Luke Combs UK star Liam Price on meeting his country music hero ahead of Portsmouth Guildhall return

Liam Price brings his acclaimed Luke Combs UK show back to Portsmouth Guildhall on Saturday, October 17

From playing weddings to warming up thousands of Luke Combs fans at Wembley, the last three years have provided plenty of “pinch me” moments for Liam Price.

The Wolverhampton singer is the man behind Luke Combs UK, a tribute show which has grown from a handful of performances in his hometown into a hugely successful touring production.

Now Liam is preparing to return to Portsmouth Guildhall on Saturday, October 17, bringing the music of one of country’s biggest stars back to the city.

And if there were any doubts about Liam’s credentials, Luke Combs and his team are very much aware of what he does.

Liam spoke to Paul Marsh from Express FM about his relationship with Luke Combs, the incredible rise of Luke Combs UK and why the Portsmouth show promises to be a special night.

Liam recently performed at Boxpark Wembley ahead of Luke’s stadium shows, entertaining thousands of country fans before being invited to the concert by Luke’s management.

“It was certainly a career highlight,” Liam said. “To be asked and chosen to do that was a real honour, and I think we delivered.”

“Usually we play some gigs and there are people who are a bit cagey and you’ve got to win them over, which we’ve been doing for years.

“There was no need for that on Friday or Saturday. Everyone was absolutely ready from the first note. It was class, brilliant.”

‘Within two minutes I forgot I was talking to the biggest country star out of Nashville’

Liam has also had the opportunity to meet Luke himself, an experience which only increased his admiration for the Grammy-nominated country star.

Despite Luke’s enormous success, Liam says the man he met was remarkably down to earth.

“Within two minutes I forgot I was talking to the biggest country star out of Nashville,” he said.

“He’s a lovely, lovely man. We spent probably 20 minutes just talking about home and family.

“My wife was pregnant at the time I met him and this had become full-time. I just said thank you for your support. My wife probably isn’t going to go back to work and I’m able to support the family.

“He just wrapped his arms around me. He’s so cool. Everything you hear about him is true.

“He’s a megastar and he’s worth millions, but he’s just so in touch with the basics.”

That relationship extends to Luke’s management team, who Liam says have given Luke Combs UK their backing.

With that endorsement, however, comes a sense of responsibility.

“His manager had alluded to the fact that Luke had seen what we were doing. They were already aware of us and we’ve got their full backing.

“The main thing for them is to treat the fans well because they are their fans.

“We feel a lot of responsibility when we tour the country in how we act, how we behave and how we engage. His fans have become our fans and they’re the ones keeping us on the road.”

Country from the Black Country

While Liam has studied Luke’s vocals closely, audiences coming to Portsmouth shouldn’t expect him to spend the entire evening pretending to be the American superstar.

Once the music stops, the Luke Combs persona disappears and Liam is very much himself.

Originally from Wolverhampton, he describes what he does as “country from the Black Country”.

“It was one of the earliest decisions I made,” he said. “I wasn’t comfortable doing the whole thing of pretending I’d been at the Grammys last week. I just couldn’t do it.

“It’s one of the best decisions I ever made because it’s so much more relatable to people when we’re ourselves.

“Between songs we are completely ourselves. We reference Luke, we give the stories behind his songs, and then the act comes alive during the songs.”

It is an approach that has taken Liam a long way from the weddings where the idea for Luke Combs UK first emerged.

After Covid, Liam found himself performing at a huge number of weddings and noticed one artist being requested increasingly often.

“Luke’s music kept coming up,” he said. “Can we have this song? Can we have that song?

“He obviously got bigger and bigger, country got huge and he was the figurehead of modern country. I thought, ‘Do you know what? I’m going to have a go at this.’

“I got talking to a local restaurant owner in Wolverhampton and he said if I decided to do it, they’d book a few shows.

“Within 48 hours we had three or four sold-out shows, and my behind hasn’t touched the floor since that day.”

Liam Price steps out from behind Luke Combs

Alongside the success of Luke Combs UK, Liam is increasingly establishing himself as a country artist in his own right.

He recently performed his original music at CMA Fest in Nashville after winning The Long Road Festival’s Homegrown Talent competition, and has released his latest single, Two Horse Town.

The track features acclaimed Nashville musician Jenee Fleenor, a multiple CMA Musician of the Year winner who has performed with some of country music’s biggest names.

Liam admitted it was a shock when she agreed to play on the record.

“She’s the most sought-after fiddle player in Nashville,” he said. “She’s playing with George Strait, she’s at the Opry every other week and she’s a five-time CMA Musician of the Year.

“It’s not very often musicians send me a track and I don’t ask to change something. With this I just went, ‘Yeah, that’s absolutely fine.’

“What she put down was exactly what I wanted. It was an honour to have her on it.”

Despite his growing success under his own name, Liam has no intention of leaving behind the show which changed his life.

For Portsmouth country fans, October offers another chance to see Luke Combs UK in a venue Liam already knows well, this time following a summer which saw him perform for Luke’s fans at Wembley and receive the backing of the superstar’s own team.

Luke Combs UK, starring Liam Price, comes to Portsmouth Guildhall on Saturday, October 17. Liam Price’s latest original single, Two Horse Town, is out now.