Chris Kappy worked in IT and sales and for the music event company Sixthman before becoming an artist manager. When he saw Luke Combs, then a relatively unknown artist, command a small crowd at an Athens, Georgia, club in 2015, he knew he’d found his first client. During this program, moderated by the Museum’s Angela Stefano Zimmer, Kappy discusses his journey into artist management and shares how he’s navigated crises and hardships and celebrated meaningful victories. Recorded on March 22, 2025, the program was presented in support of the exhibition “Luke Combs: The Man I Am.”

During the interview, Kappy weaves between stories from both before and during his time with Combs. He elaborates on his varied employment history—from sales to his time as head waiter at the annual Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia—which ultimately prepared him for being an artist manager. He also touches on the humble beginnings of his partnership with Combs, during which both men struggled financially while Combs’s career gained momentum. Kappy and Combs’s fans-first approach became the foundation of Kappy’s artist-management company, Make Wake Artists, and enabled him to mentor younger artist managers.

The conversation also focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic and how Kappy and Combs navigated the challenges of building Combs’s career during that time. The interview concludes with a discussion of two of Kappy’s proudest moments as a manager: Combs and Eric Church’s Concert for Carolina and how Combs turned his favorite song, Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” into a hit of his own.

Kappy moved to Nashville in the fall of 2015 to manage Combs. In the decade since, he has expanded his management company, Make Wake Artists, to include a team of nearly two dozen employees. Make Wake’s clients now include Combs and his wife Nicole, the Castellows, Brent Cobb, Flatland Cavalry, Josh Abbott Band, Meghan Patrick, and more.

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