Better now that he’s older, singer/songwriter Edwin McCain makes a stop at the Varsity Theatre Nov. 12. On tour since early October, McCain and his band are drumming up interest and performing in the same rootsy mood as his upcoming album “The Austin Sessions,” in stores Feb. 25, 2003.
“Sessions” features several originals and a few covers McCain has road-tested for years.
“They’re just songs that I’m a big fan of. I mean Dire Strait’s ‘Romeo & Juliet’ is a great song,” McCain said. “People have asked me about this record for a while, so it’s a ‘thank you’ to the fans.”
According to McCain, “Sessions” isn’t a reaction to anything in particular, but the South Carolina native says it seemed like the natural thing to do.
Like landed gentry packing up the cities of fortune and moving to the countryside, “Sessions” is a definite rural retreat from the pristine late ’90s success of massive hits “I’ll Be,” “Solitude,” and “I Could Not Ask for More.”
But after a song like “I’ll Be” lands in the top 10, how does an artist sit down to write the next song?
“Well, I don’t really write for the radio,” McCain said. “That success was great, but my writing style didn’t change. I always try to be honest with my music, my emotion, and my melody.”
McCain’s honesty was partially responsible for a separation with Atlantic Records this year. Readily comparing a major-label deal with an “advertising campaign,” McCain feels more at home with ATC Records, which gave him complete control over the album he felt he needed to make.
“It’s really simple and folkish–a freeing of the shackles,” McCain said. “These types of acoustic songs I think are easier to get close to.”
But McCain is still proud of his more commercial work of the past–particularly 2001’s “Far From Over.”
“I really like that loose Tom Petty, garage band sound,” McCain said. “And I think with that record I got it.”
Earlier this year, McCain was getting sounds for the debut album from Bart Adam Young, which he is producing with Kid Rock.
“Bob [Kid Rock] called me up and said ‘You gotta hear this kid. Come up to Detroit,'” McCain said. “Bart recognizes the importance of real music and has a great ability to describe his world.”
McCain shows genuine excitement for Young’s album and contributed vocals to several tracks.
“He does this old-school country,” McCain said. “Country like it should be, not all this ‘ya-ya’ stuff that’s on the radio.”
Besides performing and producing, McCain defines multimedia. The songwriter just released a comprehensive DVD and is developing a music television series and a syndicated radio feature.
The pilot to McCain’s proposed series “The Acoustic Highway” features on the DVD and shows the singer picking up musicians across the country and performing impromptu concerts for the locals.
“The idea is to get to know a little about the songwriter and how they wrote the songs, interacting with people and seeing the attractions in various cities,” McCain explained. “It’s like ‘Austin City Limits’ meets Comedy Central’s ‘Insomniac.'”
McCain is the main attraction in a full-band acoustic show at New Orleans’ House of Blues on Nov. 10 and at The Varsity Theatre Nov. 12.