Fathers & Sons

Luke Combs turns an eye to familial relationships on this follow-up to 2023’s *Gettin’ Old*, considering his relationship with his sons as well as his connection to his own father. Released days before Father’s Day in the US, the country superstar’s fifth studio album, *Fathers & Sons*, finds Combs in a tender place. Opening track “Front Door Famous” is a sweet and vivid ode to coming home after time out on the road and “walking through the front door hearing, ‘Daddy.’” “The Man He Sees in Me” is Combs at his most vulnerable, as he expresses the fearful hope that his son “never finds out that I didn\'t hang the moon.” On “My Old Man Was Right,” Combs revisits advice from his own father, connecting his own experience of being “too young” to listen to his “old man” to how he hopes to parent his own children. And he closes the project with “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” a clever and nuanced celebration of going to the ballpark with Dad. Combs tapped an all-star band for the project, with players including Sam Bush on mandolin, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Bryan Sutton on acoustic guitar, and Charlie Worsham on acoustic guitar. The group recorded the record live with Combs co-producing alongside Chip Matthews and Jonathan Singleton.

Combs works squarely within the genre’s traditions to deliver a lovely, albeit predictable, collection of easygoing tunes