Luke Combs Says Kentucky Puts Out The Greatest Country Music: “The Talent Is Just Unmatched”

Luke Combs just ended the “Great Country Music State Debate.”

Now if you had to guess which state Combs would show favoritism too, you’d imagine that it would be his home state of North Carolina. He was born and raised in the Tar Heel State, and shows a lot of pride for the college he attended: Appalachian State University. Typically, if Combs was asked any question that requires him to rank states, he’d put North Carolina, or the Carolinas, at the top of the list.

Unless you were to ask him which state produces the best country music.

Recently, Luke Combs took some time to collaborate with Barstool Sports ahead of his Lollapalooza set on Thursday. At one point, he dropped into the Mostly Sports with Mark Titus and Brandon Walker podcast and talked a bit about music… and sports, of course. During the conversation, the country music star was asked which state is responsible for putting out the best country music.

Before Luke Combs got into his answer, some states like Tennessee, Texas, and the Carolinas were thrown out there as options by others. Titus, who proposed the question to the “When It Rains It Pours” singer, even assumed that Combs would answer with North Carolina (with himself and Eric Church hailing from that state).

But Luke Combs surprised everyone with his answer:

“I would biased-ly say Carolina, but truthfully, it’s Kentucky. You’ve got Tyler Childers, Chris Stapleton, Keith Whitley. There’s just… to me the talent in Kentucky is just unmatched. North Carolina is great… Kentucky is a stacked state, in my opinion.”

Sturgill Simpson was also mentioned as a country music artist from the Bluegrass State, and just for good measure, I included some other icons of the genre that were from Kentucky:

-Loretta Lynn

-Patty Loveless

-Ricky Skaggs

-Naomi Judd

-Chris Knight

-Wynonna Judd

-Dwight Yoakam

-Billy Ray Cyrus

And those are just some of the legends… Kentucky also boasts the likes of Cole Chaney, Nicholas Jamerson, Kelsey Waldon, Dillon Carmichael, Ian Noe, Carly Pearce, Jeremy Pinnell,

As someone who was also born and raised in Kentucky, I took a little bit of pride in hearing that Luke Combs thinks the Bluegrass State creates and crafts the best country music. I’m even comfortable with closing the debate right there, you know? If one of the biggest stars of the genre says that, it has to be the undeniable truth (even though Combs pointed out it was his opinion).

Combs later conceded that some other states would like a word when it comes to the “putting out the best country music” conversation:

“Texas is stacked. Obviously (they’ve got) George Strait. There’s a lot of guys from Tennessee: Kenny Chesney, Morgan Wallen. Quite a few guys are from Tennessee. At most, everyone comes there.”

It’s a good conversation starter, especially if you want to get country music fans really fired up. But with Kentucky boasting a roster of names like Childers, Stapleton, Sturgill, Keith Whitley, and Loretta Lynn… is there honestly a state that can measure up? Am I just saying that because I’m from Kentucky? Are you getting mad at me for only putting together interrogative sentences without answering them myself?

Best to just listen to Luke Combs talk about it:

The post Luke Combs Says Kentucky Puts Out The Greatest Country Music: “The Talent Is Just Unmatched” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.