Country concerts are in high gear this winter with superstars Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley rolling into the Nutter Center next month, Jerrod Niemann playing a free K99.1FM Unplugged show at the Yellow Rose on Jan. 31, and Easton Corbin hitting Clark State’s Kuss Auditorium last weekend.

The big names always bring along the up-and-comers, supporting acts who may have one or two hits but aren’t big enough to headline their own tour yet or who are just starting out in their careers.

You may have heard about my friend Wyatt McCubbin, newly graduated from my alma mater, Southeastern High School in South Charleston. He just turned a tender 18 on Jan. 24. He opened up for Easton in Springfield last week, and once again he did the crowd proud.

At this point in this career, Wyatt is doing what is called “paying his dues,” by traveling back and forth to Nashville from his home, a map dot called Selma in Clark County. He’s played small venues and big ones, learning at the boot heels of legends such as George Jones, Merle Haggard and David Allan Coe.

He’s also traveling a familiar path blazed by megastars who now sell out venues, but once were in his scuffed Justin’s. A very young Luke Bryan found himself performing before Dwight Yoakam at Fraze Pavilion in August 2006. With just a guitar, a baseball cap and that infamous grin, Luke asked if any of us wanted to keep him company as he drove a rental car to his next gig in Columbus. I must have had a mental lapse for not taking him up on that!

In October of that year, a tall, gawky, curly haired 17-year-old girl named Taylor Swift opened up for Rascal Flatts and Gary Allan at the Nutter Center. The awkward young lady wore a sundress, cowboy boots and played a sparkly guitar. She now sells out stadiums.

Twice in June 2007 at Fraze, I met up with three kids, Hillary, Dave and Charles, better known as Lady Antebellum. The group opened up for Jack Ingram and again for the Doobie Brothers with a very vocal fan base of My Space followers in the crowd. The trio has since earned multiple awards and just finished up a successful world tour.

Dustin Lynch stopped by the radio station last year to perform for a group of listeners. We keep up on Facebook and Twitter, but as he gets busier racking up more hits and embarking on a tour with Keith Urban and Little Big Town, I expect our once “close” relationship will fall by the wayside.

All kidding aside, I doubt any of these superstars remember lil ol’ me, as evidenced by the fact they’ve yet to thank me in any of their award speeches. I’m counting on Wyatt when he accepts a major award someday to give a shout out to his ol’ friend Nancy, just like the shout out I give now to my friend Greg Bachman, who told me when I left Springfield to come to the big city of Dayton and K99.1FM that I would do good. I hope I have, Greg.