Luke Combs wants you to know one thing: He’s a regular guy. He might be playing songs that immediately become playlist staples, but those ballads and rockers are, he maintains, the same ones he’d be playing if he were only outfitted with, as he croons on the opening track of his third album, Growin’ Up, “tips in a jar, my guitar, and an old barstool.” The 32-year-old North Carolinian, reigning Country Music Entertainer of the Year, stadium headliner, and holder of multiple platinum records, is trying hard to not be starstruck by his own success. Mostly, it works. While similar claims of humility from megastars can come off as a bit far-fetched, the dozen songs on Growin’ Up bear out the just-from-the-heart assertions that appear on the slow-burning “Doin’ This.” Combs adds just enough modern-day brawn to Nashville songwriting ideals to make the LP an enjoyable, and at times moving, spin through his world of small-town bars and big-hearted people. On Growin’ … [Read more...] about Luke Combs’s Latest is Arena-Country With Nuance and Intimacy