‘15 Minutes’ by Luke Combs - Lyrics & Meaning

One of the three songs to arrive as part of Luke Combs’ 2025 The Prequel EP, which acts as a preview of the ‘Hurricane’ hitmaker's keenly awaited Fathers & Sons follow-up album.

Combs first teased ‘15 Minutes’ in the summer 2025, with the North Carolina native testing out fans’ reactions to an array of songs as part of his move to effectively ‘crowd-source’ his next body of work. Interestingly, though, ‘15 Minutes’ was not one of the songs Combs shared on his burner account, @lcombs77, which indicates it was never in question that this would be a part of his next chapter.

‘15 Minutes’ is an intricate and largely acoustic offering, following in the mould of storytelling gems such as ‘Joe’ and ‘The Part’. Following straight on from the rowdy, rambunctious ‘My Kinda Saturday Night’, ‘15 Minutes’ finds Combs flexing his songwriting muscles and showcasing his compelling, gravelly delivery across the sparse, guitar-led instrumental. The pared-down backing mirrors the simplicity of the life the protagonist is now living, with his day-to-day thoughts in the cell taken up by questions of faith, family and how to spend his time inside.

‘15 Minutes’ is delivered in the form of a phone-call between an in-mate serving a life sentence and his mother, with the prisoner asking her how her life is progressing on the outside. He tentatively asks about his father, implying that he still hasn't forgiven our protagonist for getting locked up, as well as reflecting on whether his criminal behaviour means he'll be barred from the gates of Heaven.

We learn that his mother is, in fact, an active member of the church and leads Bible study, which leads to the protagonist asking if Jesus really will offer him redemption one day.

It's a beautifully imaginative track, with Combs and his co-writers, Trey Pendley, Rob Pennington and Grant Vogel transporting the listener behind bars and immersing them in this bittersweet tale. The title stems from the fact that prisoners using the jail-phone only get ‘15 minutes’ at a time to chat to their loved ones.

When first sharing a clip of ‘15 Minutes’, Combs explained how the song came about, “My buddy Rob Pennington sent me this tune awhile ago. He wrote it with Trey Pendley and Grant Vogel. As soon as I heard it I asked Rob if I could write on it with him and make it my own somehow. Ended up recording it in the studio a few weeks back and just been messing with it at the house here lately and thought y’all might wanna hear it. Hope y’all enjoy and pumped up for this next record”.

“Hey there, mama, how you been?
Thought I'd call and check on in
See how things are goin' back at home
Tell me, how's your garden doin'?
I'm sure the daffodils are bloomin'
And what you got for supper on the stove?
It sounds like you're doin' fine
Me, I'm gettin' by

There's a chain gang waitin' in a long line to use this phone
Same old view, cinder block room, same old jumpsuit on
I'm just tryin' to make the best of the rest of this life sentence
But enough about me, I only get fifteen minutes

Not dwеllin’ on it makes it bettеr
What books you read? And how's the weather?
Think dad'll ever talk to me again?
Does he still drink beer with his buddies?
Are you still teachin' Bible study
Does Jesus really forgive all my sins?
All kinds of things cross my mind
With all this doin' time

In a chain gang waitin' in a long line to use this phone
Same old view, cinder block room, same old jumpsuit on
I'm just tryin' to make the best of the rest of this life sentence
But enough about me, I only get fifteen minutes

The warden's in here tappin' on his watch
I love you, mama, I gotta go, I got

A chain gang waitin' in a long line to use this phone
Same old view, cinder block room, same old jumpsuit on
I'm just tryin' to make the best of the rest of this life sentence
But enough about me, I only get fifteen minutes”

For more on Luke Combs, see below:

Luke Combs

Artist