The cover of Luke Combs' 'Growin' Up' is a nod to the early days of his career

Sony Music Nashville

The cover of Luke Combs' new album, Growin' Up, comes from a personal place. 

When brainstorming ideas for the cover, which features half of the singer's face over a sketch drawing of a bar with neon signs advertising ice cold beer, Luke pulled inspiration from the early days of his career before he was a chart-topping superstar.

The image serves as an homage to the local bars he used to perform at in his home state of North Carolina before moving to Nashville where he's since become one of the biggest artists in country music.  

"I really wanted it to feel like those bar gigs that I was playing a lot when I started out, especially in North Carolina, so that's where the idea came from," he explains. "I almost wanted it to feel like when you see the bar in the background, it almost looks like I'm walking in the bar to do a show. [That] was in my head what I thought it was going to be is like we're walking in and there's a stage, if you were to flip the camera around, there would be a stage that I was walking to." 

Though the album dropped on Friday, Luke already has a hit on his hands and another on the way, as the lead single, "Doin' This," became his 14th #1 hit last month. The current single off the album, "The Kind of Love We Make," is also racing up the top 30 on country radio. 

Monday, June 27, 2022 at 6:00AM by Stephen Hubbard & Cillea Houghton Permalink