Throughout his rise to country stardom and ever since his arrival as one of the genre's most visible celebrities, Luke Combs has spoken glowingly about his parents: Rhonda and Chester Combs.
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Luke was born on March 2, 1990, in Huntersville, NC. As an only child, Luke and his parents relocated to Asheville, NC, when the future hitmaker was 8. Both parents worked full time while raising their son on a fixed income.
"My parents have always been really great at living within their means and not buying anything that they couldn't afford," Combs said during the 2019 CMA Fest (as quoted by The Boot). "I didn't understand how important that was until I started working. My parents just always told me, 'If you want something, and you can't afford it, just don't get it.'"
In some ways, Rhonda and Chester are public figures who are often present at their son's concerts. However, little is known about them, from their ages to their past careers.
That said, Luke has talked about them frequently in interviews over the years, making it easy to imagine them as typical, hard-working parents.
Here's what we do know about their impact on Luke's career and the ways he's paid them back since becoming a superstar.
Rhonda Inspired Luke to Play Music
Luke wasn't a child prodigy by any means. Although he sang in his school's chorus and musicals and his church's choir, his development as a singer-songwriter and guitarist began during his years studying at Appalachian State University.
"I was working a job at a go-cart place in Asheville, where I worked in high school," Luke told "Today's" Willie Geist. "I'd just go to work, go home. I was sitting there like, 'Man, I don't have anything to do.' My mom was like, 'Well, you know Kenny Chesney, he didn't learn to play guitar until he was 21.' I was 21 at the time. I was like, 'Oh, if that guy can do it, then I can do it.'"
Luke Spent Early-Stardom Earnings on His Parents
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After the hit single "Hurricane" changed Luke's fortunes in 2016, he began giving back to his parents. With his first sizable paycheck, he paid off his childhood home, where his parents still reside to this day.
"I remember calling my parents and being like, 'I'm paying your house off.' And they were like, 'What? You can't. No. Don't do that,'" Luke told Apple Music's Zane Lowe. "And I was like, 'No. I'm doing it. That's what I'm doing.' So I bought myself a truck and I pay my parents' house off first thing away.
"It was the first thing I did, man. I mean, had to," he continued. "Had to because you realize how hard ... I mean, we didn't have a lot of money, man. We did not. My parents were really good at making it seem like we were doing fine. And we were doing fine. I had everything I needed and not a lot of what I wanted. I'll put it that way."
Since then, he's given his parents enough to help both retire early, freeing them up to live the type of life they couldn't previously afford.
"That decision was solely predicated off being able to spend more time with my parents as they get older," Luke told CMT. "My mom retired literally two weeks ago. So watching that happen has been not only a joy for me, but a great way for them to have the financial freedom and the ability to come out and experience some of these awesome things that I get to do, right by my side, which I wouldn't trade it for anything."
Both Parents Are Huge Supporters of Luke's Career
Rhonda and Chester regularly attend Luke's shows, which included his career-affirming 2018 shows at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium.
"Oh, Mom always loves the show, man," Luke told KTLO 1240 AM. "I think Mom's more famous than me, honestly, at the gigs, man. She's out dancing up and down the aisles and stuff ... she's awesome.
"My parents have always been super supportive," he continued. "They try to come to as many shows as they can."
They're Luke's Favorite Superheroes
Luke is so close with his parents that he considers them to be his heroes.
"My superheroes are my parents, they did a whole lot for me growing up and I think I turned out alright. And I think in today's crazy world that's a pretty incredible achievement in itself," Luke said at the 2021 ACM Awards (as quoted by People).
Luke went on to explain some of the lessons he learned from his parents at a young age.
"My parents instilled a lot of great things in me, I think," he explained. "You know, treating others the way you want to be treated. I think that's a really important thing and really surrounding yourself with the right people I think is always something that's super important. Having a lot of really great friends around. And just being a good person in general, I think that's some skills that have served me well and I have my parents to thank."
Chester Inspired Luke's Cover of 'Fast Car'
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Luke's music has gotten more introspective and in-the-moment ever since he became a spouse and parent himself. Yet his award-winning and chart-topping 2023 cover of Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" looks back to simpler times spent with Chester.
"Me and my dad would ride around and listen to all sorts of things. My dad listens to everything," Combs said (as quoted by iHeart Country). "One of the first songs I remember hearing, he popped a cassette in, and — I loved this whole album — there was this one song that really stuck out to me, though, and it was called 'Fast Car.' That song has meant a lot to me ever since then. My whole life. I always think about my dad when it comes on, and us spending time together. As soon as I could play guitar, I tried to learn how to play this song, and it took me so long to learn how to play it because I was so bad. Last year I got to record my own version."
A staple of Combs' live set, "Fast Car" became part of his discography as a selection on his 2023 album Growin' Old. The studio version stays true to the original to the extent that Combs kept the lone gender-specific line intact.
"You want to just be mega respectful of the original song," Combs told Apple Music's Kelleigh Bannen. "That's why in that song, it's, 'work in the market as a checkout girl.' I didn't change that in my version. I really wanted to just do the original version of the song.
"It's weird because you're doing a cover of it and you say, 'I don't want to make it my own, because I really just really want to shine a light on the original version and bring that,' because I think there's so many people that maybe know that song or it would be familiar to them, but they really don't know anything about it. They've never really listened to it," he continued. "When I recorded this, literally the engineer in there asked me who I wrote that song with."
