Well-known and talented South Carolina musician Edwin McCain will celebrate his first new album in nearly 15 years July 3 at The Windjammer.
The platinum-selling Charleston performer released a 10-song collection called Lucky earlier this year. And that means fans will soon hear McCain’s first newly recorded original songs since 2011’s Mercy Bound.
But not TOO many new songs. McCain was part of a wave of South Carolina musicians who picked up national notice in the 1990s. He scored hits like “Solitude,” “I’ll Be” and “I Could Not Ask For More,” and stood shoulder to shoulder with bands like Hootie & The Blowfish for a while.
And he knows that you want to hear those old songs.
“The first rule of show business is, ‘Give the people what they want,’ ” McCain said in a recent interview with the Charleston City Paper. “In fact, I’ve been teasing my audience for years about it. I walk out on the stage and go, ‘OK, tonight we’re doing all new songs,’ and they’re like ‘NOOOO!’ ”
Furthermore, he’s just fine with the audience’s insistence on hearing his classics. Because he’s one of those people, too.
“What people are drawn to is the way they discovered you,” McCain said. “And I’m guilty of it too. I always love the early stuff of whatever artist I love. When I go to see AC/DC, I want them to play mostly ‘Back in Black.’
“And everybody’s like that,” he added with a laugh. “The people who say they’re not like that are liars.”
Feeling ‘Lucky’
The fact remains, however, that McCain has a new album. And it’s one he says he’s proud of. It’s also one he had no intention of making.
“There was a voice in my head telling me to just get out of the way, old man,” the 55-year-old McCain said. “There are plenty of new artists coming up, and you don’t want to be jamming up the bandwidth. Just go out there and play your shows and enjoy your slow fade into obscurity.”
But that voice in his head had competition from a voice in his ear. Multi-platinum country singer, songwriter and producer Lee Brice, originally from Sumter, had been calling McCain incessantly for years about making a new album.
McCain’s hesitance wasn’t just about feeling irrelevant. He just wasn’t a fan of studio recording.
“I never really liked being in the studio,” he said. “It was a tedious thing for me.”
Brice assured him that the days of cutting albums to 2-inch tapes were over, and that recording technology had come a long way in 14 years. McCain finally gave in and recorded the 10 songs that make up Lucky with Brice producing.
One of the standout performances on the album is “Love Me or Leave Me Alone,” a grinding, sparse soul-blues ballad that sees McCain’s flinty, passionate vocal style still fully intact.
It’s also an example of an older, wiser performer. McCain didn’t write “Love Me or Leave Me Alone.” Songwriter Chris Gelbuda did. In the past, outside material was a rarity on an Edwin McCain album.
“I used to demand of myself that everything on my records be written or co-written by me,” he said. “And then after a while you just want to know if this is a great song and can I make it better. If the two answers are yes, then I’ll at least try it.”
Just like old times
As happy as McCain is with the new album, the idea of playing a show at The Windjammer seemed to make him nostalgic for the days when he played with acts like Cravin’ Melon, Drivin’ N’ Cryin’, the Blue Dogs and other South Carolina bands that seemed on the verge of national success.
“I always look at The Windjammer as a continuation or an acknowledgement of how lucky I am to still be doing this after 35 years,” he said. “Back then, we really couldn’t have been more blessed to have been musicians in Charleston. We all supported each other, and it was an incredible moment in time. And I’m a result of that period of time.”
IF YOU WANT TO GO: Doors open at 6 p.m., July 3, The Windjammer, 1008 Ocean Blvd., Isle of Palms. Tickets are $40 in advance, $45 at the door: the-windjammer.com
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