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

What is something you've had to unlearn about love that it's earned?

That I was unworthy of love. That it needs to be forever for it to come. February is the month of love. Whether you're in a relationship, casually dating, or proudly single, it's a great time to reflect on yourself and what you want.

I'm Hup Woodard, host of the Voice Over Podcasts, and each week we're looking at love from every angle. Listen to Voice Over, that's B-O-Y-S-O-B-E-R. On the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can scroll the headlines all day and still feel empty. I've been Higgins, and if you can hear me, is where culture meets the soul.

On his conversations about identity, loss, purpose, peace, faith, and everything in between. Celebrities, thinkers, everyday people, some have answers. Most are still figuring it out. And if you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to, if you can hear me on my Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

“When you feel uncomfortable, what do you put on it?”

Biggie. You put on biggie when you feel uncomfortable? So I want to get confident. This is DJ Hester Prince, music is therapy. A new podcast from me, a DJ and licensed therapist.

12 months, 12 areas of your life. Money, love, career, confidence. This isn't just a podcast. It's unconventional therapy for your entire year. Listen to DJ Hester Prince, music is therapy.

On the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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.

I'm in Australia when Bo is born. The whole identity is that no matter what, I'm going to prioritize my wife and my children. Over my job, I dread the conversation with my son. What do you think you'd say? Everyone, welcome back to on-purpose, the place you come to become happier, healthier, and more yield.

Today's guest is someone that I've been so excited to have on the show. I'm speaking about Lou Combs, Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum country artists, and one of the most successful musicians of his generation. His music is known for its honesty, heart, and relatability, and has reached millions around the world. Beyond the success, Lou 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, Lou Combs. Thank you for having me, man. 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.

I mean, it's amazing when I just met your team and they're wonderful, and the way they speak about you and wonderful, but it's genuine. When I hear about your reputation, your reputation proceeds you for this interview, man. It looks, the nicest guys, you know? I'm right here in 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 what I hate fame,

the words celebrity hate those words, they're weird, and they make me uncomfortable a little bit. But it's reality. I also accept it, and it's just weird to say it. I don't want it to ever sound like a braggadoshist thing. But I think when you get to a certain point, like the fame or the success or the influence, like it just kind of accentuates and exacerbates the inherent person that you are.

Right? Like if you're, I think if you were a great guy and you become rich in successful and famous or whatever, like it gives you the opportunity to be more of who you are. It gives you a chance to be more giving or more passionate or more, I don't know, more narcissistic. If that was your, you know, if that's already like if you have a proclivity to be that way anyways, it just, it just kind of inflates that. It makes like this super version of who you already are, you know? But it does take a lot of work, too.

Me and my team are really close. Everybody's like, oh, you know, we're a family out here, you know, it's like a hair that all the time, and I truly believe it. And I hope that everyone else that says that believes that too, but that's really the way that we try to operate, you know, it's kind of like, you know, it's, you know, one for all kind of mentality on the road with us.

“And I think you, you know, I mean, it's not hard, in my opinion, to be kind to people.”

And maybe that's just because that's the way that I am, you know, and that's down to the dormant at the hotel or my manager, you know what I mean?

For this, even if I'm having a tough day, you know what I mean? I'm still go out of my way to be kind to people because I think, you know, it's an important thing to do, you know, 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, you know.

And so 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? You know, I was a, you know, if you would have asked me 10 years ago or 12 years ago, I would have been really afraid of the answer, you know, 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, like, I graduated high school and it was like, okay, what now?

And it was like, well, you go to college. That's just what happens.

“Yeah, that's what you're supposed to do, you know, and so I went and did that. And I had a great time in school. I really, I didn't like school.”

I liked being at the school, but I didn't like being in school with that makes sense, you know. So I was doing a lot of that. And I would spend a lot of time, you know, like I was majoring in business at the very beginning. And then I switched to criminal justice and I enjoyed criminal justice a lot more than I enjoyed business. I had, I just liked that, like studying. That was interesting to me.

And then, but it was still like, it just never felt quite right. You know, it was like it doesn't feel like, and I was getting scared as every year would tick by and college.

It was like, I'm going to be a year closer to having to make this like really important life decision that I'm like, don't feel prepared to make in any way. Or don't feel good about making like, and 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. Like it felt like I was in this great place. Like I'm in school. I love my friends. I love the social aspect. I enjoy being around people, my age that are, you know, 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 then a 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 on this 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 meant to do. Like this one 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, like, 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 and 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, well, 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 because of the OCD things that I've dealt with, I've talked about that stuff a lot.

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 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 anything to do with them.

“The whole nature of that kind of OCD, there's a lot of like suffering in silence, right?”

And it's given me this really great outlook on what I know what bad is it 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 a 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 and fear of like, when is this going to come back? And why does it kind of 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 do you mean? You know, like they're not.

I mean, they weren't, you know, they're not clinical psychologyists, so they don't really understand, you know. And so I can't imagine how afraid they were at the time of like, well, 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,

“you 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. It's like this common theme, like every couple of years I would go through these really brutal OCD stents without even knowing what was going on. Well, do you feel comfortable with talking about some of those days?

Oh, sir. Yeah, certainly. I mean, feel like days like filled with like remination, you know, like a lot of like, you know, people ask me about it and what the experience is like and I try to describe it to people on. 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 haven't experienced it, you almost can't understand it to some extent. And I think like, well, how often is like, I'm talking about, you know, 95% of the day from opening your eyes to clothes that I'm at night. You are thinking about this thing.

And it's causing you to tremendous amount of anxiety and like mental anguish to try to like find the answer to this like on answerable question. It's, it's scary because it's like you're so, I think it's helped my song writing 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 in like a mental health sense. So those days would be, go to bed.

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 is 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, 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, I mean, it's 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 it's like, great. It's like the room is perfect. But the dog who was 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.

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 OCD 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 an 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 it 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 to 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 violence stuff.

I'm going to tell 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 when 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 dim. This is, you know, this is classic like dad stuff. He'd like, well, son just don't think about it. 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 undone. You didn't know, you don't know what's going on. No one talked about it.

We're going to 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, think about it, and choir, and think about it at math class, and think about it at lunch with my friends, and just, you just constantly, but 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 are 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 it, 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, what 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 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 it's over 13 years old, and they're going to look at this guy. Like, 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 light for someone else, hopefully, you know, 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. 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 that was the one that was tough as like you don't get any time to like,

much out it was great. It was idyllic really, 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 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 they, you know, they don't have any answers, but they're like, bro, 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 him. It felt the ability to be open about him.

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. It just crushes my soul. Yeah. It's already so hard even if everyone is open to the whole thing. So that would say that that was the relationship.

Yeah. 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. Sometimes you can see it's all in here.

“Like, that's why they call it purely obsessional,”

because they're only because that's a bit of a misnomer in my opinion. Do your medical people that'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 compulsions. It's not like I'm like, oh gosh, this glass, I better get it. Yeah. 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'll like check in 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. Now I appreciate you saying, 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 straight up teller, like when I'm like, hey,

this is going on. Like, just say, 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. And 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, what is 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, so, but I'm so well equipped now.

What has been that equipped? What's that-- Yeah, I mean, I mean, people are struggling. Honestly, the interesting thing about it is, like, not giving any, like, any credibility

or attention to the thoughts as 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 and been dealing with it for seven or eight years at that time. And once I found it, naturally enough, I obsessed about it, trying to figure it out.

Like, what does this mean? And a lot of that, 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-nose 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. It's, like, trying to solve the problem. So, 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.

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 know what 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. You know, 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. It's really, 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.”

Certainly, certainly it's, like, it's definitely an understudied. I mean, there was a time, even 10 or 12 years ago is looking 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, wouldn't an arrogant thing to say.

Like, if you've never had it to,

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 as 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 a school."

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

And I had friend who just constantly kept thinking, she was going to do something bad to kids. And so she had to be away from them for weeks. Oh, it's hot. Yeah.

I get it. Avoiding to behavior, another terrible thing. One of the worst things you can do. Because then you're giving the thoughts, like, the power of, like,

Yeah, that's a real-- Yeah, that's a real-- It 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. It's a vicious-- Yeah. It's like a rip current in your mind. Yeah, for sure.

But your instinct is to, you know, swim this way. And really you should just-- Do the other struggle and just swim this way. Yeah. I mean, you just want to swim that.

It's all you want to do. Yeah. It's crazy. It's a crazy spiral.

“What is one thing about love you've had to unlearn that it's armed?”

That it needs to be forever for it to count. The February is the month of love. Whether you're in a relationship, casually dating, or proudly single, it's a great time to reflect on yourself and what you want.

I'm hope wooded. Host of the Boys Over Podcasts. And each week this month, we're looking at love from every angle. I don't know how to tell my partner,

like what I want and bet. Think about romantic fiction. I would say more than any of the genre of culture

is that it's always put women fast.

My marriage stopped making sense. The connections started to feel off. The behavior started to feel different. This February get in touch with yourself by listening to Boys Over. That's B-O-Y-S-O-B-E-R.

I'm like, I would love to not hate the man. I'm sleeping with. I don't know what that's about. Listen to Boys Over. On the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. What do you do when the headlines don't explain what's happening inside of you? I'm Ben Higgins. And if you've been here,

me is where culture meets the soul. A place for real conversation. Each episode, I sit down with people from all walks of life. Celebrities, thinkers, and everyday folks.

And we go deeper than the polished story. We talk about what drives us, what shapes us. What gives us hope. We get honest about the big stuff.

That changes you purpose when success isn't enough.

Peace when your mind won't slow down. Faith when it's complicated. Some guests have answers. Most are still figuring it out.

“If you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story,”

the show is for you. Listen to, if you can hear me on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When you feel uncomfortable, what do you put on? Biggie.

You put on a biggie when you feel uncomfortable? So I want to get confident. This is DJ Heaster Prince music is therapy. A new podcast from me, a DJ and licensed therapist, that asks one simple question,

"Who do you want to be and what's the song that can take you there?" Music changes what you feel, and what you feel changes what you do, right? That moment where a song shifts something inside you, that's where transformation starts.

This year, I'm talking to experts across every area of life. Like personal finance, icon, jean, chatsy. New York Times, journalist, David Gellis. Relationship, legend, dance, savage. Human connection, teacher, mark, robes.

“And the man who shaped my ear more than anyone.”

Questlove. They'll bring the strategies. I'll pair them with the right records, and we'll teach you how to use the music to make a change stick. This isn't just a podcast.

It's unconventional therapy for your entire ear. Listen to DJ Heaster Prince music is therapy. I heard radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You're spoken to 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 think really just work ethic. I mean, my parents, I mean, taught me a lot of things. My mom was just, you know, she's like wonderful. My dad was wonderful.

My dad wasn't like, he wasn't like my buddy growing up. He was like, he was like, he was my dad. You know what I meant? Yeah, he was like, he was a maintenance man at the bank. And it was like, he worked 40 hours.

And he came home. And he moved 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, close.

I was going to wear to school or what food I was going to eat when I got home. I think that 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 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? Well, obviously, I miss them when I'm gone, but I'm not going like that much now. Like I just 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 they're on nowhere else, basically, except for deer season. But other than that, I'm not anywhere else, you know, like I'm there. And, you know, in a couple of years, there'll be deer season too. 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, dudes like I'm cooking breakfast, I'm cooking lunch, I'm cooking dinner,

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,

the most critical stages of my career that they were still at 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,

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, that for you, for them, it was doing something they didn't like to show you that they're 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.

So it's a different version of the same sacrifice. Yeah, sure. Absolutely.

From the outside, I'm always fascinated by how things look from the outside and the inside.

From the outside, your career, we have this like beat your eyes.

“You're just, what was it like for you? What was the feeling that was actually happened?”

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. You know, tell me about those 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, I really have been in it in an, in an official, like, I've got a record deal.

Like, promoting my music in the, in the grand way that it's done now. That's only been going on for, I mean, I guess. And like, this would be your 10 for me, probably your 9, maybe. Yeah, your 9 is a 2017 was my first number one. Sounded a 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. Yeah. 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, well, I just looked into that. Like, I had vine came out. And on this big platform, I'm seeing 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, you know, I'm not trying to steal jobs.

And say, I've invented iTunes. That's not the case. I just walked 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. Yeah. I just looked 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 the 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 minded 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 then you go, I want to be a country's artist, my dream. Well, you just get on TikTok or Instagram. And you write songs at your house. And you see how people feel, yeah. And you see how people feel.

And if all the sudden, it becomes this indeniable 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. 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 in unnecessary risk at this point. And I'm not saying that's right and 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 to Nashville and be a part of a culture that,

And I, we being like me and my friends created to kind of our own.

“Yeah, 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. Wow. 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 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. You know? Yeah.

At least I'm hopeful that they are. Yeah. Yeah. Because my work kind of around the same time. Twenty sixteen was the year right.

Again, just like you know, strategy, no technique. Just started sharing what I believed in what I cared about on social media. Right. And it took twenty eight of that time. Yeah.

It took a few. It took a few. It took a few. It took a few. I didn't know where it was going.

I didn't have a plan for where it 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 went 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 hard are you in the work?”

How much do you resonate with people? What's your music? What do people think of your music? Yeah. I'm so it's cool in that sense.

And whether it's a podcast or a music or I don't know. I can't even imagine 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 and how your career's 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 it's great for everybody because there's no risk for the labels in a lot of ways. They don't have to go. We'll sign 10 guys and hopefully one of them works out. Now we'll just sign 10 guys and they're all going to work out. We know, you know, 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're 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 a 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 also, and you have another baby, you know, you have two babies at the same time.

You know, I'm almost sort of rather had twins would have been an easier transition to be quite honest. You know what I mean? Like, it was all more difficult. Yeah. Because in there are two different ages, but they're both so fragile.

Like, I mean, when bow was born, like, text couldn't even walk it. So it was like, my wife's got one on the hip and one in the cradle. And it's like, I'm in, I'm in Australia when bow is born. And that's like crushing the devastating things.

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, We'll 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 somebody's fault, obviously. It's just the way of, you know, the universe's decision at that point. When he comes to an 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 do you plan the tour or that close? The tour is already planned. The tour is planned before we even find out we're pregnant 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 do that and put the shows on and power through. And I didn't, I didn't tell anyone that until after I got home. You know what 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 the ER campaign of look how sad I am and look how hard it's been. I mean, 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 go. You're going to make it into. Right.

8 a.m. Sydney time. My wife takes me 6 a.m. Sydney time or whatever. I don't even know what that time is called, but 6 a.m.

Up to hours after the text of like, I'm going to the hospital. Obviously call it her first thing. She's in the hospital. I mean, thank God my sister and I was there. My mother and I was finding that day.

My parents lived in town. So the support system was there. And I'm for that. I am eternally grateful. You know, bring serious perspective to that.

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. I 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. He's not even going to understand that for five years. But I dread that conversation of being like, you know, well, dad, 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 I 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 I have a quite yet processed win to have that conversation. Obviously not any time 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 wasn't there. Get over it. Where has it? We're going to talk 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, I mean, if I do my job right in my wife does her job right. I think he will be.

If he turns out to be a good, maybe a person, 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, when I 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 him. 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 be there. But like, even if I make the best effort I can, like, there's no way I would have been there.

And like two hours after I wake up, he's born.

So like, I wouldn't even have been able to like get a plane and be at the airport yet. It had 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, you know, cross up bridge when you come to it. And I'm lucky this still have, you know, to me five years older or five years wiser.

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, when you're at work or you're probably going to come home, smell him like raw meat. You know what I mean, like, you know, you kind of knew that going on.

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.

“In 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, combat days like these. And you talk about money in that song and in rich man as well. And how money combat happiness. How do you define a rich life?

This is always such a tough subject for me because I think 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. I don't deserve to have been the success for. Where you feel guilty for being the successful and you're going to get this fan.

I will, 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 hope 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 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 Richmond 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 character a 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 bar and he sees two other guys having a conversation. And it's basically a guy in overalls who is supposed to be my eyes. We wrote it was a farmer or whatever, you know, 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 and you die by your time or hold your wife and 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. Um, I'm very grateful for that in 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, I, I also 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 tone. Me had a, you know, think about my life or whatever, like, I'm not trying to tell anybody how to feel in any way on 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 this guy's bluegrass is green. I remember that day, we text was a baby and we're living in our house like an hour from Nashville at that time.

My kid is there and my career is going really well.

“I'm just really thankful. So it 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, you know, it's like the weather's like that every day here. You know, I forget it's January. Yeah, it's like, you know, it's like, you know, it's like these bluebird days and, you know, your family, everything's just hitting on the same wavelength for what I don't really even know how to describe it.

But that was my mindset riding 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 lined 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 dammit if they weren't feeling far between and, and dammit 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. Um, 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 want to sound like you guys like, well, don't matter if you got it.

“That's the bridge of the song Richmond is, you know, I say that in the bridge of that song is like, well, you know, and ain't no secret having money's nice, you know, but making a living don't make a life, you know, and I believe that.”

And I know that's easy for me to say, so I don't want anyone 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 struggle with that to be quite honest. 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've 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. Right, more and more people get 100% 100%. You know, it is, man. It's a, it's a crazy world out there, man. It's hard. It's hard, man. It's really, really hard. You know, you know, when you're in, you know, position, because like us are in and 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. That work with me, we're giving money to charity or whatever it may be or volunteering, me going to seeing it, something like any way I can get back.

I always try to do that in any chance that I have because that's just something my mother instilled at me in 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, at the time, it 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 and there's nothing in there. Yeah. There's no, it's finally in the 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 animal shelter at the food bank in Nashville.

And, you know, I, I got to go from that to, you know, after Halene, you know, that ravaged the part of the country that I grew up in. And we put on the benefit concert in Charlotte, my portion of the proceeds part of my portions of the proceeds. Rebuild 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 is 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.

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're raising it 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 am I have the easiest job in 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 my team that allows me to, you know, there, you know, they get to be a billboard for me when they're out, you know, meeting. You know, if I'm in there, you know, getting touched up before this thing and they're talking to you and you're like, man, well, 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. 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. What we're going to do in 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. Eight hundred and fifty people in the Georgia theater in Athens and Mike, a venue we used to play and like, I felt like the biggest venue in the world. 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 was 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. What if mine control is real?

“If you can control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have?”

Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious NLP aka Neural English Programming is a blend of hypnosis, linguistics and psychology.

Fans say it's like finally getting a user manual for your brain.

It's about engineering consciousness.

“Mine games is the story of NLP. It's crazy cast of disciples and the fake doctor who invented it at a new age commune and sold it to guys in suits.”

He stood trial for murder and got acquitted the biggest mine game of all NLP might actually work. This is real. Listen to mine games on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Black history lives in our stories, our culture, and the conversations we still have in today. This black history month, the podcast I didn't know.

Maybe you didn't either, digs into the moments, perspectives, and experiences that don't always make the text book.

Let me tell you about Garrett Morgan, for I had to pretend he didn't even exist just to sell his own invention. Listen to I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either, from the black effect podcast network, on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or simply wherever you get your podcasts. I saw a video of you starting a concert or at one point in a concept 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. Yeah.

And I'm like, dude, you did the show, like you showed up. Yeah. You did the show, but you didn't, you were like, I'm not going to be my best or something like that.

Yeah, I was like, wow, that's amazing.

Yeah, I remember it was, uh, it was in Maine is where it was. We did two nights in Bangor main and the first night.

Run of the mill show, which, and by running the mill, I mean, we had a great time. It's great. It's fun. We got buddies in town, but the particular that venue is wonderful, by the way. And we were backstage and they have great, like, they have a fire pit going and they're bringing you out. Food and, like, all the employees are so nice and it's just a great atmosphere to hang out in. And so we had some friends in town and, you know, 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 like just a little, like, it's just a little rough. Like, not my worst morning I've had, like, 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, well, man, this isn't like progressing the way it normally does. Like, 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 going 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 a any kind of singer.

“You should not get those because they're horrible for your voice in the long run.”

Don't, 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, why? 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, bye. I go to do my warmups. I do my warmups.

Let's say we're on it nine. I'll do my warmups at eight. It's 20 minutes, 25 minutes. And then I'll join the band and we all hang out and have some drinks, get together, whatever. And I get five minutes into my warmup.

And obviously, I mean, everyone's already played.

Like the first to three is played direct supports already done.

Like people are just waiting for me to come out at this point. I get five minutes into my warmup 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 even have an 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 am not going to be able to do that enough.

And so we're having conversations with what's the options. You know, he's like, well, we're just kids. Look, we're just that's what we do.

“And I was like, no, 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 our people work. And things they sacrificed 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 it's all not going to be let down by somebody else. That isn't me. So I told the campus, 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 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 you want to do, let's do it. You know, and he's who cares about the money.

Like, it doesn't matter. We'll get, we'll all refund it. So go out. And usually we have like, you know, there's the big interest. So long and like the video and all the stuff I'm like, we got to kill this dude. Like, when I'm doing my hype up video and then I'm walking out, telling him I'm not playing.

Yeah. So I walk out, I'm going to be in 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 rain him down booze, man. Like, it's just people are just brutalizing me. Oh, wow. 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 betterment of my life for my team.

Like, you deserve, you know, you spend all this money to be here. And you've got to hotel rooms and babysitters.

So I still want to give you the show.

“I'm just not going to take the money from the tickets.”

Like, and, and I'll just just, so this 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, our 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 then 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 tell you. Like, it was wrong to take the refund. Not everybody did that and I couldn't 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 lamp theater in Bangor. And it was cool, man. That's awesome. Great story.

Yeah. Great. Turned into a great story. That's awesome. I was very stressed about that.

I didn't imagine. I can imagine, but that's awesome. I love, 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 they're here in the back story behind it. I mean, you know, earlier you were talking about your wife. You've been together for 10 years now. Yeah. Thereabouts.

Yeah. It's mine and my wife's 10 year wedding anniversary this year. Oh, right. That's awesome. And so it's fun when you've lived that life with someone.

How did you guys meet? We met. She was, she actually was living in Nashville. I was living in Nashville. We had met in passing a few times.

Not not many, not more than five minutes here in there. Like, 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 share our 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, it's right. It's organization that, you know, just to collect industry beats royalties to someone writers.

“And 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. I'm Key West songwriter's festival every year. So much fun. So their whole office like shuts down.

Like, I mean, it's like, I can't tell me how many people worked there. Probably in the hundreds. And they all just kind of go to the keys and help out with events 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 invited around 200 songwriters down there all like kind of in the country space. And it's cool because BMI, you know, they put 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 it's really fun. It's a really killer. Like if you love country music, you love songwriting. You have to go. It's really, really great.

So it's 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, Tanning Wilson, who is fantastic. He was going down there. Remember me and him were having lunch.

And he was like, he's like, "Why won'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'm eating lunch with this Luke Holmes guy." And they had had a meeting over there with them.

I was there. And they were like, "Yeah." And like he can just knowing with you or whatever. So I was like, "Oh, yeah, so I was pumped up. Get down there, run into her, edit an event,

and kind of hung out, like, for the evening with friends and stuff. Like, spend a couple hours together, hanging with friends and stuff. And then once I came home, we made plans to get together. Like a couple weeks, like a couple weeks after I got home. We ended up staying in touch with you to text or whatever.

And made some plans to make some plans to get together.

“And you should have been dating ever since.”

And I was just crazy. You know what I mean? Like, she didn't have any reason to think I was cool at all. And I was wearing a T-shirt and a gym shorts when I ran into her. And she was working two jobs, making a killing.

And I got nothing going on at all. She just thought I was cool for whatever reason. I thought that was pretty awesome. So it worked out. And it was great.

Because she's been there with me since the beginning. And you know, seeing me through a lot.

And all the craziness together. And she's a busted.

“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 just ten 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 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. You say this, like everyone's like, oh, it's like, Oh, well, you know, like immediately, like, it's for a long and first sight kind of thing.

And, you know, I think that sometimes maybe does a disservice 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, they're those feelings. Like, those inherent feelings of, like, lost 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.

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 to, like, you 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 that, like, it just,

there was never any moment where I was like, maybe this isn't the person I should be with.

You know, I mean, she never, she never gave me that. Right. 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 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, ten 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 a really cool thing, man. And it's a blessing to get to get to experience life with somebody in that way. And I 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 never bringing me down. You know what I mean? Like, and she doesn't take no 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 want somebody and it's willing to just do whatever. I say all the time. That's not going to get it twisted. That that's the way it is because it ain't that like, she's the boss, but like, she is the boss. And 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 then 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 never 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 in yourself? Brother, I got no idea. Yeah, no idea. If I knew I'd be selling it.

If I knew what it was, man, I would be borrowing it up and putting it on the internet.

Because there's some magic in it. That's the key thing. Yeah, the call was pushing. Yeah, Luke, whatever it was, dude, I tell you what. It wasn't my model like figure by any chance by any stretch in the imagination.

I don't know. You know, I haven't really considered that. I thought about it a bunch of times. I don't know. I remember, I remember my dad saying to me one time,

“I think I had this crush on like a growing high school or something.”

I was kind of asking my dad for like advice on it. And I was like, man, I just like, I'm like, this is kind of cool or whatever. Why is this going on?

He's like, I'll never forget this.

He was like, hey, sometimes you just don't ask questions. And it was like, I was like, okay. It was like, when it comes to that stuff, I'm like, I maybe I don't want to know. You know what I mean?

I'm just like, whatever. You know? And so I just think sometimes when things are good, you don't really have to know why. Yeah.

You know, I think you can, you know, then you can maybe you can ruin something like that. I don't, 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, and obviously that wasn't happening when we met. Like it wasn't like we'd 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. I mean, she dated a bunch of losers. I don't know. You know what I mean? I mean, I'm not sure, you know. But no, she's red dude, but I don't know.

Just did she have a roast you? Oh, bro, all the time.

And my wife first people all the time.

All the time. Oh, the time. She groups me a part and it's like, oh, it's awesome. What would you say if she was here, she was roasting you.

What would you say? Hmm, trying to think. What would she tell? She's like, she picks on, she's like, she's like, she's like, your, your,

she's like, your, your like, definitely in there. 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 are dead.

I'm not going to not call you nerd. Yeah. Yeah. That's funny. Yeah.

It just, that kind of stuff.

“Man, she just doesn't let me get away with anything.”

You know, in a good way, you know, playful way, you know, for real though, don't let me get away with nothing either. But like, she got 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 a, afraid to say the things that you, you know, 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, one of the, this is a, this is a, this is a sleeper pick for a favorite thing about her.

It's like, I wasn't a, 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 all, there was a lot of things that I didn't like. And she really was like, you know, you want 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's such a funny thing to look at. No, I 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. 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 challenging me and pushing me to do things that are hard and pushing me to do things and encouraging me to do things that are difficult. That normally I would have, you know, faltered at before and she's just like, you know,

she's like, she's like, she's my home. She's my home. He did, you know, she's the best. I love that. I'm forward to meeting her. Yes, she sounds awesome. She sounds awesome.

Yeah. You're singing 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 when. And I'm like, it's like, yeah, that's on ribs, man.

Yeah. I didn't write that song. And that's why I love it so much.

So perfectly fits.

You know, a lot of the themes of my life, though,

the OCD stuff. You know, and that was a friend of mine wrote that with another, another great songwriter in Nashville. And when I heard it,

it was just, it was so sonically different. And then anything that's going on at home right now. There's nothing like that song going on 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 from me, but from anyone, really.

It's very slow. It's way too long. It's got to just straight up still guitar solo. Like old still guitar, not like cool still 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. Yeah.

And 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 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 a life all the way figured out.

But I'm as comfortable with not more comfortable with 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 also 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 that's kind of, you know, that's made me into the way that I am, you know,

that's just that title and itself really I feel like encapsulated. You know, the message I was trying to say with this album is, you know, 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 and like almost four years now. And it's time.

And I just, you know, I hope it's as 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 okay with that now that I've ever been.

“And that going away for four years was important.”

It was. Yeah, 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 and ever since I started. I know it's 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. Then especially the stuff we did this year. You know, we did Bonnaroo,

Laupleuse, a new portfolio festival, awesome 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, 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 hockey, don't 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 ours,

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 to.

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 that, a epiphany or experience.

And you know, the betterment of the genre is 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 been now. And it ain't stopping any time soon.

And 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 love lost money doing those shows. I took a lot less money than I usually wouldn't

to get the slot, because I wanted to be able to go and do that. Yeah. I hope some people felt that on those nights. Yeah.

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 in 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 elements, like, that'd be tough.

Or like, you come out in Bonnarou, and you're headline, and it's like, people aren't into it.

Be pretty crushing. Not.

“It could be like a pretty crushing night.”

If it doesn't go well. Yeah. But at least everyone made me feel like they weren't well, and maybe they didn't. But I felt like my perception was that they went really well,

and I enjoyed it. Yeah. Dude, I can relate, because I get asked to teach meditation in all these places. Like random places that you wouldn't expect as I did.

I did a meditation on main stage of Bonnarou, 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 experience the thing they want to experience, and it's like the pressure of that. And thankfully, when OK, it wasn't everyone was surprisingly quiet.

It was impressive. Wow. But it was, you know, my world's very different to yours,

but it's that same pressure. It's just like, how do you get people at this music festival? Right. To be quiet.

To have this moment. Yeah. So the emphasis of why they're there. Totally. But 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 you've gone so much. Yeah.

It was just a moment to like reset. It's like sniffing the coffee beans at Yankee Candle, before you smell the other candle. You know what? I've smelled all these great candles.

I know. I don't even know what this candle smells like. So you have the you're the coffee beans. Yeah. Yeah.

The coffee beans. No one knows they need. And then they smell when they're like, I'm glad I smelled those. That's how I'm going to explain it.

“Next to what I'm going to say is that's what I'm going to do.”

Here comes your coffee. Yeah. I love that. It's gone. Because everyone said how much fun you were.

We were like, we'll put together a fun game for you. We do this special guest. Okay. So this one was done for you. This game is called the everyday guy test.

So we're going to see whether you fail or pass the test. It's all for fun. Okay. I'm just putting it out there right now that I would fail this test. So I met.

Yeah. So here we go. The everyday guy test. Out of 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. To me, that's a whole new world for me. But they, they're like, they'll come up and they're like,

What is it? Do is tap okay or like, or bottled or still. Or spend like how many choices are there? I mean, water is do you have, you know? It's like, would you like it boxed or bottled or

decanted or like, like, just water would be great. I usually, my answer to that question is whatever is easiest for you. Whatever is easiest. To me, it's just all water. Yeah.

I'm like, I'm not a guy that's of the belief that like, 9.5 pH water is going to 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 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. Regular milk or almond milk. Regular milk. I do like an almond milk. I have no beef with an almond milk.

But I do. I would say probably if I had to choose regular milk. And you're not going to be the creaminess of it. All right. This one I was cracking up out when the thing put it in there.

Do you tip based on math or vibes? Oh, vibes for food. Vives for food. I'm an over-tipper. I'm like an over-tipper.

I'm like, I'm like, yeah. Like we go to a nice meal, 100 bucks, like great. Like depending upon the place, of course.

But it's like, I always try to over-tip.

I'm just grateful for anybody. You know, that works in the service industry.

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,

“it's just another version of like passing along the blessings that you have.”

This someone else and being grateful. You're winning right now, man. This is amazing. You'll be in this game. This game is losing guys.

Let's, let's do a few more. Come on. Last time you went to the grocery store. Last week. Okay.

I go every week at least twice a week. Choice of grocery store is this. Okay. You're like this one. I like the public's closest one to me.

In the same shopping center, I got a sprout. Nice. So if I'm going like, if I'm going strictly food, I'm probably going to sprout. Paper goods.

Diet Coke. Yeah. Going to public's. Yeah. I love a public's.

A lot of a pub sub. But I love a sprouts, man. It's like a... I love sprouts. It's like a less stressful whole food.

Yes. You know what I mean? Like you go in and you're not like feeling like you're in the way. You know what I mean? I went to this heroin place.

Yeah. Oh yeah. You want to spend $60 on something going to that place. I mean, it's nice in there. It is like...

If you had a different variant of OCD, you would love that place. Because everything is like, there's not a spec of dust in that place. Yeah. But if there was, you would have to pay for it, probably. Because it is not cheap.

I'll tell you that much. Oh, great. So good. So good.

“Do you pack your own clothes or do someone pack for you?”

I'll pack my own stuff, dude. I might pack him for me, dude. I'm going to ask, man, dude. I'm packing my back. [laughter]

Oh, good. All right. Last one. Last one. This one's, uh, the last time you've Venmo requested someone. Oh, gosh. Let me look. It's probably been a while. Venmo request. Yes, probably been quite some time, I would say. You see, I can pop it up here.

[laughter] I just, I'm, I know I'm genuinely curious. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know that I've requested Venmo.

I've paid people on that. Do Venmo. Yeah. But actually requesting, I don't even know that I would even have one to be quite honest. I'm going to use that.

I've got Venmoed. My buddy sent me a Venmo for some deer stands. Okay. Okay. That's my last Venmo thing.

But I can't even find a time that I'd 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, send me $20 for the check or whatever. Like, so yeah, not any Venmo requests for me. You passed the test.

You're a big guy test. I survived. Yeah. Yeah. You survived.

Yeah. You killed that.

You know, y'all, this is amazing.

Yeah. Because we need to, we need to test a few more people.

“So you've been, like, what kind of ranch would you need to spanning rancher?”

Is that what I mean? I mean, like, I thought it was going to be like, What kind of diameter? Yeah. I'm like, oh, I wouldn't know the answer.

Yeah. I was just crossing me. I wouldn't either. 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. Yeah. You missed out there.

I can, I can do it a little bit, but not to the level 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. Wouldn't that be amazing? Dude, people that do that are geniuses, man.

I don't care what anybody says. Dude, that stuff is so hard. Yeah. It's not, 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, obviously. But like, dude, anything past division and multiplication. I'm like, oh, you're speaking Chinese. I have no idea.

You know, 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. Totally community being bang right there. And everyone's everybody's happy.

Alright, finish the sentence on these ones.

As first thing that comes to mind, the thing I take way too seriously is.

Video games. Which games? Battlefield 6 recently has been kind of my, that's kind of been my thing recently. Like, incidentally 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'm not playing in Super Bowl.

I'm one. It's too sweaty. Yeah. Like, everybody's too good. There's people.

Obviously, I don't take it seriously enough. Yeah. Because I'm gone off online. But I just really playing against my buddies. But like, man, you're going to talk about, like,

I'm been out of shape. Like, I lose. 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 pettyest thing I've done recently. Oh, it's all going to be practical joke.

Like joke related.

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, we're 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. If you didn't know us, she might be like, man, these guys are ruthless. You know what I mean? Me and my voice is saying.

Yeah. Like sometimes when you've got a back and off, it looks like forget that not everyone knows as known as for 20 years. Yeah. My wife has to be like, no personal jokes.

Like, yeah.

“You know how to make, when you're guys friends.”

I love that. Don't make it around other people. If there's, if it's not just close friends, yeah. Yeah.

All the jokes about each other. Yeah. That's my petty. That's right there. My guilty pleasure artist or song is,

ooh. Um. Right now, it's Olivia Dane. It's my love.

Oh gosh. Her voice is so good, man. I thought 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 Winehouse 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. Yeah. Like the albums were real piano centric. Uh, he had that album another again, was like a soundtrack to like probably like my junior high school.

And when I heard the Olivia Dane 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. And by time, I mean like winter fall. Like it's that kind of like, it's like holiday jacet like feeling like the piano,

like good, like it just feels good to listen to. Absolutely. So I'm really, I'm really, really vibing on that hard lately. I love that. Two more of these, which fellow country star,

would you call to help you bury a dead body? Oh man, oh my gosh. It's probably Craig Morgan. Okay Craig is like ex-military. He's like one of the most wild dudes I know.

And he'd be so happy. He's like a sweetest guy in the world. But like if you crossed him, I would be so afraid of like what potentially could happen. And like he's a guy to call him like,

“hey man, like I think you come over here and hey,”

like well heck, well he'll be right over there. And he get over and just he'd be like, what do we do with that? And he's like, oh man, I've done that tons of time. You know what 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's just wouldn't ask anybody.

And he's like, well let's get it done, but you know? And he's awesome. Yeah. So good. So good.

All right. Fast 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 his very similar to mine. Um, and he's a, I mean, he's a family guy.

Like, great dad. Um, another guy that's like is like that. He's not a country or an edge here and is like that man. Like he's me and him like kind of connected on that level. 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, like you just pick up on that vibe of like, Well, this guy is like, I get this guy's like, like me. The good Charlotte guys are like that.

Binge and Joel Madden to me are like two of my favorite. I had dinner with them last night. And dinner with them every time in LA, and they're like, I mean, two of the best guys like have 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, word sometimes. Like this like I this guy gets me. I get this guy. We're just like, we're just like, we're just vibe into it.

Like we're just we're just bros like from the second we met.

And Joel was like that and was like that.

Those would be like my fix for guys.

Like if I had to spend a long time with that 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 tool.

Yeah. Yeah. Look, you've been so much fun, man. Like thank God, like I've learned about you. You've been so thoughtful, profound, hilarious.

Appreciate that. You're good energy. Like if that's such a good time getting to know you. I 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 are 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 just, it's like almost like out of body. Yeah. Love that.

In the future when your kids are asked about you,

how would you hope the first sentence goes?

He was the best dad. Nice. And fifth and final question. We asked 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? That's wow. 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 be like don't.”

Don't be on the seat. Like the airport, like it already sucks enough to like, and then when I sit down and you're old piss on the toilet, like it is just, that's the end for me. Like it just come on dude.

Like don't pay on the seat. And I won't pay on the seat. And we all just were adults. It's not that hard to not piss on the seat at the airport. It's already gross to be in there.

And 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 kids fart. It's really funny. I'm gonna strain your fart 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. And if he's wanting to do this, he's wanting to do anything. Yep. That is that's to be one of my favorite.

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 until I went to other countries. And I was like, the bathrooms are so clean. Totally. Why, why are all of our bathrooms disgusting? What does that say about us?

Yeah. And now I can't unsee it. I can't unsee how clean public bathrooms are in the rest of the world. And it's 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. I love you. I know you're awesome. Likewise. And I'm wishing you all the best, all the success, all the joy.

Thanks for having me. I love that. You bring in so much abundance into the world. I appreciate that. 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 Ruben. Follow your own inner guide.

It directs us. 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. What if mine control is real? If you can control behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have?

“Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car?”

When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious mind games.

A new podcast exploring NLP. AKA neurolinguistic programming. Is it a self-help miracle? A shady hypnosis scam? Or both?

Listen to mine games on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.