My Side of Town

iTunes Review

Jerry McComb's father was a musician who set his son on the right path by pulling him on stage at the age of eight to sing Willie Nelson's "On The Road Again." When he turned 21 McComb fronted the touring honky-tonk band Trace County. At 23, this young go-getter was a DJ and Music Director for country station KIX 96 in Spokane, WA where he befriended redneck comedian Larry The Cable guy and subsequently became his tour manager. With all this under his belt, it only makes sense for McComb to release an incredibly impressive debut at age 26. "Wagon Wheel" has a timeless tone and a story that's as impressive as the recording. (It originally existed solely as a chorus penned by Bob Dylan in 1973 for Sam Peckinpah's film Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid). In 2001 Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show wrote new verses around the old chorus, and McComb's version of the finished song bounces with traditional aplomb and a nasal inflection that sounds more acquired than affected. The mellower "This Town Needs A Bar" is a tear-in-beer affair that helps make My Side Of Town a perfect companion album to Sunny Sweeney's similarly rootsy 2007 debut