The two biggest country artists of the last two or three years have been Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs. Both of them happen to release a new album in March of 2023.
Both Wallen and Combs have a unique, rough-around-the-edges voice that are probably the secret sauce to their success. Interestingly enough, they both auditioned for “The Voice” TV show well before their careers took off.
Prior to their latest albums, I’d say I liked both artists equally. They both had a handful of great songs which I like. With their most recent albums, however, they’ve gone in two different directions to me.
Morgan Wallen released One Thing at a Time which has 36 tracks. It may be the longest album I’ve ever listened to in terms of the number of songs. Some are true country, others are pop songs, others have a hip hop track.
Luke Combs released Gettin’ Old which is its own album but also the companion piece to Growin’ Up he released last year. If you combine them, ‘Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old’ would be 30 tracks. So, it’s pretty big too. But Gettin’ Old is the most recent album and that’s what I’m comparing to One Thing at a Time.
Musically, Luke Combs’ album is country from start to finish while Morgan Wallen’s is not. I don’t really like the hip hop tracks made for the mass audience, but they aren’t terrible either. I would’ve preferred One Thing at a Time to be cut in half to equal the 18 tracks on Growin’ Old and have them all be country.
Both artists are primed for mass appeal and playing arenas and stadiums. They’ve perfected the 3-minute verse, chorus, verse, chorus, hook, chorus song. I’m generally a bigger fan of instrumental breaks than listening to lyrics but when you’re listening to standard country songs like these the lyrics stand out – and that’s where the stark difference is between these two albums.
Almost every single song on Wallen’s album is about drinking. I haven’t counted, but it’s got to be over 30 of the 36. It may be 34 of 36. He’s either in trouble because of alcohol, wanting to drink, currently drinking, you name it – the song is drenched in alcohol. Clearly – Morgan Wallen has a drinking problem….this album sounds like a cry for help when it also includes a few songs about the faith he’s admittedly not walking in.
By contrast, Combs’ has a song (“Joe”) about a recovering alcoholic who is finding happiness in his sobriety. This type of song, by the way, is an excellent change of pace from the run-of-the-mill small town, truck country song which is refreshing….and uplifting.
Luke Combs’ album does have it’s share of songs about drinking, but they are fewer and more subtle, especially compared to Morgan Wallen. One might say that Combs’, who has a wife and child, has become the more mature family man than the single Wallen and it’s being reflected in the songs.
For me, there’s only four or five songs from One Thing at a Time I can listen to with my kids around. And if I can’t listen with my kids around I’m not going to listen to it. Combs’ album has 16 or 17 out of 18 I can. So, I guess as a family man myself I much prefer Gettin’ Old.
I’m glad to see guys like Luke Combs have success with solid country songs that have steel and fiddle. There are a lot of artists like Cody Johnson, Josh Ward, Jon Pardi, Cody Jinks and others who are also putting out similar great country music and should be played [more] in the mainstream.
Maroon and White Blog 