The journey always makes the destination so much richer. For Luke Combs, I'm sure he's glad he can work as a musician full time now. It certainly beats being a bouncer at a bar any day out of the week.
Videos by Wide Open Country
Recently, Luke Combs sat down with country icon Garth Brooks on his 'BIG 615' radio show powered by Tractor Supply. The two shoot the breeze, with Brooks perched on his chair asking about Combs' beginnings. Then, he crosses his arms and laughs about the absurd time in his life about how he isn't a 'good bouncer.'
Luke Combs Playing Security Before His Big Break in Country Music
Luke Combs takes us back to his stomping grounds in Boone, North Carolina. There, he lives in an apartment above the Town Tavern where he works as a bouncer. Thankfully, Combs was able to wrangle in a few gigs to workshop his performances. After a while, music elbows his main gig out of the way. "I could just walk downstairs, go to work, come back upstairs... play guitar, you know whatever. And then eventually started getting shows there," Luke explains. "By the time I left Boone, we were probably playing three nights a week minimum in Boone, then four to five nights a week around North Carolina. We would drive around the state in my bass player's Chevy Avalanche and rent a U-Haul trailer and load all the gear up."
By this point, desperation begins to set in. Music is all Luke has now. That's when he pulls those boot straps together and puts his dreams into action. "We had these speakers that were barely loud enough to play anywhere we went. It was a trip. I'm doing all of it," Combs tells Garth Brooks. "I'm cold calling bars trying to get gigs, and I'm making and sending press packets and mailing them out to people. I was just trying to get gigs because I was like, 'This is my job. So I have to apply myself.'"
Then, Luke Combs fast forwards through some of the mundane parts of working hard. First, it's North Carolina, then you hit South. Eventually, you run into Nashville and you're officially a recording artist. Now, Luke relishes in playing stadium shows. It beats being a bouncer every time.
