Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or are under the age of 25), you’ve probably heard the top 40 hit “I’ll Be” by Edwin McCain. It turns out Dianne and Cecil Crowley, the owners of Red’s Ice House in Mount Pleasant, are like second parents to the Charleston-born musician.
McCain will perform Aug. 27 at Red’s Ice House’s special 20th anniversary party to celebrate the restaurant’s milestone. The Crowleys have operated the place since June 2004.
Dianne Crowley said she’s looking forward to making more memories at Red’s birthday party with McCain, who’s been playing at her establishments for the past 30 years.
“We’re celebrating the fact that Red’s has considered ourselves to be as local as it gets from the day we opened, and we’re proud of that,” she told the Charleston City Paper. “So our 20th birthday is going to be a celebration of local music, local specials, local prizes and the local love that we have for this beautiful area that we live in.”
And Red’s wasn’t the couple’s first restaurant rodeo. The Crowleys founded the Wild Wings Cafe franchise in 1990 with the first location in Hilton Head Island, followed in 1992 by a second location on North Market Street in downtown Charleston. Crowley said she and her husband went on to own 13 of the 37 locations within the franchise.
McCain remembers the early days
McCain played a role in the couple’s early ventures, too.
“My story goes all the way back to 1992 when I met Cecil and Dianne in Hilton Head,” McCain told the Charleston City Paper. “I started playing for them at the original Wild Wings. And they are like second parents. I played there three nights a week.
“As my career grew, they started opening more Wild Wings in the Southeast. When they opened a Wild Wings, I would go play it for a week or two. As their empire grew, my career grew. We’ve been lifelong friends. [Dianne said she was] throwing this big hoorah at Red’s and asked me if I would play it — and I said, ‘I wouldn’t miss it for the world.’”
McCain, who splits time between his Greenville and James Island residences, said he’s been playing with his band’s lead guitarist Larry Chaney for 27 years.
“He said something so perfect for why we keep doing it,” McCain said. “He said, ‘For whatever the time is that we’re on stage, we become the ambassadors of possibility.’ … It’s an interesting dynamic. And once you’ve done it for as long as we have, it’s hard to imagine a life without it.”
The Red’s Ice House anniversary party kicks off with live music at 1 p.m. Aug. 27. The bill features McCain and his longtime fellow musicians Rotie Salley and Mitchell Lee. Charleston act The Midnight City Band will close the show.
“Thank you to everybody in Charleston,” McCain said. “Charleston has been so supportive and so incredibly kind to us over the 30-plus years we’ve been playing. It’s such a great place for music. Lifelong gratitude.”
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