Six months later Following the untimely passing of Toby Keith, Luke Combs is remembering the late country legend with pride. On Thursday, an official video debuted of Combs and Keith in the studio, recording a cover of Joe Diffie’s “Ships That Don’t Come In,” released earlier this year.

“When I heard it, it was a no-brainer to be on a song with Toby,” Combs said in a press release. “It was something I always hoped to do, but I never knew if it would happen.” (Keith’s performance on “Ships That Don’t Come In,” with Combs, was his final studio appearance before his death in February.)

On Thursday, Combs said that connecting with Keith before his death and singing a classic by Diffie, who died in 2020, made things “even better” for him, since Diffie had given him his Opry membership award years earlier.

“I grew up listening to both of those boys’ music, so to be a part of this version of the song and it being Toby’s final recording is hard to put into words,” Combs said. “Country music misses them dearly, but I hope we do justice to what they started.”

Hardy’s Hex tape released his third volume, Diagonal tirewith 17 duets of Diffie classics in March. The tribute album featured covers of Diffie classics by Morgan Wallen, Post Malone, Blake Shelton, Chris Young and Clint Black. The recording of “Ships That Don’t Come In” featured previously unheard recordings of Diffie’s vocals from 2016.

Keith died of stomach cancer after battling the disease for years. Diffie died in March 2020 at the age of 61 from complications with Covid-19.