Picture This: Luke Combs Just Another Fan in the Crowd

Here’s all the proof you need that neon dreams do come true.

Just four short years ago, Luke Combs was living in Nashville trying to get his country career off the ground. (Remember when he told me, “The first eight months I was there, nobody would touch me with a ten-foot pole. I had meetings with publishers and labels, and people would say, ’Man, the songs just aren’t that great’”?)

And just like Alan Jackson says, Lordy, don’t the wheels turn slow? But still, even though Combs wasn’t exactly blowing up country radio and selling out shows when he got to Music City, he was still a bona fide fan. As evidenced in the new old picture the folks at Whiskey Jam posted on Instagram on Thursday (Dec. 12).

Taken less than a year after Combs moved to Nashville and about a year before he released his debut single “Hurricane,” he is basically all of us. Just watching the show, close to the front of the stage, soaking in the music that was playing that night, before and after his set. It was a Carolinas Takeover show, featuring Cody Webb, Josh Phillips, James McNair, Ricky Young, Rob Williford (Rowdy Rob) and Warren Stone.

“TBT 7/20/15,” the Whiskey Jam people wrote. “This dude standing front row supporting his friends at WJ (Whiskey Jam at Winner’s Bar and Grill) is wrapping one of the more mind-blowing tour runs we’ve ever seen with 2 sold out shows this weekend in Nashville. Hats off to @lukecombs & his powerhouse team.

“Chase your dreams, kids.”

Shortly after that night at the Whiskey Jam, Combs inked a record deal, released “Hurricane,” and came in and hit us like a storm without warning.

Embedded from www.youtube.com.

Alison makes her living loving country music. She’s based in Chicago, but she’s always leaving her heart in Nashville.

@alisonbonaguro