Garth Brooks once surprised Luke Combs with a very special (and pricey) thank-you gift.
Combs shared the story during an appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, remembering just how shocked he was by the unexpected gesture.
The gift he received was a brand-new Ford Bronco Raptor. While anyone can imagine how amazing it would be to be given such a luxury item for free, Combs admitted that he was more confused than anything. At the time, he and Brooks barely knew each other.
“This was last Christmas and my wife was out somewhere. I was feeding my son at the dinner table in our house,” Combs recalled.
The singer said he saw his home’s gate from inside and noticed his manager pulling in, driving the car.
However, Combs didn’t realize what was happening because his manager drives the exact same blue Bronco. At first, he just thought his manager was stopping by unannounced to bring him a Christmas present.
“He comes in and throws me the keys to this thing, and I’m like, ‘Are you giving me your car, dude?'” he says. “He’s like, ‘No, man, Garth bought you this.'”
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Needless to say, the “Beautiful Crazy” singer had no idea what his manager was talking about.
“I was like, ‘What?… What for?…This is like a $90,000 car, dude!” he said.
It turns out that the new car was actually meant to be a gift for Combs in 2022
That year, Brooks was honored with the Kris Kristofferson Lifetime Achievement Award at the Nashville Songwriters Awards. Combs was one of the performers during the night and sang Brooks’ 1995 hit “Beaches of Cheyanne.”
After the event, Brooks praised Combs online, saying he made him feel like a songwriter for the very first time.
I never felt like a songwriter until tonight when @lukecombs sang the sh$@t out of Beaches of Cheyenne!
— Garth Brooks (@garthbrooks) September 21, 2022
Thank you @NSAIofficial for yet another unforgettable moment in my life and career!! love, g
In fact, he was so impressed and grateful for the performance that he couldn’t resist finding the perfect thank-you gift for him.
Brooks reached out to Combs’ management to see what he might like and learned that Combs is really into cars. That’s how he decided on the Bronco Raptor.
The car was on backorder, though, and couldn’t be delivered right away. That’s why Combs didn’t get it until a year later.
After receiving the car, Combs called Brooks to clear up the confusion and insisted that it wasn’t necessary.
“I called him and was like, ‘You didn’t have to do this, dude,’” Combs said. He added, “I drove 20 minutes and was there for less than an hour, dude.…But he was like, ‘Yeah, but you could’ve went out and booked your own show that night and made this much money’ … and I was just kinda floored by that.”
Combs also pointed out that there were about eight other performers that night, but he doesn’t know if Garth Brooks gave them a car or another extravagant gift too.
