LUKE COMBS - Ain't No Love In Oklahoma - Atlantic Records

Country music superstar Luke Combs has noticeably softened his edges over his past few releases, shifting into a next chapter maturity that’s seen him retrospectively looking back on the things that have made him who he is today while keeping a foot firmly planted on his here and now.

Lifted from the soundtrack of the upcoming film Twisters (a sequel to the 1996 box office hit Twisters),his newest single, “Ain’t No Love In Oklahoma,” refreshingly delivers a high-octane anthem chalked full of a similar grit and edge as his earlier hits “Beer Never Broke My Heart” and “Cold As You.”

Written by Combs, Jessi Alexander, and Jonathan Singleton, the song instantly grips the listener with swampy, muddy guitars that teeter the edge of 90’s alternative licks and country dripped infusions as they punch their way to the verse and Combs’ booming voice takes over amid the guitars subsiding to the accompaniment position. 

Encapsulating the vibe of the original movie, and what I can only expect to be this one as well, comparison laden lyrics pit the idea of the devil correlating to the destruction of Oklahoma tornados as Combs sings in each of the verses, “I keep chasing that same old devil down the same old dead end highway,” “It ain’t knocking me down, I’m standing my ground with the whole world falling all around me,” etc.

Captivating the racing emotions that arise when in the middle of chasing a tornado, Combs expertly strikes juxtaposition through lines that tally the ups and downs when he relays how he’s scared of nothing but scared to death and how he keeps running but is standing still.

Playing the love hate relationship of the adrenaline rush, knowing that it’s a road that leads to nowhere but staying trapped within it as it continually lives and breathes within you, he strikes the crunch of the chorus:

“Ain't no love in Oklahoma

Just the whistle of a lone black train

You'll know when it's coming for ya

Riding in on the wind and rain”

Though the song is heading to country radio as Combs’ next single, and it’s a safe bet to suspect that it is going to do extremely well, it does deviate sonically from the path that his career has been on as of late,

although that makes perfect sense as this song was specifically written for the soundtrack.

“Ain’t No Love In Oklahoma” is certainly going to be a centerpiece in the upcoming summer blockbuster, no doubt capturing the vibe that the film needs to match the intensity of what we’re seeing on the big screen as it laces the background of the scene it’s featured in.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

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