“You’ll Never Be Garth Brooks”: Luke Combs Recalls The Brutally Honest Advice His Parents Gave Him About Chasing His Dreams

Luke Combs

They kept him honest, and I’m sure they couldn’t be prouder of the man he is today. Luke Combs is gearing up to put out his first new album in nearly two years, The Way I Am, in March, and it’s been incredible to watch his journey from playing crappy bars in his college town to becoming one of the premiere mainstream artists in country music.

He recently shared a throwback photo from his first ever show in 2012, and in many ways, it looks like the same Luke Combs the world now knows and loves, but obviously the venues he’s in now are much bigger, but it all started right here:

“My first ever show was 14 years ago tomorrow at Parthenon Cafe in Boone, NC. It doesn’t seem that long ago but I guess time flies when you’re having fun!”

He comes from humble beginnings, and he’s always had very supportive parents who encouraged him from a young age to follow his passions, whatever they may be. And during an interview with Willie Geist on Today at City Winery in Nashville recently, which airs this coming Sunday morning, Combs opened up about how he ever even decided to pursue music in the first place.

In a clip premiered by PEOPLE, he explained that it took him a long time to realize being a professional musician could be an actual job that he could pursue. I mean, the odds are obviously not great, and Luke joked that he thought these famous people he knew of as a child just lived on “famous planet.”

Luke says his parents always encouraged him to chase his dreams, but of course for many years, he didn’t take that as “go be one of the most famous country musicians on the planet.” That goes to show how humble he has always been and how much talent, and fate, played a role in where he is today. They certainly never expected him to become the next Garth Brooks… and I think that’s pretty fair, because who in their wildest dreams could ever imagine that?

Especially because, like Luke said, they were just a normal family and that probably seemed pretty far-fetched:

“My parents always encouraged me to sing, and they were very proud that I was doing those things. But it wasn’t like my dad was like, ‘Hey slugger, you’ll be Garth Brooks one day, man.’ It just didn’t happen! You know what I mean?

He was like, ‘You’ll never be Garth Brooks.’ And no slack to him. How often does that happen? It doesn’t happen. And damn, it happened though.”

That’s what’s so wild about the story… a simple boy from western North Carolina, who didn’t even pick up a guitar until he was in college, has become a Diamond-selling artist with nearly 20 #1s at country radio and three Grammy nominations under his belt. He’s won multiple CMA Awards, including the coveted Entertainer of the Year award, and he’s really still just getting started in many ways. Like he’s got another 20 years at least in this business… probably more.

It’s really an incredible story, though when you’re as talented as Luke, it seems like this outcome was inevitable in so many ways, too. At at the end of the day, he’s just as humble as he was back when he started this dream. A class act through and through.