed the touring stuff down like last year. I didn't have my

own tour for the first time in ever since I started and that was weird. It was really fun

because all we did was these big festivals, you know, and so the festivals are fun.

They're different challenges than especially the stuff we did this year, you know, we did

Baneru, Laplusa, Newport Folk Festival, Austin City Limits, like crowds that we would normally

never step in front of. And so I was, I really looked forward to that challenge, you know,

getting with my band leader and making set lists that were different for every one of these

shows and going, well, how do we, how do we meet this crowd in the middle? You know what I mean,

like as much as I, there was to half the set, I wanted to come out and kick the door down and play

a honky-tonk shit like country stuff. Like I wanted to do that and we did that. But I also wanted to

say, I'm also willing to meet you where you're at a little bit and like help you understand not

just me, but that our genre in general is, is not just this stereotype of, it's, it's not some

caricature of like this thing. It's like, it's like, it's something that you can love too. And maybe

you don't know that and maybe tonight is not the night that you fully understand that. But hopefully

tonight makes you even be at the inception of maybe I could love country music. And maybe in

20 years, we're finally where I think we need to be, not exclusively because of me, but that moment

helps a couple people have the epiphany or experience. And, you know, the betterment of the genre,

something that's, it's really important to me, you know, and letting people know it's like,

hey man, like we're here, like we're like, we're more popular than we've ever been now and it

ain't stopped at any time soon. Then I want to do my part to be a part of that future and help

out the genre, like in regardless of what that means for me personally or my success, you know,

I mean a lot of those shows I lost money doing those shows. I took a lot less money than I usually

would to get the slot because I wanted to be able to go and do that. I hope some people felt that

on those nights, but they were a lot of fun. We sure enjoyed them and the crowds were just

amazingly like welcoming and warm, which was really cool, man, because I was nervous, you know,

like not nervous, like I don't want to go out there, but just like gosh, man, like, man, like you

could really fall on your face out here and it would be tough night if like it doesn't go well.

You know, like if you're not well received headline and also say 11, it's like, it'd be tough.

Or like you come out in Bonnaroo and you're headlining and it's like, people aren't into it.

Be pretty crushing night. It could be like a pretty crushing night if it doesn't go well, you know, so

I but I they at least everyone made me feel like they went well and maybe they didn't, but I felt like

my perception was that they went really well and I just I enjoyed it. Yeah, dude, I can relate

because I get asked to teach meditation in all these places. Like random places that you

want to expect as I did, I did a meditational main stage at Bonnaroo a few years back. Yeah,

and everyone was just like wanting the main act to come out and it's like you're having to get

everyone into a zone before they experienced the thing they want to experience and it's like the

pressure of that. And thankfully when okay, it wasn't, you know, everyone everyone was surprisingly

quiet. It was impressive. But it was, you know, it I my world's very different to yours, but it's

that same pressure of just like how do you get people at this music festival right to be quiet

to have this moment? Yeah, opposite, but it's like the antithesis of why they're there, right?

When people do it, what's fascinating when it's worked is the music that comes off to it,

everyone senses it like ready for it because it's gone so yeah, it was just a moment to like reset.

Toad, it's like sniffing the coffee beans at Yankee candle before you smell the other candle.

You know, I've smelled all these great candles and now I don't even know what this candle smells like.

So you have the you're the coffee beans. Yeah, yeah, I'm the coffee beans. No one knows they need

and then they smell them and they're like, I'm glad I smelled those. That's how I'm going to explain it.

Next time I'll stay is that's that's what I'm going to do. There's here comes your coffee.

Yeah, yeah, I love that. It's calm. That's awesome. It's calm.

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Because everyone said how much fun you were we were like we'll put together a fun game for you

we do this for special guests. So this one was done for you. This game is called the everyday

guide test. So we're gonna see whether you fail or pass the test. It's all for fun. I'm just putting

it out there right now that I would fail this test. So yeah so here we go the everyday guide test

at a restaurant do you order tap or filter water. Let me tell you what I didn't grow up going to

restaurants where they even asked what kind of there was no water choice. Yeah. To me that's a whole

new world for me. But they they're like they'll come up and they're like was it is tap okay or

like or bottled or still or I'm like how many choices are there and now there's waters do you have

you know. It's like would you like it boxed or bottled or decanted and like like just water would

be great. I usually my answer to that question is whatever's easiest for you. Whatever's the easiest

because it's to me it's just all water. I'm like I'm not a guy that's of the belief that like

9.5 pH water is gonna make a difference to be quite honest and it probably does and now maybe

my downfall at some point but I'm like hey whatever makes your night less of a hassle for me. I love

that. Just just give me that. I'm fine with that. I'm fine with that. First thing you can grab get

it and I'll drink it. I love it. A regular milk or almond milk. A regular milk. I do like

it. I do like an almond milk. I have no beef with an almond milk. But I do I do I would say

probably if I had to choose regular milk and you're not going to beat the creaminess of it.

All right. This one I was cracking up out when the team put it in there. Do you tip based on

math or vibes? Oh vibes for food. Vibes for sure. I'm an over-tipper. I'm like an over-tipper.

I'm one of those. I'm like I'm like yeah like we go to a nice meal hundred bucks like great like

you know depending upon the place of course but it's like I always try to over-tip man I'm just

grateful for anybody you know that works in the service industry. You know I know how difficult

it is you know dealing with the public and not everybody so great not that I'm so great but

I try to just be you know I just it's just another version of like passing along the blessings

that you have to someone else and and being grateful. You're winning right now man this is amazing

you'll be you'll be in this game like this game is this game is losing guys. Let's do a few more

last time you went to the grocery store. Oh last week okay I go every week at least twice a week

choice of grocery stores there specifically. Oh okay you're like this one I like

the publics the closest one to me in the same shop in center I got a sprout nice. So if I'm going

like if I'm going strictly food I'm probably going to sprouts uh paper goods diet coke yeah

going to publics you know what I mean uh I love the publics I love a pub sub uh but I love a

sprouts man it's like uh I love sprouts it's like a less stressful whole foods you know what I mean

like you go in and you're not like feeling like you're in the way you know and I went to this

air one place yeah oh yeah yeah you want to spend $60 on something going to that place dude

I mean it's nice in there it is like if you had a different variant of OCD you love that place

because everything is like there's not a speck of dust in that place but if there was you'd have

to pay for it probably because it is not cheap I'll tell you that much uh great so good so good

do you pack your own clothes or do someone pack for you probably pack my own stuff dude

might pack him for me dude I'm gonna ask man dude I'm packing my bag

oh good all right last one last one this one's uh the last time you Venmo requested someone

oh gosh let me look it's probably been a while Venmo request yeah it's probably been quite

some time I would say let me see I can pop it up here I just I'm I know I'm genuinely

curious yeah yeah I don't know that I've requested Venmo for I've paid people on

to Venmo a lot yeah but actually requesting I don't even know that I would even have one

to be quite honest I've only used I've got Venmo my buddy sent me a Venmo for some deer stands

okay redneck as that is yeah that's my last Venmo thing but I can't even find a time that I

Venmoed someone else for something nice because I feel like a lot of the times like

I'm not a guy like listen dude if you're going out to eat with me like I'm paying

like I'm paying like I'm not a guy that's like wolves you know just send me then

send me $20 for the check or whatever like so yeah not not any Venmo request for me you

post the test you have a day guy test I survived yeah you survived yeah you you killed that

you know the odds are amazing I was like we need to we need to test a few more people on that

so you've been like what kind of rancher would you need a spanning rancher I mean like I thought

it was going to be like what kind of diameter you know I'm like oh boy yeah I was just

trust me I wouldn't either I wish I was I wish I was handier than I am yeah my dad is very

handy but I'm I did not get that gene my dad was not handy so I'm not handy as you missed out

I can I can do it a little bit but not too well I would like to I would love to be able to like

take an engine apart and just be like yeah it would just be amazing dude people that do that

are geniuses man I don't care what anybody says dude that stuff is so hard yeah my mind is not

like I like math is not great for me it just takes me a lot of time to do I know how to do it the

basics of obviously but like dude anything past division yeah multiplication I'm like you're

speaking Chinese I have no idea you know I got we got people for that yeah and I'm glad that's

the way the world is yes you get somebody that's good at that I do the thing I'm good at yes then

you're good at totally community being bang right there and everyone yeah and everybody wants

everybody's happy all right finished finished the sentence on these ones as first thing that comes

to a mind the thing I take way too seriously is video games which games about a field six recently

has been kind of my that's kind of been my thing recently like NCAA football I love my big football

guy take that way too seriously yeah definitely video games are you playing online or are you playing

I'll play on my no I'm not playing NCAA online it's too sweaty like everybody's too good you know

there's people obviously I don't take it seriously enough because I'm a god awful online but

I just really playing against my buddies but like man you were talking about like I'm been out of

shape like I lose I'm it's like affecting my day to some extent and I lose a lot so I'm not

very good so maybe I probably shouldn't take it too seriously but I do I love it the pettiest thing

I've done recently oh it's all going to be practical joke like joke related like me and my buddies

are just we just shred each other all the time I mean it's hard to pick a particular one but like

the jokes like the jokes can be like sometimes like when we have like me and my friends were so

comfortable around each other and like we all kind of have a similar sense of humor and we all

like know how it operates sometimes I have to forget like when we're around people that don't know

us at all or that have just met us and we're in like full friendship like joking mode that I'm like

maybe these people don't maybe we should just a little bit dial it back because people are

going to think we're weird yeah we're going to be like these guys are complete assholes to each

other so then it's like it's all love yes yes if you didn't know us you might be like man he's

got a ruthless you know what I mean me and my boys the same like sometimes I just got a back

and off like forget that not everyone knows that's known us for 20 years my wife has to be like no

personal jokes lately yeah you know how to make when you guys friends are a little bit don't make

him around other people yeah if there's if it's not just close friends let's avoid all the

like all the jokes about each other yeah that's my that's my petting us right there uh my guilty

pleasure artist or song is oh um right now it's Olivia Dean is my love gosh her voice is so good man

that's not like something people probably think I'm listening to but the melodies are so good man

it's like there's like some uh there's like some Amy one house stuff going on there which I loved

her man unbelievable there's some like early John legend stuff going on like female John legend

vibes like when he was really rocking the piano like the albums were real piano centric uh he

had that the album another again was like a soundtrack to like probably like my junior of high

school and when I heard the Olivia Dean record for the first time my wife put me onto that

I was like this is like like I felt like I was listening to another again like all over like for

the first time and I loved that vibe of that album like I think her record it also came out at

such a great time like and by time I mean like winter fall like it's that kind of like it's like

holiday adjacent like feeling like the piano like good like it just feels good to listen to

so I'm really I'm really really vibing on that hard and lately I love that uh two more of these

which fellow country star would you call to help you bury a dead body oh man

fellow country uh it's probably Craig Morgan okay Craig is like ex-military uh he's like one

of the most wild dudes I know uh and he'd be so happy to like help you he's like the sweetest

guy in the world but like if you crossed him I would be so afraid of like what potentially could

happen um and like he's a guy to call him like hey man like I need you come over here and he'd

be like well hey buddy I'll be right over there you know and he'd get over and just you'd be like

what do I what do we do with that and he's like oh man I've done that time's a time you know I'm like

he's just like he's done everything like he's like he knows how to do everything like he's like

the perfect like man's man guy like he's the sweetest dude ever and I thought he just wouldn't ask

anything like well let's get it done buddy you know he's so good so good all right first artist you

do want next to you on a long tour bus ride um okay um probably like Jordan Davis he has been on

tour with me a couple times and I feel like we're just really we have like a similar vibe like our

crews are similar like his relationship with like his team and his buddies I feel like is very

similar to mine um and I he's I mean he's a family guy like great dad um another guy that

I feel like is like that is not a country or just Ed Sheeran is like that man like he's me and him

like kind of connected on that level of like we kind of have the same outlook on life a little bit

I feel like and not that we're identical obviously we're very different as artists but like

hey like you just pick up on that vibe of like well this guy's like I get this guy's like like me

the good charlie guys are like that Benji and Joel Madden to me are like two of my favorite I had

dinner with them last night I have dinner with them every time in L.A. and they're like I mean two

of the best guys like I've ever met dude like and I just like I love finding those people you have

that kind of like just connection with that kind of goes beyond like words sometimes like this like

I this guy gets me I get this guy yeah that way like we're just we're just like we're just

vibe and dude like we're just we're just bros like from the second we met and Jordan was like that

Ed was like that and Benji and Joel have been like that those would be like my picks for guys like

if I had to spend a long time with then it would just be like easy man like there would be no like

nothing weird nothing difficult like they're gonna just be easy to deal with like those would be

my guys that sounds like a great tour bus yeah you've been so much fun man like I've learned about you

you've been so thoughtful profound hilarious appreciate that you're good energy like I've had such a

good time getting to know you appreciate that we end every interview with the final five these have

to be answered in one sentence maximum we ask these to every guest so Luke comes these your final

five question one what is the best advice you've ever had or received wow what a profound question

don't ask questions back to my dad don't ask questions

second question what is the worst advice you've ever had or received don't ask questions

that's a good one that's a good one yeah that's good that's good question number three

describe what it felt like performing fast car with Tracy Chapman uh Mount Everest like like

undeniable like this it's like almost like out of body yeah I love that in the future when

your kids are asked about you how would you hope the first sentence goes he was the best ad nice

and fifth and final question we ask this to every guest who's ever been on the show if you could

create one law that everyone in the world had to follow what would it be I had this while I

haven't considered that I'm sure you get some funny answers I'm sure you get some serious answers

I would feel like it would it would be like don't don't pee on the seat

like the airport like it already sucks enough dude like and then when I sit down and you're old

piss on the toilet like it's just that's the end for me like just come on dude like don't

pee on the seat and I won't pee on the seat and we all just we're adults it's not that can

hard to not piss on the seat at the airport it's already gross to be in there you know and don't

like it's like why are we audibly farting and like in like at the urinal like in the like

you don't have to you know it's it listen if my buddy's fart in front of me it's funny dude and I

think it's really funny my kid's fart it's really funny when a stranger farts next to me like just

pulls the Jake break at the urinal beside me I'm like this guy's an animal and I respect him

but I'm also almost afraid of what he will do yeah and if he's wanting to do this he's

wanting to do anything yeah that is that's to be one of my favorites that is amazing it is practical

it's important I fully stand behind it I fully agree I didn't realize how bad it was and

terrible went to other countries totally and I was like the bathrooms are so clean totally why

it why are all of our bathrooms disgusting what does that say about us yeah and now I I can't

unsee it I can't unsee how clean public bathrooms are in the rest of the world and I'm not okay

with it we got it we got to stop I love it Luke comes the way I'm Luke I'm so excited for

everything that you have coming thanks you love you to know you're awesome likewise and wishing

you all the best all the success you'll enjoy it thanks for having me love that you bring in so much

abundance into the world thank you all right if this is the year that you're trying to get creative

you're trying to build more I need you to listen to this episode with Rick Rubin follow your

own inner guide it directs us it might not make sense it might not make sense to us might not

make sense to anyone else certainly won't make sense to anyone else and that's okay it's fine

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