Luke Combs just did an interview with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on his podcast, “Dale Jr. Download”.  The interview is almost an hour and a half long. Dale asked Luke about his very first gig and Luke said he worked at a bar and lived upstairs, so he asked his manager if he could play there one night.  The manager said he couldn’t have live music because there were apartments upstairs and he’d lose his license. Luke then joked, “Well I live upstairs, and I know everybody else that lives upstairs.  There’s only seven apartments up there . . . so if I played, we would all be downstairs.”  But the manager wouldn’t budge. So, he went across the street to a different bar and asked the owner if he could play a gig there and right away the owner said, “Yeah.  Just go over to the calendar and put it on there.” And that was how Luke Combs got his very first gig.  He said he played country covers . . . it was $1 to get in the door . . . and about 200 people showed up. He then used that show to go back to the bar he worked at and dangle the prospect of a 200-person crowd in front of his manager.  The manager rightfully changed his mind and started letting him play there.  And that was the beginning of Luke Combs’ stardom.

Zach Bryan vented online this week after finding out his new song “Pink Skies” was being pushed on pop radio. Now he’s softened his stance after his label reportedly said they weren’t really pushing it as a pop “single” . . . just a “song” that pop stations could “showcase” if they wanted to. He joked online that he shouldn’t have assumed people were conspiring against him.  “Sorry for cursing so much earlier.  It was a misunderstanding . . . I’ve been watching too much ‘House of Cards’ on my time off.” Randy Travis was once shocked to find out HE was a “pop” star. His album “Old 8 by 10” shot to the top of “Billboard’s” country albums chart in 1988 and was so popular, it made the pop chart too.  He said he wasn’t happy at first. Quote, “The folks at Warner [Music] were celebrating, but I was irate.”  So he told them, “Get it off there!  I’m not a pop singer!  I’m a country singer.” He eventually calmed down after they told him it didn’t mean he was a pop singer.  It just meant he had one of the top albums across all genres.

Carly Pearce just shared that she was recently diagnosed with a heart condition called pericarditis.  She says her shows will be altered a little as she heals to keep her heart rate under control. “I’m a young healthy person that really watches what I eat and exercises and this happened to me.  I just want to use my platform to tell you to take care of your body and listen to it . . . and just know that if it’s trying to tell you something it’s gonna tell you.”

Charlie Worsham has put in the work to become a legit Country music star.  And he doesn’t have patience for those who don’t. He Tweeted, quote, “So glad I spent the first 30 years of my life diligently practicing & honing my skills as a singer, writer, picker, & performer . . .”Now that apparently the 1 thing you have to be great (lucky?!) at to get your music heard is clever captions over photo carousels on social media.”