Luke Combs – Back in the Saddle

No, no, it’s not your BACK that goes in the saddle, it’s…

[Video]
[4.64]

Taylor Alatorre: Everyone could use a good comeback song, no matter the current state of their life or discography. Luke Combs is at an odd point in his career, though, coming off the heels of three loose concept albums with very on-the-nose titles, all of which point to a gradual sunsetting of his rough-and-rowdy ways. What is there to “come back” from, then, other than the demands of mid-30s adulthood? “Back in the Saddle” wants to scan as unapologetic, but in this context it comes off as an overcorrection from the more pastoral bent of the last two albums, with their odes to fatherhood and Tracy Chapman and rural NIMBYism. He aims for the midpoint of Big & Rich and Aerosmith, but ends up with the same faux-heartland stomp as late-career Nickelback. Combs will eventually settle on a better vehicle for his vocal swagger and his growing maturity; we may just have to endure a bit more overcompensation in the meantime.
[4]

Joshua Lu: Credit where it’s due: This is a pretty funny title for a “bitch I’m back” song from an artist from whom I would never expect one. Criticism where it’s due: The song’s unending stream of similes makes Combs come across like he’s a little too into cowboy roleplay. The guitar solo does a lot of heavy lifting.
[5]

Nortey Dowuona: Todd Lombardo….a resonator guitar player. A damn good one. And one who gets to open up this little “I’m Back B-TCH” single. And he supports term limits, too! Y’all better vote for him, by golly gee! (The song is fine. Clearly Luke Combs and Jonathan Singleton saw Sinners too.)
[5]

Alfred Soto: It has the right guitar raunch, a match for Luke Combs’ gravelly tough-palooka tone: it’s like he heard the last couple Eric Church albums. I prefer his ballads, though, on which the raunch and the gravel do away with saddles and get to barebacking. 
[6]

Al Varela: Luke Combs has this weird insecurity that his fans don’t want to hear his more personal, softer songs and that he needs to make more barn-burners to satisfy the tour setlists. Personally, I think Combs is at his best with those personal, softer songs; his larger-scale songs are among his weakest. There’s some good muscle to “Back in the Saddle,” but it’s really clunky and sluggish with how hard the drums come in and how those electric guitars wail without any real direction. Combs is way too good of a performer for this to be on the same level as the bad country rock that clogs up radio these days, but “Back in the Saddle” still feels like a backslide. The more Combs appeals to that insecurity, the further he’s gonna get left behind.
[6]

Jel Bugle: He’s back in the saddle, he’s told us many times. I sometimes think an album could have been an EP; I think this song could have been a TikTok.
[6]

Katherine St. Asaph: My “don’t worry where I’ve been” song lyric has people (ed. note: me) asking a lot of questions already answered by my lyric.
[4]

Tim de Reuse: Perhaps if you’re deeply invested in The Luke Combs Story there’s context here to give substance to all this deeply unevocative imagery. I can’t say I care enough to do the research. With no weight or stakes behind his attempt at self-mythologizing, all you really get to focus on is the horrifying nasality he infects into every harsh, drawn-out vowel.
[1]

Ian Mathers: I’m assuming the lyrics are what makes this country instead of (or in addition to) butt rock, but I can’t really hear them over the “hunger dunger dang” of it all. There’s a pretty thin line between this and the last song of his we covered, but a pretty steep drop-off on the other side of it.
[4]

Julian Axelrod: Standard swinging-dick truck commercial music until Luke Combs sings “like some old cowboy who dug his way out of his grave,” implying the song’s about an undead cowboy clawing its way through the soil to enact revenge upon the desperado who took his soul. Unfortunately, the video makes it clear the song’s about race cars or some shit. This would be an easy [8] if he went full Luke Catacombs.
[6]

Will Adams: Using my free pass to toss this blurb over to the YouTube comments, because I really can’t put it better than: “this song is so Lightning McQueen coded… ka-chow!”
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