A Sweet Slice of Country History: Luke Combs Posts a Throwback Photo With His Very First Guitar. ML

Key Points

• Luke Combs shared childhood photos with his first guitar, delighting fans with nostalgia.
• He has previously admitted he didn’t start playing seriously until his early twenties, after encouragement from his mom.
• Fans celebrated his journey, crediting his mom’s push for his music career success.

Well this is adorable. Luke Combs just shared a couple of throwback photos of himself with his very first guitar, and honestly, it’s exactly the kind of content that reminds us why country music fans adore him. The pictures are pure, unfiltered 90s nostalgia with a pajama-clad, visor-wearing nine-year-old Luke lounging in a blue velvet recliner, wood-paneled walls behind him, proudly holding the guitar he’d just unwrapped on Christmas morning. It’s a whole vibe, and it absolutely delivers.

Luke captioned the post, “My mom was going through some old photos the other day and came across these gems haha. This was Christmas 1999, I was 9 years old and my parents had just given me my first guitar. Crazy how life changes because for many years after these photos were taken I had no interest at all in that guitar.”

And honestly? That’s the most relatable thing ever: The present that becomes life-changing… years later.

Fans clearly felt the same way. The comments section instantly turned into a chorus of “aww”s, nostalgia, and jokes about the visor. One wrote, “best investment they could’ve made,” while another declared, “This is the perfect ‘How Things Are Going’ pic.”

Several people said the pictures should be his next album cover, someone called the recliner “comfy as hell,” and nearly everyone agreed that the visor “goes hard as hell.” Another summed it up nicely: “Literally the cutest — born to play guitar.” And of course, the most wholesome comments came in the form of gratitude: “Thank you Luke’s parents for giving him that guitar!” and “Well we sure are happy you got interested in it!!”

Turns out, it took him a minute.

He Didn’t Start Playing Seriously Until Years Later

Luke has been open over the years about the fact that he didn’t pick up the guitar and instantly morph into the chart-topping megastar we know today. In fact, during an interview with Clint Black on Talking in Circles this past October, he shared that his serious interest in guitar didn’t spark until he was in his early twenties.

After dropping out of college at 21, Luke found himself unsure of what came next. He still had his old $50 Ibanez guitar from middle school tucked in a closet, untouched. But one day, his mom gave him a nudge that ended up changing everything.

“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,’” Luke recalled. That little push, combined with the fact that he already had a guitar just waiting to be played, lit the spark that turned into an entire career.

And as fans now know, once he picked it up, he never looked back.

From One Christmas Gift to Stadium Tours

Looking at those throwback photos, it’s almost surreal to think how close the world came to never hearing Luke Combs sing a note. If his mom hadn’t nudged him at the right moment (or if that little Ibanez had stayed in the closet) country music might have turned out very differently.

Thankfully, fate (plus a very persuasive mom) had other plans.

Now Luke is one of the most beloved artists in the genre: A CMA Entertainer of the Year winner, a multi-platinum hitmaker, a stadium-touring powerhouse, and a guy whose fans feel like they actually know him. These little glimpses into his past—wood paneling, visor, recliner and all—only make that connection stronger.

We’re glad that his mom finally inspired him to pick up the gift she got him for Christmas when he was nine. And judging by the comments, his fans are too.