NEED TO KNOW
- Luke Combs revealed that Garth Brooks once gifted him a Bronco Raptor — a car that could cost up to $90,000
- Brooks’ generous gift was for Combs’ appearance at the Nashville Songrwriter Awards in 2022
- Combs’ new song “Back in the Saddle” is available to stream
Luke Combs is riding in style, thanks to another country star.
During an appearance on the Armchair Expert podcast on Monday, Aug. 18, the “Back in the Saddle” singer revealed the generous and unexpected gift Garth Brooks gave him: a blue Bronco Raptor.
Combs, 35, recalled last Christmas when his manager showed up at his house without any warning, driving the luxury vehicle.
“And he would never show up at my house unannounced, so I was like, ‘Man, this is kind of weird that he would show up,’ ” he said. “So he walks in and I’m like, ‘Well, I guess he’s giving me a Christmas present…’ So he comes in and he throws me the keys to this thing and I’m like, ‘Are you giving me your car, dude?’ Like, ‘What is this?’ ”
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Combs’ manager then revealed who the blue Bronco Raptor was from. “He’s like, ‘No, man, Garth [Brooks] bought you this,’ ” the country star said. “I was like, ‘What?’ ” Combs hadn’t known Brooks, 63, that well at the time, adding that the car was likely $90,000.
He also reflected on his connection with the “Friends in Low Places” crooner, which dated back to 2022 at the Nashville Songwriters Awards, which honored Brooks. “And they did it at the Ryman [Auditorium in Nashville] and all these people came and like you picked your favorite song that Garth has written.”
Combs was asked to sing Brooks’ 1995 song “The Beaches of Cheyenne” at the ceremony. For making that appearance, Combs’ manager said that Brooks gifted him the luxury car.
Combs said that his manager was contacted by Brooks’ team the week after the induction ceremony, asking what he liked, and decided to order him a Bronco Raptor as a token of his gratitude. “I guess they were on hold or something, so it took like a year to get it in,” Combs noted.
Combs also said that he and Brooks hadn’t spoken since that night in Nashville, but he called him up after receiving the car.
He said that his appearance at the induction ceremony wasn’t a heavy lift since it wasn’t a far commute for him that evening, adding that he only participated in part of the event.
“Yeah, but you could have went out and you could have booked your own show that night and you know made this much money,” Combs recalled Brooks telling him. “I was just kind of floored by that, to be honest.”
Combs joked that he needed to find out if the other musicians who took part in the induction ceremony were also gifted cars.
Combs, who brought out Brooks and Good Charlotte at Stagecoach to close out his headlining set, spoke to PEOPLE in May about the performances he has lined up for 2025.
“We got 20-something shows this year. I’ve already done 10 of them. I got 14 more shows for the rest of the whole year,” he said at the time. “I want to be home with my kids. I want to see my kids grow up and I want them to know that they’re important to me.”
“I feel like country music for a long time has been, ‘Let’s tour every year as hard as we can tour’ while it’s hot,” he continued. “But I’m now like, ‘Why can’t you tour really hard, build a really great fan base, care about them, support them, give them exclusive things, give them great experiences and let them understand that you care about them,’ and then if you do want some time for you, you can tell them, ‘I can’t tour this year,'”
He noted that he “wanted to get to the point where I could do that, and it not be career suicide.”
Combs’ new song “Back in the Saddle” is available to stream now.
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