|
Sunday, 5 October, 2008 12:58 PM
CMA New Artist Spotlight: Jeremy
McComb
Photo
by David McClister
Parallel
recording artist Jeremy McComb
| By
Bob Doerschuk |
| ©
2008 CMA Close Up News Service |
Some people are born
to perform but they still need a little nudge toward the spotlight
to fulfill that destiny. So it was with 8-year-old Jeremy McComb
when his father, a full-time musician, pulled him onstage to sing
a chorus of "On the Road Again." By age 17 he was on the
road, and at 21 was mixing gigs at night with a day job as music
director and on-air personality at KIX-96 (KIXZ) in Spokane, Wash.
Through his radio job,
McComb got to know Larry the Cable Guy, who hired him as his tour
manager in 2004. That led to an encounter with J. P. Williams, who
signed McComb to his company, Parallel Entertainment, and sent him
to Spartanburg, S.C., to record his debut album.
Produced by Paul T. Riddle
of the original Marshall Tucker Band, My Side of Town showcases
McComb's winning ways with a good lyric. His voice invites the listener
in, as if to sit and swap a few stories, but can also ratchet up
the intensity when the moment demands it.
He tracks subtle shifts
of feeling on his first single, "This Town Needs a Bar,"
written by Liz Rose and Jimmy Yeary, with a weary wisdom that's
rare among younger singers. The same quality surfaces in the three
songs that bear his solo writing credit, one of which, "You're
Killin' Me," bids farewell to whiskey as if it were a lover
who had scarred him one time too many. It's clever without being
cute, a combination that may be difficult to achieve unless you're
from McComb's Side of Town.
IN HIS OWN WORDS
SONG YOU'D SECRETLY
LOVE TO COVER
"'Over My Head (Cable Car),' by The Fray."
BOOK ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND
"Where Did I Go Right? You're No One in Hollywood Unless Someone
Wants You Dead, by Bernie Brillstein."
SONG YOU WISH YOU'D
WRITTEN
"'Songs about Rain,' by Gary Allan."
SOMETHING WE'D NEVER
GUESS ABOUT YOU
"I like 'Grey's Anatomy.'"
LUCKY CHARM
"I wear a St. Christopher necklace- it really works."
TITLE OF YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY
"Sometimes Two Wrongs Do Make a Right."
WHEN THEY LOOK BACK ON YOUR LIFE IN 50 YEARS, WHAT YOU HOPE
PEOPLE SAY ABOUT YOU
"I hope people say I was compassionate, that I helped more
than I hurt and caused more smiles then pain."
On the Web: www.jeremymccomb.com
AmericaJR.com
is Detroit's exclusive media outlet for this syndicated weekly column!
|
