The moment of truth…
It’s been a long time coming, but Luke Combs’ cover of the Tracy Chapman hit, “Fast Car,” is finally HERE.
Luke first graced his fans with an impromptu performance of the song way back in 2018, a low-quality acoustic preview from his hotel room, but it immediately caught the attention of fans who have been begging for a studio recording ever since.
Originally written and recorded by Tracy Chapman, the childhood favorite was released in 1988 as the lead single from her 1988 self-titled debut studio album. The Grammy-winning song has been regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time by a number of different publications.
There’s a good chance that if you were born anywhere between 1985 and 1995 (give or take 5 years) that “Fast Car” immediately sparks the nostalgia fire for you, instantly taking you back to a moment in time, a childhood memory.
And for Luke, that was riding in his dad’s truck.
He joined Zane Lowe on New Music Daily on Apple Music 1 to discuss the cover, and why he finally decided to record it after all these years:
“That song’s just always been a huge part of my life, really. I’ve always loved it and I think it’s the more and more I hear it, especially the older and older I get, it just gets better and better every time. I loved it when I was five years old. And me and my dad used to listen to that album on a cassette tape in the truck.
So I loved that whole album, but that song stood out to me. And I would say it was like that song stood out above all the others even. But that’s probably the first “hit song” that I ever heard. I didn’t even know that that’s what that was, what that even meant at that time.
But for some reason, that song stood out even more than everything else on that album, which was really great, too.”
He went on to say that he didn’t try to change the arrangement very much at all, he wanted to stay true to the original.
“I think that was always the goal was just not to change it at all, really, in the sense of staying true to keeping it rooted in where it always was, I think was important. You know what I mean? Letting the riffs be kind of the star of the show. I mean, that’s how the original track is.
And I think the main differences in mine and the original is just the quality of equipment that it was recorded on, I think would be the main difference. I don’t think mine would sound markedly different.
Obviously there’s some electric stuff going on that probably wasn’t there. The chorus feels a little bit bigger, just filled out drums and things of that nature. But I think it comes down a lot to the equipment.
That song was recorded in probably 1988, I would imagine. This one was recorded in 2022. So obviously there’s been huge leaps in all sorts of technology when it comes to audio engineering and recording music since then. So I would say that was probably the biggest difference.”
And he did a great job with it.
Sometimes less is more when you’re trying to cover a classic song. With such an iconic riff that drives the melody, there really isn’t too much you can do with it other than slap a fresh coat of paint on it and present it to the world.
And as Luke explained above, that’s exactly what they did. Some modern production and technology, a little more from the backing band, but 100% true to the original.
Just knocked it clean out of the park… Tracy Chapman gonna buy another house once these royalty checks start coming in.
“Fast Car”
Gotta show a little love to the original, too:
Gettin’ Old Tracklist
1. Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old
2. Hannah Ford Road
3. Back 40 Back
4. You Found Yours
5. The Beer, The Band and The Barstool
6. Still
7. See Me Now
8. Joe
9. A Song Was Born
10. My Song Will Never Die
11. Where the Wild Things Are
12. Love You Anyway
13. Take You With Me
14. Fast Car
15. Tattoo on a Sunburn
16. 5 Leaf Clover
17. Fox in the Henhouse
18. The Part
LUKE COMBS WORLD TOUR 2023
March 25—Arlington, TX—AT&T Stadium* (SOLD OUT)
April 1—Indianapolis, IN—Lucas Oil Stadium* (SOLD OUT)
April 15—Nashville, TN—Nissan Stadium* (SOLD OUT)
April 22—Detroit, MI—Ford Field* (SOLD OUT)
April 29—Pittsburgh, PA—Acrisure Stadium* (SOLD OUT)
May 6—Chicago, IL—Soldier Field* (SOLD OUT)
May 13—Minneapolis, MN—U.S. Bank Stadium* (SOLD OUT)
May 20—Boise, ID—Albertsons Stadium* (SOLD OUT)
May 27—Vancouver, BC—BC Place* (SOLD OUT)
June 3—Edmonton, AB—Commonwealth Stadium* (SOLD OUT)
June 10—Kansas City, MO—GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium* (SOLD OUT)
June 17—St. Louis, MO—Busch Stadium* (SOLD OUT)
July 8—Tampa, FL—Raymond James Stadium* (SOLD OUT)
July 15—Charlotte, NC—Bank of America Stadium* (SOLD OUT)
July 22—Foxborough, MA—Gillette Stadium* (SOLD OUT)
July 29—Philadelphia, PA—Lincoln Financial Field* (SOLD OUT)
August 9—Auckland, New Zealand—Spark Arena+ (SOLD OUT)
August 11—Brisbane, Australia—Brisbane Entertainment Centre+ (SOLD OUT)
August 12—Brisbane, Australia—Brisbane Entertainment Centre+ (SOLD OUT)
August 16—Sydney, Australia—Qudos Bank Arena+ (SOLD OUT)
August 17—Sydney, Australia—Qudos Bank Arena+ (SOLD OUT)
August 19—Melbourne, Australia—Rod Laver Arena+ (SOLD OUT)
August 20—Melbourne, Australia—Rod Laver Arena+ (SOLD OUT)
August 23—Adelaide, Australia—Adelaide Entertainment Centre+ (SOLD OUT)
August 26—Perth, Australia—RAC Arena+ (SOLD OUT)
September 30—Oslo, Norway—Spektrum Arena (SOLD OUT)
October 1—Stockholm, Sweden—Avicii Arena (SOLD OUT)
October 4—Copenhagen, Denmark—Forum Black Box (SOLD OUT)
October 6—Hamburg, Germany—Barclays Arena
October 7—Amsterdam, Netherlands—AFAS Live (SOLD OUT)
October 8—Paris, France—La Cigale (SOLD OUT)
October 10—Zurich, Switzerland—The Hall
October 11—Brussels, Belgium—Ancienne Belgique (SOLD OUT)
October 13—Dublin, Ireland—3Arena (SOLD OUT)
October 14—Belfast, N. Ireland—SSE Arena (SOLD OUT)
October 16—Glasgow, Scotland—OVO Hydro Arena (SOLD OUT)
October 17—Manchester, England—AO Arena (SOLD OUT)
October 19—London, England—The O2 Arena (SOLD OUT)
October 20—London, England—The O2 Arena (SOLD OUT)
*with special guests Riley Green, Lainey Wilson, Flatland Cavalry and Brent Cobb
+with special guests Cody Johnson and Lane Pittman
