2024 CMAs: Luke Combs talks with Katie Neal

It’s CMA Week and while Luke Combs is up for some of the most prestigious awards come Wednesday night’s broadcast, he’s busy celebrating a different kind of win to start the week. On Monday (11/18), Combs was crowned PEOPLE’s, “Sexiest 34-Year-Old Man on the Planet.” The award is a branch off the publication's Sexiest Man Alive title, which went to actor, John Krasinski, this year. While Krasinski won the overall title, PEOPLE decided to break it down even further this year by crowing the sexiest man of each age from 20-41. “1990, [a] down year when it came to sexy guys, but still proud to be at the top of the pile,” Combs laughed before sharing he was “very heavily surprised,” by his new title. “Maybe we’re re-defining sexy,” he laughed. “Guys’ [with] shirts that don’t fit that good, they fall asleep watching football —if that’s sexy, I’m your guy!” No need to worry about Combs’ ego getting too big from the new title as he shared his young sons currently keep him humble making him watch shows like, Stinky and Dirty, while playing with dinosaurs and tractors. “We’re into tractors and we’re into dinosaurs and we’re into the pool, we’re into swimming a lot,” Combs responded when asked how his sons, Tex (2) and Beau (1) are doing. “My kid has all the dinosaurs drive the tractors and stuff — that’s what’s going on right now.” Combs and his wife, Nicole, will have the night off from playing dinosaurs on Wednesday as they attend the 58th Annual CMA Awards where Luke is up for multiple awards including Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, and Album Of the Year for his project, Fathers & Sons. Additionally, Combs will take the stage to perform his hit, “Ain’t No Love In Oklahoma.” “It’s gonna be sick,” he said of his plans for the performance. “We’ve got all the crazy effects and everything, which we’ve never done. We’ve never done fire and smoke and all that… We’re doing that this time because I feel like the song warrants it. Usually, I’m like, ‘Let the song speak for itself,’ but this time, I feel like the song would just be better with a bunch of cool fire and stuff, which is usually is not the case.” Hear additional details about Combs’ performance, plus who he is most excited to see at the show, what fellow artist was an extra in his “Beer Never Broke My Heart” video and so much more by checking out his entire conversation with Audacy’s Katie Neal above. The 58th Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Lainey Wilson, Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning, will broadcast live from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, November 20 at 8pm ET/7pm CT on ABC and stream next day on Hulu. Words by Monica Rivera, Interview by Katie Neal Photo: Zack Massey