The lesson here is listen to Momma. In Luke Combs' case, she was right about something and helped him see the light. What she told him about two country music superstars - Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney - actually jump-started his career. Per People, Combs was 21 and not in great shape future-wise. He quit Appalachian State University and was toiling at a couple of jobs. But Combs pulled up stakes and settled in Music City, mostly on account of what his mom suggested to him.
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Combs at Last Took up the Guitar Seriously
Per the outlet via Clint Black for Talking in Circles, he said, "I didn't start playing guitar until 11 years ago. Never played. I had been singing my whole life just as a casual thing I enjoy to do, it made me happy, other people liked when I did it, kind of thing. Girls thought it was cool, which didn't happen a lot for me."
Combs added, "So I sang a lot and then I picked the guitar up. I was in college, and college was coming to an end. It's like, you're 22, it's time to get out of here, you're the old creepy guy now."
His folks had given him an inexpensive guitar when he was young. Combs thereby reasoned that it wasn't "cool," so it languished.
His Mom Gave Him a Loving Push
He went on, "So I still had that guitar in the closet, and my mom came out, and she was like, 'I don't understand why you're sitting around sulking. You know Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw, they didn't start playing guitar until they were 21.'"
That remark lit a fire under Combs. "And I was 21, and I was like, 'Oh man, I'm way better than those guys.' I don't even know if that is true or not. I don't know if they actually learned [then], or my mom was just like, please, she would say anything to get me out of doing something. So I started playing."
Per the outlet via Instagram, Yim McGraw picked up the guitar during his college years. Chesney did the same thing, per People via an alumni page for East Tennessee State University.
Combs' mother sure gave him valuable advice!
