Luke Combs Gives Update on Upcoming Third Album Ahead of 2021 ACM Awards

Luke Combs is opening up about his highly-anticipated, upcoming third studio album. During a recent interview with Audacy’s Katie Neal, the current ACM Entertainer of the Year nominee revealed where he is so far in regards to completing the project.

“Gosh. There’s no way of knowing. I don’t know, like 30 [percent],” Combs said of the status of his next full body of work. “But that number could jump up…. you know, I could go into the studio one more time, and that number could be one hundred. I mean, it just depends, I don’t know. It’s kind of a feel thing.”

Combs officially began laying the groundwork for his forthcoming project in early March. And although he hasn’t shared a release date for the album yet, he has been teasing fans with new updates on social media.

In recent weeks, Combs posted not one but two songs that will potentially be featured on the album. They include “See Me Now,” which he co-wrote with Ray Fulcher, James McNair, and Kenton Bryant, and “We Still Drink Beer,” inspired by a fan photo on Twitter.

New music from the country hitmaker will be put on hold going into the 56th annual Academy of Country Music Awards. Instead, he will deliver a performance of his latest chart-topping hit, “Forever After All,” which appears on the deluxe edition of his double-platinum second studio album, What You See Ain’t Always What You Get. Combs will take the stage at Nashville’s iconic Grand Ole Opry House, which is one of three venues featured during the awards show. For the second year in a row, and in partnership with Ford and Guitars 4 Vets, Combs will also honor military veterans with a special tribute performance of Damon Williams’ self-penned song, “It’s Alright.”

Speaking of performances, Combs mentioned that he’s excited to see other artists taking the stage together during the show.

“There’s a lot of collabs this year, which I think is a cool thing,” Combs said. “They did such a great job last year of using the situation to the show’s benefit, which is making it super musical. There weren’t a lot of bells and whistles because there couldn’t be a ton of production people and there couldn’t be a bunch of people on set doing set design and moving stuff around. I think I’m looking forward to all the performances because last year it was so musical, it was real bare-bones there wasn’t a lot to hide behind last year. I’m looking forward to that and hoping they continue that motif of making it super musical.”

Combs is up for three awards going into the 2021 ACM Awards. As previously mentioned, he’s in the running for Entertainer of the Year against fellow heavyweights Luke Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Thomas Rhett, and Eric Church. He also earned nominations for Male Artist of the Year and Musical Event of the Year for “Does To Me” with Church.

Fans can tune into the 2021 ACM Awards, co-hosted by Keith Urban and Mickey Guyton, on Sunday, April 18 at 8:00 p.m. ET on CBS.