PINEVILLE — Pineville’s own talented 21-year-old Alyson Blair Combs will be performing at the Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival’s “Roots and Boots” concert tonight (Thursday) at 7:30 at the Bell County High School gym.

Supporting her perfomance will be another Pineville native, Jarrod Nunnely, on guitar. The two will be the opening act for a trio of country music superstars — Joe Diffie, Sammy Kershaw and Aaron Tippin.

Combs has had a passion for music since childhood and she is no stranger to the stage. At the age of 14, she performed her first solo performance in front of an audience. Since then she has performed at multiple churches, graduations, weddings, the KMLF, the Miss Bell County Pageant, and on many other occasions.

In 2009, Combs performed at an invitational Christmas concert in Nashville, Tenn., at the “Listening Room Cafe” through Jessica Ford’s “The Singing Studio”. Combs takes and applies all the advice she received from former vocal coaches Ford, Loretta Haskell, and current coach Julie Futch with Noteworthy music studios in Lexington, Ky.

Her industry influences include Reba McEntire and Miranda Lambert, with the styles of country and gospel music being her favored genres. As many aspiring artists, Combs has plans to perform on bigger stages and it is her hope to learn as much as she can about music.

She hopes, someday, to teach vocal lesson to children at her own studio. Combs currently attends Eastern Kentucky University and is entering her senior year there.