Luke Combs Recalls Awkward First Meeting With Blake Shelton: ‘I’m The Weird Guy in the Room That’s Sick’

Luke Combs’ first meeting with Blake Shelton wasn’t exactly a career highlight. He was sick, embarrassed, and convinced he had missed the chance for his big break. Little did he know that awkward moment would end up being the night he would predict his first major success as a country singer.

Over a decade ago, the country singer, who was just a rising artist at the time, was taking part in an intimate gathering in Mississippi at a farm owned by Colin Reed, the Executive Chairman of Ryman Hospitality. Combs admits he was already feeling out of place because he was the “new guy” who no one knew.

“I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there,” he explained to PEOPLE during a private event to promote the new Las Vegas location of his Category 10 bar.

On top of those nerves, he became very sick and spent the majority of his time trying to recover by eating chicken soup alone in his room while the rest of the attendees, which included Shelton, enjoyed the trip.

“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 uneasiness really started to set in, making Combs believe that his career was over all because he wasn’t able to make a good impression on these important members of the industry.

“I finally got invited to a cool thing, and I’m the weird guy in the room that’s sick,” he said, describing how he was feeling in that moment.

By some miracle, Combs had recovered enough to join a casual campfire gathering on the final night. Around the fire, singers took turns sharing songs that had shaped their careers. As a newcomer, the North Carolina native didn’t have any hits of that caliber yet, but when it was his turn, he knew exactly which song he wanted to play.

“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,” he told Shelton.

The song he decided to showcase was “Hurricane,” which went on to become his debut single and officially reached number one on the Billboard Country Airplay chart in May of 2017.  

Colin Reed can still remember the very moment that the “Beautiful Crazy” singer predicted his own success.

“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,” he recalled. “And that was the first time I met this guy.”

Fast forward to 2024, and that same song came full circle when Combs and Reed teamed up to open the first Category 10 location in the heart of downtown Nashville, a concept inspired directly by the breakout hit he once played around a campfire.

While hurricanes top out at Category 5, Combs pushed the idea even further. Much like the 8x platinum success of “Hurricane,” the bar’s name reflects something bigger, Category 10, a level that doesn’t exist, but somehow sums up him and his career perfectly.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Category 10 (@officialcategory10)

Now, the partnership with Ryman Hospitality is continuing to grow, with a new Las Vegas location set to open in fall 2026.

Combs also recently released his sixth studio album, The Way I Am, a 22-track project that offers a deeper look into his life behind the scenes, from balancing family and career, to the pressures that come with both, and finding clarity in what matters most.

The album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and No. 2 across the all-genre Billboard 200, Top Album Sales, and Top Streaming Albums charts, earning 100,700 equivalent units sold.

The undeniable success continued when Combs kicked off his “My Kinda Saturday Night Tour” with a sold-out show at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, breaking the venue’s attendance record with a crowd of 70,921 fans.