Dad life.
This past weekend, Luke Combs headlined the Newport Folk Festival at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island, where he had a pretty viral moment, breaking down in tears while singing “Whoever You Turn Out To Be,” which was part of his highly personal project, Fathers & Sons, that he put out lats year and included a number of songs about fatherhood and raising his two boys, Tex and Beau.
When Luke was first announced as a headliner for the Newport Folk Festival, reaction from fans was mixed at best. It typically sells out every year before the lineup is even announced because it’s such a well-respected and impressive event ever year, so people trust that certain types of artists will make the cut every year.
Luke is obviously down the middle county, so it was a bit of a different pick, but it sounds like he really curated his set list to fit the more stripped back, acoustic style of the festival, but he didn’t anticipate just how emotional he would get playing these newer ones about being a dad. And in the middle of the song, after Combs sings the line “But you ain’t gotta change the world to make your daddy proud,” he fully breaks down and has to take a second to compose himself before continuing with the song.
After taking a few beats with his head in his hands, Combs grabs his towel and apologizes to the crowd:
“Sorry. That got me a little bit.”
Then jumps back into the chorus, but you can tell that the song is choking him throughout the remainder of the performance. After the song’s conclusion, Combs says to the crowd.
“I remember why we don’t play that one very much… I apologize. I don’t apologize, because I was in the moment there…”
It was honestly precious:
@lukecombshq “But you ain’t gotta change the world to make your daddy proud” 💙😭 @Luke Combs @Newport Folk Fest ♬ Whoever You Turn Out to Be – Luke Combs
Here’s another angle:
@emmaslicklen🫶🏼♬ original sound – Emma Slicklen
It’s clear how much he loves his kids, but of course, it’s not something you see him do often, if ever, and that’s mostly because he doesn’t usually play those kinds of songs at his live shows. During an interview on the Mostly Sports With Mark Titus and Brandon Walker podcast, Luke explained how that one ended up on the set list:
“The offer to play Newport was a little bit contentious for me from some of the fans of that festival. Because it sells out every year, before they even announce who’s playing. Just people go because it’s such a famous festival with such a great lineup. And when I got announced, there was a lot of, it was a 50-50 thing like, ‘Oh, this could be cool, or it was, ‘Why would you book this guy?’
So me and the band kind of built a special set, the first maybe 3/4 of the set was really broken down acoustic stuff, so not my hit stuff. B-side kind of stuff for me. Obviously I wrote a record for my sons last year, and I played a couple of those songs. And there’s there’s one song in particular on there called ‘Whoever You Turn Out To Be.’ Which is a song for my sons… we hardly ever play this song, because if we’re playing in a stadium, or it’s Lollapalooza, like, this not really the moment or that.
I mean, like, people are there to hear ‘Beer Never Broke My Heart,’ and ‘When It Rains It Pours.’ Sure, there’s a place every now and again for a slower song, but especially at a place like Lollapalooza where it’s not just my show. Like, I’m there as an artist on the festival. I’m not trying to bring, well, okay, let me play seven or eight songs that 90% of the people here haven’t heard. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, for people that do it, but it’s just not a song we play a lot.”
It was a smart move, and honestly pretty fun to see him in a bit of a different element in terms of how it compares to his normal, much more loud and high energy live shows.
But Luke said he could feel himself getting closer to crying as he went through the first verse and chorus, especially because he was coming from just spending a month at home with his wife and sons.
The crowd cheered him on, but Luke still couldn’t finish the song:
“And so we’re playing it at Newport, we haven’t played a show in about a month. I’ve been home with the kids and the wife, and I just broke down, man, right in the middle of it. Just full-blown, the band is still playing. It’s supposed to be the chorus, and I’m just sitting on a stool just crying.
Because I’m just not used to doing that song, and before we did the song, I’m giving the story of the song. I’m like, hey, you know this song is… I want my kids to know that no matter what, I’m I’m there for them regardless of whoever they may be. As I was talking, I was thinking about it, and then I’m singing the first verse and the first chorus and I’m trying to keep it together on the second verse and I’m getting through it, and I’m like man, everybody just thinks I’m a terrible singer right now.
Like, I’m actually about to really start crying, and we get to the second course and I just lost it. Didn’t sing the whole second chorus, we just did one more chorus and I was like, that’s it. That’s enough. I can’t take it. The crowd was cheering. They were cheering, they were loving it.”
The last thing anyone could ever accuse him of is being a bad singer, and it’s actually really sweet and endearing to hear the full story behind what happened and why he was so emotional. Luke’s already such a humble, down-to-earth guy, but this just makes him even more relatable and likable, and I’m sure once his sons are old enough to understand it, the moment will mean a lot to them too.
Luke also played an awesome cover of “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” during this set, and from the videos I’ve seen, it looked like he crushed it considering just how different it was, and I hope I can see him do another similar show with the more acoustic style because that’s just my favorite.
If you haven’t listened to the song before, it’s so beautiful, but as you might imagine based on Luke’s reaction to playing it live, you might wanna grab a tissue first…
“Whoever You Turn Out to Be”
The full podcast:
