Nicole Combs has never waited for her husband to speak first. The day they got together in 2016, she was the one who called out to him. Ten years on she is still getting the last word, and this week she needed it.
Holler reported on Nov. 11 that Nicole is the face of a new fall campaign for Columbia and Academy Sports + Outdoors. In the photos she models a khaki vest, a purple beanie, a black snap pullover and a green half-zip fleece. Academy has even gathered her picks on its website under the name “Nicole Combs Lineup.”
It lands in a big month for the family. Luke is up for Entertainer of the Year at the CMA Awards and his album “The Way I Am” is nominated for Album of the Year. The show airs Wednesday, Nov. 18 on ABC with Lainey Wilson hosting, and Taste of Country reports Luke was added to the list of performers on Nov. 10. At home, the couple has three young sons named Tex, Beau and Chet.
If you only know Luke from the radio, he’s the North Carolina singer behind “Beautiful Crazy” and “Forever After All.” He wrote both about Nicole.
The two told their story on the podcast “Couple Things with Shawn Johnson and Andrew East,” and Country Now wrote it up in 2022. They had moved to Nashville around the same time and shared friends, but both were seeing other people. Then in 2016 they ended up at the same songwriters festival in Florida. Nicole worked for BMI, the music rights company that hosted it. Luke was there to play.
He was also running behind. “I was leaving a songwriters round and he was walking up late to it,” Nicole said, “and I was just like, ‘hey, come hang out with us, why are you by yourself?'”
Luke admits he was no catch that day. “I didn’t have anything going on when we met,” he said. “I didn’t have a record deal or a publishing deal or anything.”
His outfit didn’t help. “Yeah, I looked bad too… I was wearing camo gym shorts from Walmart… classy, classy stuff.”
She invited him anyway. About three months later he nervously played her “Beautiful Crazy,” and they married at home in Florida on Aug. 1, 2020.
Which brings us back to the fleece. Luke is a Columbia ambassador himself, so you might expect a proud husband to say something kind about his wife’s big campaign. Instead, Holler reports, he left two words under her post: “THE TRUCK!!”
In the campaign photos Nicole reportedly poses on a blue 4×4, and that is where his eyes went. He had nothing to say about the fleece or the woman wearing it.
Nicole answered the way she did at that festival, quick and direct. “ok but what fleece is ur fav???” she wrote back.
Holler’s report doesn’t say whether Luke ever answered her. The full podcast episode is on YouTube, with Luke and Nicole joining by video call.
Luke and Nicole on the “Couple Things” podcast, the show where they told how they met
Their wedding day is on film too. Luke used footage from it in the official video for “Forever After All,” the other hit he wrote for her.
Luke and Nicole’s wedding day in the “Forever After All” video
Luke has a CMA Awards performance to get ready for this week. Nicole, as far as anyone has reported, is still waiting to hear which fleece he likes.