Cowboy Christmas celebrates hometown

Monday night was a homecoming for Jeremy McComb, a former Post Falls boy who spends over 100 days a year touring the country and Europe singing his country songs. The sold-out Cowboy Christmas Show at The Nashville North at Stateline may not be the largest venue he’s played this year but it definitely boasts the most nostalgia. It was on that very stage that a 15-year-old Jeremy played guitar in Kelly Hughes Band for the first time. Now on the north end of his 40s, his boyish charm and reverence for the place and the people who laid the foundation for his successful career in the music business set the tone. An audience that included Jeremy’s parents and longtime friends was intimate compared to the usual honkey tonk ambiance.

Jeremy’s an entertainer and consummate storyteller. And just a really nice guy who’s comfortable in his own skin these days. 2024 was quite a ride for a kid who grew up in a farmhouse on McGuire Road. A three-week European tour that included Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Ireland, Wales, England, the Netherlands and Germany ended just before Thanksgiving. He’s been touring Europe for a few years, but Jeremy was wowed when it was announced that his song, "Granite Stone," is nominated for a British Country Music Award in the International Single category. Fellow nominees include Chris Stapleton, Post Malone and Morgan Wallen. Pretty heady company.

The lyrics for "Granite Stone" were inspired by a trip home to Post Falls a few years ago for the funeral of an old friend. As Jeremy drove around his former hometown he was struck by how much has changed. As someone who is also a storyteller and wordsmith by trade (without a guitar, microphone, boots or tour bus), I’ve always appreciated singer/songwriters above all. Jeremy’s lyrics for this song will strike a chord with anyone who’s lived in Post Falls since there was a single stoplight and a few thousand people.

“We were backroads kids runnin’ this town, can’t help but wonder whose it is now ... I stayed gone tryin’ to be found ... An old friend’s name on a granite stone, takes a broken heart to bring us home ... so for just tonight we’re back roads kids, doing all the things we always did ... I wonder whose hometown this is now ...”

In January, Jeremy will travel to London for the British Country Music Awards, but for now, he’s headed back to his Nashville home to spend Christmas with his wife of 17 years, actress Kourtney Horner, and sons.

On the cusp of a next-level career, I joked with Jeremy on Monday night about his decades-long “overnight success.” Ain’t that the truth, he laughed. The moral of the story is to work hard, stay late, go the extra mile, be humble, be grateful and, most importantly, stay true to who you are. That’s success. Your hometown’s cheering for you, Jeremy!

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Happy birthday today to Christina Petit, Steve Cornelius, Kathy Hughes, Duncan Menzies, Stephanie Hunter, Michael Matt, Katrina Mayer, Kym Hamby, Leigh Sales and Aleta English. Special birthday wishes on the 12th day of the 12th month to Mary Sanderson, Margot Mitchell, Alexis Davis, Sialas Tripp, Amy Alderman, John Austin, Mary Finley, Teresa Capone, Mark Orlowski, Konrad Hochhalter, Monte Miller, Richard Stevenette, Colleen Williams, Dave Sayers, Lynn Knapp and Jessica White. Lucky Friday the 13th birthdays for Jim Freeman, Austin Lee, Kim Buer and Denise Higgs. On Saturday, Eve Knudtsen, Kyle Siegert, Angie Hatch, Jeannette Conroy, Sybil McCormack, Sandy Clemons, Amber Briles, John Medlock, Vicki Peoples, Karen Kastning, Tammy VanBrunt and James Forster will jingle the birthday bells. On Sunday, Nellie Armstrong, Kerri Wilfong, Susan Schneidmiller, Cat Troy, Jann Kinnard, Josef Dreps, Brenda Young, Janelle Stimson, Anne Marie Toothaker, Travis Gardner and Austin Wuest celebrate frosty birthdays. Marci Clark, Pam Pereira, Mimi Eismann, Lori Dawson, Harmony Taylor, Dot Neirinckx and Tim Kastning take another trip around the sun Dec. 16. Cheyenne Peugh, Holly Kincaid and Lori Stanea are Tuesday birthday girls.

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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email thoreson.kerri@gmail.com.