Friends help friends. And backstage at this year’s Stagecoach Country Music Festival, Lainey Wilson told Audacy’s Rob Stone and Holly Hutton how she wants to help her friend and fellow country singer, Luke Combs conquer his fear of horses.
“We gon’ saddle him up,” the “Heart Like A Truck” singer told Stone and Hutton. “Don’t be scared Luke, C’mon now.”
During their conversation, Wilson shared she’d be willing to go to whatever lengths necessary to help Combs conquer his fear, even if that means bringing a horse on stage. “It’s gon’ come up on stage and we gon’ get Luke up on it,” she laughed. “We got to!”
“They Kind Of Freak Me out“
Luke Combs hasn’t been shy about his fear of horses.
In a 2019 interview with Hits Daily Double ahead of the Houston Rodeo, the “Love You Anyway” singer admitted that horses “kind of freak [him] out.”
“I did not ride the horse out. They kind of freak me out, and I don’t like trying things out for the first time in front of 75,000 people,” Combs said when asked about his performance at the event.
“I’m always pretty cool about not having a need to feed my ego doing something I have no business doing. I don’t worry about people thinking I’m not cool for not riding the horse out; I worry about a horse being unpredictable,” he added.
Combs also discussed his fear of horses more recently on Barstool Sports’ Sundae Conversation with Caleb Pressley.
“Disdain. There’s a disdain for horses,” the country singer revealed when Pressley brought up the subject.
“Is that why you got into killing animals?” Pressley questioned Combs, referencing the fact that he enjoys hunting.
“Yeah probably,” the country singer responded. When Pressley followed up and asked Combs if he ever “let the horse out of the barn,” the country singer reiterated that he doesn’t “prefer to go around horses.”
On A Different Note
Helping him conquer his fear of horses aside, Wilson also wants to team up with Combs on music.
Back in November, the “Heart Like A Truck” singer told Music Mayhem she planned to write with Combs, and the pair might even revisit a song they worked on together in 2014.
“I actually ran across something the other day,” she shared. “[Luke] and I were writing a duet and we’ve actually talked about trying to get back together to finish it and maybe rewrite it. I think both of us have gotten a lot better since then,” she laughed.
“So I know him and I are planning on writing more together. It’s just been so crazy the last few years, both of us doing our own thing and I’m just, I’m so proud of him.”
The pair have been friends since they met at Tin Roof Revival that same year.
Friendship Has Come “Full Circle”
On an episode of Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen, Lainey Wilson discussed how she and Luke Combs met and how their friendship has come “full circle.”
“First of all, [it’s] full circle. I met Luke at Tin Roof Revival, on Demonbreun, back in 2014,” Wilson explained. “He used to come over to my camper and eat my snacks and cold drinks, So I’m glad he remembered.”
“It’s just so crazy to think about how far he has come, in really a short amount of time… And his fans are the best fans in the world, and they’re just good, blue-collar people who take pride in what they do, who work their fingers to the bone, who spend their hard-earned money to come to a Luke Combs show, and I am so glad that he is introducing me to them.”
Touring Together
Wilson and Combs’ friendship has come full circle indeed. The “Heart Like A Truck” singer is currently supporting Combs on his massive 2023 World Tour, which kicked off in March.
Wilson even joined Combs on stage on opening night of the tour at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas to sing a duet of “Outrunnin’ Your Memory.” The song appears on Combs’ third studio album, Growin’ Up, and originally featured Miranda Lambert.
Wilson also joined Combs, Riley Green, Brent Cobb and Flatland Cavalry on stage during his encore for a performance of Brooks & Dunn’s “Brand New Man.”
Fans who want to see Combs and Wilson on tour can view or purchase tickets HERE.
