Brent Cobb & Rob Snyder Co-Write “Six Feet Apart” w/ Luke Combs

Like many music artists at the moment, Luke Combs has been regularly writing and posting new songs as videos from his home as a way to cope through these times of social distance and quarantine. Some of this Coronavirus music rendered acoustically can stand on its own, and feels like it will hold up to the test of time even after the quarantine lifts. Other stuff is, well … still a good excuse to help support your favorite independent artist.

Luke Combs is commonly criticized for being a lightweight in the songwriting department, and the industry’s latest puppet meant to re-tinegrate disenfranchised country music fans back into the mainstream fold—accusations that probably aren’t entirely unfair, and similar to the ones we heard when Chris Stapleton shot onto the scene. But these critics tend to overlook how Combs is able to make a real connection with an audience on a wave even more critically-acclaimed artists can’t, especially when attempting to entertain with just an acoustic guitar.

Pairing with independent songwriter Brent Cobb who had his own fast-rising career put on hold due to COVID-19, and well-regarded Nashville singer/songwriter Rob Snyder who rumor has it is finally releasing a debut album later this year, Luke Combs may have just delivered the quarantine song of the spring. Called “Six Feet Apart,” it’s not that it’s some spectacular composition of seductive wordplay and poetry, it’s that it spells out perfectly how we’re all feeling at the moment, separated from our friends, our family, and in many cases the work which gives our lives meaning, with no real understanding of when a sense of normality will return.

Luke Combs is the biggest artist in all of country music at the moment, and he continues to prove why with his quarantine game. While many new mainstream artists frankly don’t even have the chops to be able to perform without accompaniment, or are too concerned about delivering their music in the raw, Luke Combs is taking the lead, and proves it again with “Six Feet Apart.” How this song has been resonating with listeners is another sign of Luke’s everyman relatability that’s at the root of his popularity as opposed to the lowest common denominator most mainstream artists rely upon. Scoff at Luke Combs all you want, but would you rather listen to this, or Luke Bryan’s latest single, “One Margarita”? You don’t even have to hear the Luke Bryan song to know the answer.

Big & Rich might currently have a hit on their hands with their current COVID-19 single “Stay Home.” Though silly of course, the track is surprisingly country, and rising quickly in the charts (#56 to #49 just this week). Many other artists have turned in meaningful songs that we’ll look back as excellent little time capsules for the space and time we’re living in at the moment. But Luke Combs with the help of two great independent songwriters in Brent Cobb and Rob Snyder really sets the pace here for quarantine songs. All great art reflects its time, and that’s what “Six Feet Apart” does.