''What You See Is What You Get'' is the second studio album by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Luke Combs Luke Albert Combs (; born March 2, 1990) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Born and raised in North Carolina, Combs began performing as a child, most notably performing at Carnegie Hall. After dropping out of college to pursue a ...

, released on November 8, 2019, through River House Artists and

Columbia Nashville Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the Amer ...

. It includes all five songs previously featured on the 2019 EP '' The Prequel'', including the singles " Beer Never Broke My Heart" and "

Even Though I'm Leaving "Even Though I'm Leaving" is a song recorded by American country music singer Luke Combs. It was released in September 2019 as the second single to his second studio album, ''What You See Is What You Get''. Content "Even Though I'm Leaving" is des ...

" in addition to the track "1, 2 Many" (a collaboration with

Brooks & Dunn Brooks & Dunn are an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, both of whom are vocalists and songwriters. The duo was founded in 1990 through the suggestion of Tim DuBois. Before their formation, both members were solo ...

), the single "Does to Me", and later the promotional single "

Six Feet Apart "Six Feet Apart" is a song recorded by American country music singer Luke Combs. It was released on May 1, 2020, as a direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic and was added to the digital version of his second album, ''What You See Is What You Get ...

". Combs toured North America throughout the remainder of 2019 and was to headline the C2C: Country to Country festival in Europe in 2020 in promotion of the album, however the festival was canceled due to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic. Seven singles from the album, "Beer Never Broke My Heart", "Even Though I'm Leaving", "Does to Me", "Lovin' on You", "Better Together", "Forever After All" and "Cold As You", reached number-one on the ''Billboard''

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...

chart.

Background

Combs said his intention with new track "1, 2 Many" was to "write a song that I felt like my '90s country music heroes would be proud of". It marks his second collaboration with

, with his first being a cover of their debut single "

Brand New Man ''Brand New Man'' is the debut studio album by American country music duo Brooks & Dunn. It was released on August 13, 1991, by Arista Records. Produced by Don Cook and Scott Hendricks, the album produced four consecutive Number One singles on ...

" on their album ''

Reboot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...

''. "

", a standalone song released on May 1, 2020 in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, was later added to the end of the album's digital and streaming editions. On August 20, Combs announced that the album will be re-released as a deluxe album titled ''What You See Ain't Always What You Get'' on October 23, 2020, featuring "Six Feet Apart", as well as five new songs. The first of the new songs "Without You" was released as a promotional single on September 18.

Commercial performance

''What You See Is What You Get'' debuted atop the US ''Billboard'' 200 on the chart dated November 23, 2019, earning 172,000

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...

s, including 109,000 pure album sales. In addition to becoming Combs' first US number-one album, it opened with the "largest week for a country album" since 2018, and became the biggest week in terms of

streams A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

for a country album on record. The album has sold 350,000 copies in the United States as of March 2020, with 1,000,000 units consumed in total. After its reissue, on the chart dated November 7, 2020, the album returned to the top spot from number 21, selling 109,000 album-equivalent units. In the same week, the album broke the record for the most streams for a country record at 102.26 million streams. At 11 months and 15 days, ''What You See Is What You Get'' also became the first album since

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...

's '' This House Is Not for Sale'' to return to number one after an extended wait. It was among the top 10 albums of 2020, with 1.475 million equivalent album unit consumed (184,000 in pure sales) that year. The album also topped the

ARIA Albums Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

in Australia, becoming Combs's first number-one album there.

Track listing

Personnel

From ''What You See Is What You Get'' liner notes. Musicians *Luke Combs – lead and background vocals *

– vocals on "1, 2 Many" *

Eric Church Kenneth Eric Church (born May 3, 1977) is an American country music singer-songwriter. He has released nine studio albums through Capitol Nashville since 2005. His debut album, 2006's '' Sinners Like Me'', produced three singles on the ''Billboar ...

– vocals on "Does to Me" *Dave Cohen – piano, organ, synthesizer *Jon Conley – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo *Doug Frasure – drums *

Aubrey Haynie Aubrey Haynie (born March 27, 1974) is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle and mandolin. In his career, he has recorded three studio albums for the Sugar Hill Records label, all three of which contained mostly songs that he wr ...

– fiddle *Wil Houchens – piano, organ, synthesizer *Ben Jordan – bass guitar *Buddy Leach – saxophone *Tim Marks – bass guitar *Carl Miner – acoustic guitar, banjo,

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

Scott Moffatt Scott Andrew Moffatt (born March 30, 1983) is a Canadian musician. He is the lead guitarist and vocalist for Canadian band the Moffatts, alongside his younger triplet brothers Clint, Bob, and Dave. Early life Scott is the eldest child of ...

– background vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo, synthesizer, percussion,

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

, clapping, programming *Gary Morse –

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional ...

*Sol Philcox-Littlefield – electric guitar,

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

*Jerry Roe – drums *

Jimmie Lee Sloas Jimmie Lee Sloas is an American session musician, producer, and songwriter, who plays bass guitar. History Jimmie Lee Sloas, born in Ashland, Kentucky, grew up in Fairborn, Ohio and Isonville, Kentucky. His father, Dave, was a member of the p ...

– bass guitar *

Ilya Toshinsky Bering Strait was a Russian country music band, whose style was sometimes called "redgrass". In 2003, the band was nominated for a Grammy Award and appeared on the TV show ''60 Minutes''. The group disbanded in 2006. The lineup on their first alb ...

– acoustic guitar, mandolin Technical *Luke Armentrout – mastering assistant *Nick Autry – engineering of Brooks & Dunn's vocals on "1, 2 Many" *Taylor Chadwick – mastering assistant *Jim Cooley – mixing (1–5, 7, 8–10, 12, 13, 15, 16) *Andrew Darby – mastering assistant *Dan Davis – engineering assistant *Bobbi Giel – mastering assistant *Mike Gillies – digital editing *Alex Gilson – engineering *Rob Hendon – cover artist *Travis Humbert – session cleanup *Mike Kyle – engineering of Brooks & Dunn's vocals on "1, 2 Many" *Kam Luchterhand – engineering assistant *Andrew Mendelson – mastering *Scott Moffatt – producer; mixing (6, 7, 14, 16, 17) *Seth Morton – engineering assistant *Jason Mott – engineering assistant *Allen Parker – engineering of Eric Church's vocals on "Does to Me" *Megan Peterson – mastering assistant *Joey Stanca – engineering assistant *Preston White – engineering assistant

''What You See Ain't Always What You Get'' credits

From ''What You See Ain't Always What You Get'' (18-23) liner notes. Musicians *Luke Combs – lead vocals *Jim "Moose" Brown – organ, piano *Perry Coleman – background vocals *Jon Conley – acoustic guitar, mandolin, banjo *Wes Hightower – background vocals *Steve Mackey – bass guitar *Chip Matthews – acoustic guitar, electric guitar,

baritone guitar The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Schec ...

, programming, background vocals *Rob McNelley – electric guitar *Gary Morse – pedal steel guitar *Sol Philcox-Littlefield – electric guitar *

Danny Rader Danny Rader (born November 1, 1981) is a musician from Panama City, Florida. Born into a musical family, he began to play drums at age 2 and branched out into bass, guitar and piano in his early teens. Later he incorporated bouzouki, mandolin, b ...

– acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin *Jerry Roe – drums, percussion * Amanda Shires – fiddle on "Without You" *Jonathan Singleton – electric guitar,

resonator guitar A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar that produces sound by conducting string vibrations through the bridge to one or more spun metal cones (resonators), instead of to the guitar's sounding board (top). Resonator gui ...

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

, background vocals *Russell Terrell – background vocals Technical *Spencer Clark – recording assistant on "Six Feet Apart" *Luke Combs – producer *Jim Cooley – mixing (19, 21) *Justin Francis – recording assistant (19-23) *Ted Jensen – mastering *Scott Johnson – production assistance *Chip Matthews – producer, recording, additional recording, digital editing, mixing (18, 20, 22, 23) *Jonathan Singleton – producer (19-23)

Background

Commercial performance

Track listing

Personnel

''What You See Ain't Always What You Get'' credits

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References