Jeremy McComb gets a little mushy, talking about his favorite part of a concert.

And it's not the music.

It's when the musicians take a break from jamming and nuzzle up to the mic to spill out their stories, their embarrassments on the road, their lucky breaks, the inspiration they stumbled across for songs.

It's the kind of intimate gut-spilling he has come to expect in the dim bars of Nashville, his home for the past six and a half years, where he has sat in on performances by the great names of country trying out their latest projects on fresh ears.

"I was in awe of it. I was infatuated," the Post Falls native said of first hearing songwriters dish out their thoughts. "They're like story tellers."

He aims to give a taste of that to audiences in his hometown.

The 30-year-old songwriter with two CDs is visiting Post Falls this weekend for his second Christmas Extravaganza performance at the Slab Inn.

Accompanied by Rick Huckaby, another up and coming Nashville performer, Jeremy plans to not only lay down some original melodies, but also to regale folks with anecdotes about hacking a living in the music biz.

"What ended up happening after the shows, we'd end up sitting with the staff, me and him jamming with all these road stories," he said of his and Huckaby's earlier tours. "What people always enjoyed was the part afterward, the show shutting down and the band backstage. That's what we're bringing to the stage."

Raised by music

And Jeremy does have some juicy anecdotes to share.

Even dating back to his pre-pubescent days. Many nights of his childhood were spent dozing off behind the amp at gigs for his father's band in Kootenai County bars.

"A bartender would see me and say, 'Get the hell out,'" Jeremy remembered with a laugh. "I'd been thrown out of every bar up there by the time I was 8."

The following years would raise just as many eyebrows. A struggling student, music was the only skill Jeremy "didn't fail at consistently," he said.

He found the help he needed at New Visions High School in Post Falls, he said.

"It gave me the tools I needed to succeed in life, to set realistic goals," he said. "I credit it with completely turning my life around. They never did anything but encourage me in what I was doing."

Even when that involved dropping out at 16, he said.

His older brother and fellow musician wrangled a chance for Jeremy to help manage the Kelly Hughes band on tour. But the choice had to be made quick: Jeremy would have to leave school the same day the offer was put on the table.

"I called my dad and asked if I could do it, and after some begging and pleading, and after I talked to my teachers..." he said.

He left.

It was a tough choice for his parents, said his father, Bob.

"We didn't just say, 'Yeah, go ahead.' We talked to the school, we talked to Kelly. And the school said, 'Hey, he could pass the GED right now,'" Bob said.

It was the right choice, Jeremy said. On the tour, he started out working the light stand and ended up playing keyboard, then bass.

"That is what I wanted to do," he said. "I fit in, and excelled quickly."

The gold of blue collar humor

His angel of mercy was Larry the Cable Guy.

Jeremy landed a job as tour manager for the comedian in his early 20s, back when Larry was about as popular as any other cable guy.

"When we started out, he was making $4,500 a night. And it ended up he was making $300,000," Jeremy said of this three years on the tour. "It was an amazing thing to watch happen, a superstar be born on the road."

Besides becoming well versed in bus schedules, setting up interviews and carrying spit cups, Jeremy said, he was able to network in the entertainment industry during his time on the tour.

He pitched in writing songs for the comedian, he said, as well as for the Blue Collar Comedy Tour.

"I wasn't making a million dollars a year, but it was worth its weight in gold to make the friends I made," he said.

Bob, occasionally invited to travel in the tour buses and hang with the performers, witnessed the impact it had on his son.

"(Larry) was a huge influence on Jeremy as far as business and how to conduct yourself, and how to take care of your fans," Bob said.

Eventually, Jeremy landed a record deal for "My Side of Town," his first CD.

"It was my first exposure nationally," he said. "I went from being tour manager to all of a sudden doing the interviews myself."

A staff member with Parallel Entertainment, which manages Larry the Cable Guy, confirmed Jeremy had been a tour manager, but said no one from those days was available to comment.

But on Larry the Cable Guy's website, the entertainer includes Jeremy McComb on a list of performers to check out.

"Not only did I get opportunities," Jeremy said. "But it also really showed me a different side of the business a lot of artists don't get to see."

Big plans

While he's still not on the Top 40 yet, the kid is going places.

Jeremy just released a second album "Leap and the Net Will Appear," through his own record label, which allowed him to donate $1 for every sale to the Wounded Warrior Project.

He also just starred in a five-part web series, "Big Country Blues."

"I liked it and enjoyed it, but I'm a storyteller and a song writer," he said of his acting stint. "I don't need or want to be Brad Pitt."

Jeremy plans to keep writing and playing live, to use the musical climate of Nashville to grow.

"This town caters to guys like me," he said of his new home base.

But he attributes his success so far to his parents and hometown supporters, he said.

His roots.

That's why he's putting on the Christmas concert, he said, scheduled for 8 p.m. at the Slab Inn.

Tickets are $15, with a portion of proceeds going to the Post Falls Food Bank.

"It's about going back and thanking everybody for continuing to keep up with me," Jeremy said. "Supporting the country boy from McGuire Road."