Doesn’t want to be known for his politics. Country music has always touched on political themes, going as far back as the working-class themes touched on by Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, or Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” or Elton Britt’s patriotic World War II anthem “There’s a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere” from the early 1940s. From artists like Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard in the 1960s through the anti-establishment songs of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings in the ’70s, and more recently the post-9/11 boom of patriotic country songs, politics has always been woven through the fabric and history of country music. And that shouldn’t be a surprise: Country music is, as is often said, three chords and the truth. When you’re singing about real life, politics are naturally going to be a part of it. These days there are plenty of artists on both sides of the aisle who like to jump into politics not only with their music but with their platforms, whether that’s on social media or making endorsements or even appearing with political candidates at rallies. But Luke Combs says he has no plans to join them in their political activism, on either side. Of course over the course of his career so far, there have been occasions where Luke has either chosen to insert himself into the political conversation, or he’s been dragged into it by something in his past. Combs caught a bit of heat during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement after the internet dug up a music video from 2015 that featured the Confederate flag. In 2021, Luke joined a panel discussion about racism in country music with Maren Morris where he essentially apologized and said he wasn’t a racist. But as a result of that conversation, many labeled him “soft,” “woke”, and if nothing else, a “liberal.” And as he explained in a recent interview with the New York Times’ Popcast, he still comments on his social media to this day because of it: “There’s always something on my videos like, ‘I can’t believe you like Luke Combs, he’s a liberal.’ One, I’ve never said what I am. That’s the thing that blows me away the most about it. Basically seven years ago, me saying that I was not a racist led to people saying, ‘Well he must be a liberal.’ I’ve been accused of a million things. I would consider myself heavily moderate in everything. That’s to the point where I’m not liberal enough for liberals and I’m not conservative enough for conservatives. I kind of like it that way. I also kind of like people not really knowing what I have going on politically.”  Combs, though, has no interest in being a standard-bearer for one side or the other, and denied in that same interview that he tries to push an agenda for either side of the political aisle: “I’m not a guy that feels like I need to push some sort of agenda. I’m a musician. No one is calling Donald Trump and asking him how to write a song. No one is calling AOC and saying, ‘How do I make my album better?’ Why do we care what Chris Stapleton thinks about politics?” Now, Luke obviously isn’t the only artist who chooses to stay out of politics. And as it turns out, he wants to follow in the footsteps of another country legend in being known more for being a good person than for being political. Dolly Parton is well-known for her charitable works, but has always refrained from speaking on politics or taking sides on political issues. And Luke Combs said during a recent interview with GQ that he hopes to follow her lead in keeping politics out of his music and his career: “That’s the space that I would like to operate in, you know what I mean? Basically, just being a good person, and doing what you believe is right, and not getting involved in the minutiae of labeling it. Why can’t you just be a good person and just be loved? It does take some massaging to do it all in a way that doesn’t come off as, like, deceitful or trite. It’s a delicate balance, but she has done a masterful job of it.” Honestly, it’s refreshing to hear artists say that they have no interest in being political. In our hyper-partisan society, everybody feels like they need to give their opinion and take one side or the other. And it gets exhausting. People judge others based on who listen to because simply being a fan of an artist’s music is seen as a political statement, when it should be about the music. It becomes an echo chamber where one side of the political aisle won’t listen certain artists simply because they disagree with who they vote for, and we’re all worse off for it. Good for Luke Combs for not wanting to get involved in that.The post Luke Combs Says He Wants To Be Like Dolly Parton When It Comes To Politics: “Just Be A Good Person” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.