While there’s no doubt Luke Combs is dominating the charts with his cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car“, it seems the radio road might have a bit of a traffic jam as fans of Randy Rogers Band write in to Country Music News Blog asking if there’s a sabotage of songs. That’s because up until Luke’s release, RRB was enjoying steady airplay of their own “Fast Car” tune.
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As reader Russell writes in “So did someone squash Randy Rogers Fast Car? Whats the story here ? Do you know the timeline of the history of these star crossed songs?”
Well Russell, let’s break it down by the dates and see if shenanigans are afoot.
| Fast Car | RRB | Combs |
| Album | Homecoming | Gettin Old |
| Release Date | Oct 14, 2022 | Mar 24, 2023 |
| Radio Activation | Nov 16, 2022 | April 18, 2023 |
By the dates, it would seem that Randy Rogers Band had a five month lead on Luke Combs radio activation date, which is a pretty long airplay cycle for any single, however the RRB track did not place on the Billboard or MediaBase charts, where Luke Combs certainly has. Given the fact that Randy Rogers Band is primarily active in the Red Dirt circles while Luke Combs has gone full mainstream, that’s not too surprising. Mainstream acts will almost always beat Red Dirt on national charts, while Red Dirt absolutely OWNS regional radio in their surrounding markets. Either way, as Erv Woolsy once told me… you can’t beat a good song.
So which Fast Car has you racing to turn up the volume? Listen to each below and let us know!