Centering his fifth studio album around his duties as a dad — even titling the project Fathers & Sons — country music lovers are likely aware that Luke Combs is a proud father of two, taking care of 2-year-old Tex and 10-month-old Beau when he isn’t traveling the globe as a world-renowned country star. While songs like “Front Door Famous” and “Whoever You Turn Out to Be” cover the joys of being a dad, there is one major part of his fatherhood journey that is not mentioned within Fathers & Sons, simply because it’s really hard for [him] to deal with.”
While he was there for the birth of Tex two years ago, his wife Nicole Combs (formerly Hocking) was all alone — with the exception of her “support system,” consisting of her mom and sister — for the birth of Beau, as the “Beautiful Crazy” singer was overseas. For the first time, Combs opened up about missing his second son’s birth, detailing just how traumatic that day was for him in a tear-jerking conversation with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe.
Describing the moment as “one of the best and one of the worst days in [his] life,” the country crooner then delved into the details:
“The 16th, I wake up in the morning. I’m in Sydney, Australia in a hotel room, and we’re on tour in Australia, and I woke up to this — I probably woke up at around 8am or something like that Australia time — and I had a text from my wife, and it said ‘I’m so sorry. I really tried to not have the baby while you’re gone.'”
Choking back tears, Combs uttered “It sucked” repeatedly, prior to continuing the conversation with Lowe:
“He was born on August 15th in the States, and I got to see him be born, which was awesome. He wasn’t born yet, but my wife, she texts me on the way to the hospital, and he was two and a half weeks early and I was supposed to be home and I wasn’t. That was real hard to do.”
Wiping away his tears, the “Beer Never Broke My Heart” singer concluded passionately:
“It’s a defining moment in my life for sure. It sums up, in a lot of ways, some of the bad parts of the music business — the leaving and your schedule’s crazy and you’re traveling all over the place. It’s not like I can drop everything I’m doing and fly 18 hours home.”
Naturally, his supporters took to the comment section of the podcast to share their support of the North Carolina native, reminding him that this was not his fault:
“Luke never beat yourself up for missing the birth of your boy, you weren’t to know, thank you for everything you do for the fans. I love your music it’s helped me get through some of the toughest parts of my life in the past year, you’re incredible and you should be so proud of yourself for all the work you do.”
For updates regarding Luke Combs — and both his musical journey AND his fatherhood journey — fans can keep up with the country superstar on social media at @lukecombs. In the meantime, you can listen to the entire podcast episode here: