Having your debut album be produced by the great Dave Cobb is quite an accomplishment
And Luke Grimes was fully aware of what a big deal that was, as his recent self-titled debut country project was produced by Dave, who was the mastermind behind iconic records like Sturgill Simpson’s Metamodern Sounds In Country Music, Jason Isbell’s Southeastern, Whiskey Myers’ Early Morning Shakes, Colter Wall’s self-titled album and the list goes on.
If he’s signing on to do a project, that means it’s gonna be good, and he’s easily the most sought-after, well-respected producer in country right now. So yeah, I knew when I heard he was working with Grimes, there was no way I wouldn’t love it…
And last week, I had some time to speak with Grimes as he just launched a new partnership with Carhartt, that features a five-minute short film called “Setting the Stage.” Through it, he shares the untold story of how his experience working in the skilled trades helped create a legacy within the TV, film and now music industries.
And of course, I had to ask him about working with Dave and what that whole experience was like.
Luke says he never would’ve thought Dave would agree to it, and that it’s “not lost on” him how lucky he was to get him. Actually, Dave had remembered meeting Luke around 12 years prior through their mutual friend, Shooter Jennings, way before Dave had worked with Isbell or Stapleton yet.
But when they met again, Dave told him he wanted to hear some demos of the music Luke was planning to cut and they would go from there:
“The meeting went well and he was just basically like, ‘Look, I choose anything I do based off the songs, so send me a few songs and and then we’ll go from there.’ That day, I send him like three work tapes, just kind of like singing into the iPhone kind of tapes.
He responded back in a text message saying ‘Let’s do it.’ And I started jumping up and down, of course, just thinking like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe it’s happening.'”
Luke quickly got nervous though, too, because he realized his debut album was the next project up after Cobb produced Chris Stapleton’s incredible 2023 Higher album.
He joked that he “felt like apologizing” knowing he’d have to follow Stapleton… which I don’t think any artist on the planet really wants to do, quite frankly, but especially when this is your first time doing something of this nature like making an album:
“And then that was immediately followed by a flood of nerves, because I knew he was literally doing the Chris Stapleton album, and then I was going to be right after… I felt like apologizing.
You’re doing the greatest of all time, and then my first album and I’m learning. I’m like… I sang in my bedroom, you know. I’d never gone into a studio and made songs like that. It was always for myself.
But you know, he was great about that. He was great about kind of realizing why I would be nervous and helping me through that… I really liked that.”
Even though he’s a heartthrob actor who has clearly accomplished a lot, it’s refreshing that he remains so humble and such a huge fan of country even though he’s an artist now himself, too.
In addition to his schedule with acting and Yellowstone about to start filming again, Luke is slated to play Stagecoach this weekend and perform songs from his aforementioned self-titled album.
You can watch the short film with Carhartt below.
