This week’s Top of the Country post steps into Luke Combs’ new album The Way I Am.
As we would expect from Combs, this is a solid album that is perhaps a bit more reflective than “Beer Never Broke My Heart.” As far as I can tell (and feel free to correct me in the comments), these are all original songs. There are no covers here. At some point I should write a piece on the decline of covering others’ songs. It seems to be a much less common occurrence than it used to be. (For that matter I’m not always sure what counts as a “cover”–if Combs had included a version of “Danny Boy” on this track would that be a “cover”? Or just his rendition of a classic song?) Combs also has a writing credit on most of the included songs.
A few standout songs from the album include “Seeing Someone” (I’m a sucker for a good ghost song), “The Me Part of You,” “Ain’t no Cowboy”, and “Tell ’em about Tonight.”
I think one especially interesting note on this album are the two songs directly referencing cowboys.
This is another vanishing aspect of Country music–the “Western” influence. The “Country” charts of course used to be the “Country and Western” charts. The look used to be pseudo-Western. Nudie Suits (prior to the 80s) and Cowboy hats (80s and 90s) defined the style of Country music singers. The music at least occasionally gave a nod to the West as well, with the occasional song about working with cattle on the range or riding horses.
That all vanished in the 2000s with the wild resurgence of Southern rural culture rising to the top. The ball cap, t-shirt, and ripped jeans replaced Western wear and muddin’ with the truck replaced the campfire on the prairie. (To be fair, we had been warned.)
But every once in a while the Western cowboy will make a brief reappearance. Sort-of. Here Luke Combs makes the references, but! First he is very clear that “I Ain’t No Cowboy.” Like Toby Keith this is a wistful claim, but it’s still notice of what he is not. Even “Back in the Saddle” (which is NOT a cover of “Back in the Saddle Again,” and as far as I can tell doesn’t reference it aside from the title) focuses in its lyrics on Combs’ singing career. The video of course focuses on NASCAR.
Neither singing nor NASCAR require saddles, but here we are.
On a slightly different note, Brent Cobb is a co-writer on one of the songs on this album, and it’s nice to see him working with a big-name artist. If you’ve not encountered Cobb, you should.
Overall this is a solid album and you should listen to it. As a Christian it’s especially interesting, since throughout there is a fairly honest self-assessment going on. All the good and bad of “Who I Am” is on display not so much unapologetically as reflectively. In the same way we ought to think about who we are, how we have been made in God’s image, and how we are fallen and in need of salvation. The Way I Am is mostly without religious undertones, but because (like all good Country music) it is honest it can serve a great place to start some serious self-examination.
Dr. Coyle Neal co-hosts the City of Man Podcast and is an Amazon Associate (which is linked in this blog). He teaches Political Science, Philosophy, and History in Southwest Missouri.
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