When Luke Combs shared the track list for his next album, Growin’ Up, earlier this month, there were one especially eye-catching piece of news: A duet with Miranda Lambert called “Outrunnin’ Your Memory.”
But Luke says that the two stars didn’t necessarily set out to sing together. It all started with a co-writing session, Luke explains.
“We wrote that song together, and it wasn’t like we sat down to write a duet. I didn’t plan to have her on my album and she didn’t plan for us to write a song for hers,” he recalls. “There were no intentions in the songwriting other than, ‘Let’s go write a song that we both think is really good.’”
Mission accomplished: When he started cutting songs for Growin’ Up, “Outrunnin’ Your Memory” is at the forefront of Luke’s mind.
“When we were going in the studio, I was like, ‘I gotta cut this song,’” he goes on to say. “It was never like, ‘Man, it’s gonna be this duet, and we’re gonna do this.’ It was like, ‘We gotta have her on this song, right? It’s too good, and she’s too good, not to do it.’”
Still, it’s not too much of a surprise that Miranda would help pen a song that was a must-have for Luke’s next album cycle. He’s long been influenced by her writing style.
“She’s somebody I’ve looked up to for so long as a songwriter. And what she does as an artist is, I think, super authentic and amazing as well,” he comments.
Luke’s had good luck with megawatt collabs in the past. His last album contained “Does to Me,” a duet with another of his musical heroes -- Eric Church -- and the song was a chart-topping hit.
Growin’ Up drops on June 24.