Matthew Hornbeck, left, stage manager to Country music artist Luke Combs, prepares for a show; the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, on May 5, 2022. Photo (c) 2022 David Bergman. www.DavidBergman.net. Used with Permission.
By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
Matthew Hornbeck always wanted to be in the entertainment industry. Being a stage manager for Luke Combs was not on his radar.
Hornbeck, a Barren County High School graduate, fell into the touring portion of the entertainment industry by a chance encounter. Scott Alexander, who worked for Big Branch Productions, the video vendor Josh Turner used at that time, asked him in a coffee shop if he knew how to operate a camera.
“When I came back to Nashville I was sitting at a Starbucks and [Alexander] asked me ‘can you run a camera?’ He basically hired me on the spot and the next weekend I was going on tour with Josh Turner,” he said. “So that kind of started my journey in the touring industry.”
That day led to where he is now — a Country Music Association nominee for Stage Manager of the Year
Hornbeck, a 2004 BCHS graduate, is up for the award along with seven other individuals for well-known Country Music stars such as Jason Aldean, Morgan Wallen, Kenny Chesney and Chris Stapleton.
He said he always wanted to be in the entertainment industry, but the thought of being a stage manager wasn’t on his radar.
“If you asked me then that I’d be doing this now I wouldn’t have believed it,” Hornbeck said. “I had no idea that this was going to happen.”
After spending a year at Cumberland University, where he played football until sustaining an injury, he transferred to Western Kentucky University on an academic scholarship. There he had a dual major in broadcasting with a focus on television production and technical theater.
After graduating in 2008, Hornbeck spent a year in D.C. before moving to Nashville to pursue the entertainment field.
“I moved to Nashville, which was close enough to Barren County…but also a big city where I could try to fulfill my aspirations in the entertainment industry,” Hornbeck said.
That led to the fateful meeting in the coffee shop.
As Combs’ stage manager since 2019, Hornbeck handles the plethora of moving parts required to put on a show. He is the guy “who makes sure the trains run on time” and is often “the first one in and last one out” of a venue.
He said while he is honored to be nominated he is going to keep “driving forward” and continue to be the best he can be.
“It starts from the top down…even though I got nominated for this award, I don’t go to bed at night thinking I’m the best there ever was,” Hornbeck said. “All I do is try to keep people happy because life’s too short to worry about the negatives. So that’s my focus not ‘oh, I’m really good at this.’ I always want to stay humble and keep driving because there’s is always someone out there who’s better.”
The winners of each category will be announced Feb. 12 in Nashville at the Industry Celebration, hosted by Keith Urban. The final round of voting for the awards opened on Dec. 13 and runs Dec. 28.
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