Luke Combs Recalls His 'Less Than Ideal' Initial Meeting with Blake Shelton

The country star impressed Shelton and music execs by performing future No. 1 hit "Hurricane" during a campfire gathering despite being ill 10 years ago

NEED TO KNOW

• Luke Combs was sick and felt out of place when he first met Blake Shelton over a decade ago
• Combs impressed music executives by performing his future No. 1 hit “Hurricane” during a campfire gathering despite being ill
• Combs and Colin Reed will open a Las Vegas location of Combs’ bar Category 10 later this year

Luke Combs wanted to vomit the first time he ever met Blake Shelton.

The "Days Like These" singer recalled being painfully sick the moment he met the country superstar along with influential music executives at an intimate gathering in Mississippi over a decade ago at a farm owned by Colin Reed, the Executive Chairman of Ryman Hospitality. 

"I'm the new guy, nobody knows who I am, and I felt like I wasn't supposed to be there," Combs, now 36, recalled. "I'm in there, and Colin has this beautiful farm in Mississippi, and there's deer, and I'm like, 'Man, this is like Mecca for a redneck.' There are ducks in the pond, and here I am, chugging the Imodium on the toilet."

The "Hurricane" singer was so sick, he said, that he spent much of the trip in his room, eating chicken soup, while Shelton, now 49, and the others lived it up. 

"It was less than ideal. I remember thinking, like, 'Well, this is it. My career's over.'" I finally got invited to a cool thing, and I'm the weird guy in the room that's sick," Combs said on March 20 at a private event to promote his upcoming Las Vegas bar, Category 10. 

Reed recalled that same moment, admitting he’d never heard of Combs when he invited him for a three-day trip. However, on the final night of the vacation, the "Beautiful Crazy" crooner mustered enough energy to come out for a powwow around the campfire in which everyone, including Shelton, strummed a guitar and sang songs that influenced their careers.

Reed had low expectations for Combs, who finally sat by the fire despite being "feverish."

"I'm thinking, he's been sick for 48 hours. This is going to be a monumental disaster. I can see it," the executive said. 

When the guitar came to the "Beer Never Broke My Heart" singer, he looked at Shelton and said, "I don't even have a record deal. I've never had a No. 1, but if I get a record deal, this song I'm going to play is a song I've written.”

Combs started playing “Hurricane," his debut single, which went on to hit No. 1. At the time, few people had ever heard it.

"I get chills even now describing it because everyone in that room went completely and utterly quiet, and it was like, holy crap, this is unbelievable," Reed said. "And that was the first time I met this guy."

Combs and Reed will team up yet again this fall to debut the Category 10, which already has a Nashville location, in Las Vegas. Combs released his sixth studio album, The Way I Am, earlier this month.

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