Interview: A Conversation with Artist Manager Chris Kappy

In the spring of 2015, Chris Kappy — who had been working for the music event company Sixthman for more than a decade but wanted to be an artist manager — saw Luke Combs command a small crowd at an Athens, Georgia club and knew he’d found his first client. He moved to Nashville that fall to manage Combs full-time. In the near decade since, Kappy 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. During this interview with the museum’s Angela Stefano Zimmer, Kappy will discuss his path to the music industry and Nashville, his work as a manager and how he’s helped Combs build his career. Offered in support of the exhibition Luke Combs: The Man I Am.