Crossing the Great Divide in a Fast Car, Part 2
We’re about to fall apart now
If we can’t reach the other side
We gotta find a way across the great divide.
– Luke Combs, The Great Divide
At the Grammys, as Tracy Chapman sang “Fast Car,” her eyes sparkled. Equally in evidence was a beaming Luke Combs. I saw Luke, the little boy, riding with his father as “Fast Car” played in their pickup truck. “It was my favorite song before I even knew what a favorite song was,” he once said.
I couldn’t agree more, Luke. When Tracy Chapman’s album debuted in 1988, I related to her – a queer kid of color trying to make my way in the world. Her album became the soundtrack of my life. and I know every lyric to every song. “Talkin About A Revolution” kept me going in the darkest times of the AIDS years, and “Mountains O’ Things,” resonated with me as I was couch surfing at my cousin’s apartment. I listened to “If Not Now,” just before going to sleep and “Fast Car?” That song made me believe in the power of love. Fast forward to the present: Mr. Combs’ cover of “Fast Car” won song of the year and single of the year at the Country Music Awards.
Luke Combs was not an easy fit for me. I suspected he might be part of the age-old pattern of White artists appropriating the work of Black artists (think “Hound Dog,” made famous by Elvis Presley but originally recorded by Big Mama Thornton). A photograph of Combs surfaced in 2015 that captured a Confederate flag sticker on his guitar. He apologized and grew from that experience, writing and recording “The Great Divide” in 2021. “Everything is so contentious and heated, and that’s always been super frustrating to me,” he said. “Without a bridge of understanding, it’s near impossible for people to find common ground.” It was his mission, he continued, to be that bridge.
In his CMA acceptance speech, Mr. Combs said, “First and foremost, I want to thank Tracy Chapman for writing one of the best songs of all time,” Ms. Chapman responded, writing “I never expected to find myself on the country charts, but I’m honored to be there. I’m happy for Luke and his success and grateful that new fans have found and embraced ‘Fast Car.’”
For Luke Combs to get the notoriously private Tracy Chapman to join him on stage at the Grammy Awards took some masterful bridge building. He carried these skills forward in the performance in nuanced, yet powerful ways. He did not bring his guitar on stage, a nod that Ms. Chapman wrote the song, and Ms. Chapman will set the beat. He leaned in and bent slightly at the waist in respect whenever Ms. Chapman sang. He didn’t change the lyrics to fit his gender when he sang, “so I work in the market as a check out girl.” And Mr. Combs bowed to Ms. Chapman at the end of the song, in a gesture of gratitude and respect.
“I think it starts with the music,” Mr. Combs said in a Country Radio Seminar in 2021, “and that’s a painful process as an artist because you do have people that want to cut you down and say, ‘you don’t know what you’re talking about,’ or ‘you should have said this instead of that.’ But you just have to know where your heart is, and you have to know that you’re doing it for the right reasons. And I think that’s the thing that’s beautiful about being an artist … You push yourself, and you create new boundaries for yourself.”
— Kevin John Fong, Guest Blogger, Building Bridges Word by Word
We were delighted to post Kevin John Fong’s reflection about Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs’ moving performance at the Grammys. His story was drawn from his essay on Medium. In his essay, he also reflected on Combs’ journey to become a bridge builder, and Kevin’s own journey to see Combs in a new light. We were so taken by the second part of his essay, that we asked him to share it as a guest blogger.
Kevin John Fong is the founder and principal of the Kahakulei Institute and is the author of The Five Elements: An East Asian Approach to Achieve Organizational Health, Professional Growth, and Personal Well-Being.
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