“More Swag Than The Rock” – North Carolina Bar Owner Recalls A Young Luke Combs Blowing The Roof Off The Place More Than A Decade Ago

Without a doubt, Luke Combs is one of the biggest names in not only country music, but music in general.

The man releases hit after hit, packs stadiums across the world, releases quality album after quality album, scoops up awards every single year… he’s a beast. And he does it all while being one of the kindest, most humble, family-oriented, down to Earth dudes in the entire game. I respect the hell out of him.

Also, let’s be real – even if you hate mainstream country music, Combs is easily one of the best options you’re going to find on country radio.

But here’s the kicker… he’s still pretty young, his fanbase is huge, he’s broken a ton of records, and it’s really only the beginning of his career. Well at least for us… for Luke, it probably feels like he’s been doing this for a LONG time. And truth is, he has. Back in the day, long before he was a global superstar in the country music world, he was playing at a little bar called Town Tavern in Boone, North Carolina.

A student at Appalachian State University (also the alma matter of fellow North Carolina native Eric Church), Luke was cutting his teeth in college bars and according to bar owner Justin Davis, he was blowing the roof off.

Here’s the story of Luke’s early days in college bars, straight from Justin himself:

“Luke lived upstairs from my bar the Town Tavern in Boone and worked security as well. And one time, he asked me if he could play there. Live music was always a no-go because we had tenants above the bar so it was always an issue with the lease and our landlord who didn’t rent that space out to me to piss off his bread and butter which was his residents rent above our spot. Keep in mind I’m only 28 yrs old and Luke has just turned 21.”

And while one can appreciate the owner not wanting to anger the tenants upstairs, the folks upstairs were mostly college kids, including Luke himself, and they would’ve LOVED to hear Luke perform. They weren’t a bunch of Karens, they were the type to be downstairs watching.

Justin continued:

“Well, Luke went across the street and played at another college bar and well over 200 people showed up on a Wednesday. The next day, Luke came back to the Tavern and said, “I can play there again or I’ll play here for you at The Tavern.”

So I said “f*** the lease, and f*** the tenants,” I can’t let all my business go across the street to another bar or none of it will matter anyway. So we set up Thursday nights and he would headline with Adam Church on our “Red Solo Cup Night.” This was our gimmick to compete with other places running specials on the same night.

You  would bring in a red solo cup we would fill it with PBR for a buck. It was just in the peak of Toby Keith’s song “Red Solo Cup,” so we really did fill them up, like-700 cups or more a night.”

Even as a college kid, still cutting his teeth in local bars, Luke could pack a room. And according to Justin, even back then Luke was a larger than life personality.

The entrance was something special, the kind of thing you would see at a WWE event:

“Luke and Adam would come on about 11pm and I would turn all the lights off and strobe the dimmers back and forth as we blasted AC/DC “For Those About To Rock” and like a WWE intro, out would roll ADAM and LUKE!

Luke’s always been a big fella but when he rolled out into that hallway to take that stage, in a room full of 200 raging drunk college kids with red solo cups, he looked 10 feet tall with more swag than The Rock. And he would kill it, every time.

People couldn’t get enough, after sets or during Adams solos he would come chill in the back and we would suck down draft PBRs and Jager bombs. I remember always telling him he was special and he had that “it” factor. We would have to cut the door by 10pm every Thursday because the Fire Department would write us overcapacity tickets and that went on for about a year.”

And then finally, Luke made the call to try this thing out for real, and he moved to Nashville:

“One afternoon Luke came in and said he needed to talk to me so we went out back and he told me he was moving to Nashville. I was so over the moon for him and I knew he was doing what he needed to do, but at the same time I was like “F*** me, I’m losing a star!” It was such a wild feeling.

He rolled out in something like a 1996 Dodge Neon, smoking, and packed full of s***, but a year later he dropped “Hurricane” and we all watched it climb up the charts, just a bunch of cheerleaders back at his hometown bar.

What he’s done is phenomenal and it was awesome to watch him blow up right in front of our eyes night after night.

And the rest is history.

From a little college bar in Boone, North Carolina… all the way to CMA Entertainer of the Year.

So without further ado, let’s go all the way back to 2011…

This video was actually taken from a different bar in Boone, once called Ale House, but Luke Combs performs a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man,” and you can see how rowdy the place was.

The post “More Swag Than The Rock” – North Carolina Bar Owner Recalls A Young Luke Combs Blowing The Roof Off The Place More Than A Decade Ago first appeared on Whiskey Riff.