Last year, Luke Combs got to #1 on the country music charts with his cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” His cover became a crossover hit as well – pop stations still play his cover constantly, and I’d say he helped new audiences and younger audiences learn about Tracy Chapman. Last year, Tracy even made a very rare public statement, congratulating Luke on his success with her song. Last week, we heard that Tracy would leave her house and actually perform at the Grammys, her first live performance in over a decade. Well, it happened. And it was SO well-done.
Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs – Fast Car#GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/WWztcov2tJ
— Craig R. Brittain (@RealBrittain) February 5, 2024
The only bad thing I have to say about this is that it came so early in the Grammy telecast that no one paid attention to what came afterwards for like an hour. It was wonderful! There was some drama and angst about Luke covering “Fast Car” before last night, like why did he do it, why is trying to countrify Tracy’s iconic song, etc, but you could see that he was just in awe of her, in awe of being on stage with her. He treated Tracy and her music with the utmost respect and his cover earned Tracy a lot of money (because she owns the publishing rights). The way the audience reacted too, it was so special. People were so excited to see her at the venue, and they got a massive standing ovation after the performance. You know what? The duet actually sounded good too. They harmonized with each other very well.
Award shows are tedious and crass, but the smile on Tracy Chapman’s face when the auditorium goes nuts for her before she takes everyone to school with no lip sync, no auto-tune and no in-ear monitors is a pretty sweet moment to capture live. pic.twitter.com/YZGbWgMmHJ
— Sean Armstrong (@manatee73) February 5, 2024
Photos courtesy of Getty.