Before achieving what felt like overnight stardom after the 2017 release of This One's For You, Luke Combs honed his modernized take on '90s country music with songs like the 2016 deep cut "Can I Get an Outlaw."
"Can I Get an Outlaw" isn't exactly a secret, considering Combs still plays it live. Yet some fans won over by "Beer Never Broke My Heart" and other recent hits might not have noticed the older material available on streaming sites. Other early tracks worth a listen include the flipside to "Can I Get an Outlaw," "Sheriff You Want To."
Lyrically, "Can I Get an Outlaw" is pretty straightforward: Combs would prefer the return of streetwise storytellers over modern country music's constant parade of party song-singing beer pong champions. Of course, Combs doesn't have to wish for that anymore now that Tanya Tucker's back in the mainstream.
'Can I Get an Outlaw' Lyrics:
Back in the day it was a six gun, and a six-string
Man, that was country
And that's the way country still ought to be
It was lived, not taught, it was earned, not bought
Had to put in the work to get to the top
Let me tell you, what I thinks really gone wrong
These days it's all wannabes singing someone else's songs
Everybody's doing the same damn thing
Where have the rebels gone?
'Cause we don't need
Another pretty boy, singin' pretty songs
Fake country boys, doin' country all wrong
Need another Haggard, or a Johnny Cash
Somebody chewing tobacco, and whipping ass
I need preacher, I need a savior
How about y'all?
Can I get an outlaw?
It don't have to be honkytonks, boots, and Wrangler jeans
It ain't the banjo or the fiddle, no
It's the words and what they mean
If you gonna talk the talk, you better walk the walk
And brother, that's the truth
So honestly, what would Waylon do?
I can guarantee that if he was alive today
He'd ask us one more time
"Are you sure Hank done it this way?"
'Cause we don't need
Another pretty boy, singin' pretty songs
Fake country boys, doin' country all wrong
Need another Haggard, or a Johnny Cash
Somebody chewin' tobacco, and whippin' ass
I need preacher, I need a savior, how 'bout y'all?
Can I get an outlaw?
Are the good times really gone for good?
Or can we get back to our roots?
It's about that time we raise the bar
So raise a glass if you feel like I do
'Cause we don't need
Another pretty boy, singing pretty songs
Fake country boys, doin' country all wrong
Need another Haggard, or a Johnny Cash
Somebody chewin' tobacco, and whippin' ass
I need preacher, I need a savior, how 'bout y'all?
Can I get an outlaw?
I pray country answers my call
Can I get an outlaw?
Oh, can I get an outlaw?
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