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By Ken Tucker Fri Jul 27, 11:18 PM ET

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - The son of a working musician who played Southern rock, country and rock 'n' roll in a Northwest regional band, Jeremy McComb was born for today's country scene. The fact that he slept behind his dad's amp while his older brother played drums is just icing on the cake.

But McComb took a circuitous route to Nashville that included a stint as a radio DJ and as comedian Larry the Cable Guy's road manager. In fact, McComb owes his status as a rising country star to one Daniel Lawrence Whitney -- Larry the Cable Guy's lesser-known name.

During the two years he was Whitney's de facto road manager, the two men were virtually inseparable. Except, Whitney said, when they went to his house in Florida on breaks. "All that guy does is play guitar for hours," he said of McComb. "I'd see him for breakfast and lunch, but he would just sit up in that room and write songs. I bet he wrote 50 songs in my house."

Whitney told anyone who would listen that he thought McComb was a star. But it wasn't until McComb wrote a song for one of the "Blue Collar Comedy Tour" movies that Whitney's manager, J.P. Williams, and others took notice.

McComb eventually moved to Nashville, where Williams signed him to Jack Records -- which is by design a vehicle for "Blue Collar" comedians Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Ron White and Larry the Cable Guy. Facing tepid response and bureaucratic red tape from Warner Bros., Jack's distributing label, Williams formed Parallel Records to deliver McComb's "My Side of Town" to the marketplace. Distributed by 30 Tigers/Sony Red, the album will be in stores September 18.

Produced by Marshall Tucker Band drummer Paul Riddle in Spartanburg, S.C. -- "I didn't want to get the same sound everybody here had," McComb said -- the album offers a refreshing blend of rock and country.

First single "Wagon Wheel" is a jaunty, honky-tonk number previously released by Old Crow Medicine Show. The song itself has an interesting history. As the story is told, Bob Dylan, who called the track "Rock Me Mama" when he recorded it in 1972 in Mexico for the soundtrack to "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid," never finished the song. Many years later, Old Crow Medicine Show lead singer Ketch Secor heard a bootleg of the unfinished tune, filled in the gaps and created an unconventional co-write.

McComb is the opening act for Travis Tritt in the coming months.

Reuters/Billboard