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EDWIN MCCAIN

BY KEITH RYAN CARTWRIGHT

File/Provided/Zack Arias

Edwin McCain makes a return to the Lowcountry this weekend.

To state the obvious, Edwin McCain is a familiar face in South Carolina.

His music — recorded and live versions — is equally familiar.

"It was a happening scene for about 10 years," said McCain, whose career emerged on a national level at the same time Charleston was becoming a budding music town. "I've played every incarnation of the Music Farm."

Pretty much everyone in the Lowcountry is aware of the fact that the Greenville native released his first album, "Solitude," in 1993 before signing with Atlantic (Lava) Records and releasing "Honor Among Thieves" (1995), "Misguided Roses" (1997), "Messenger" (1999) and "Far From Over" (2001).

He later released "The Austin Sessions" (2003), "Scream and Whisper" (2004) and "Lost in America" (2006), along with the recently released "Nobody's Fault but Mine."

Saturday night he returns to where his career began with yet another show at the Music Farm.

But this time McCain might not sound so familiar.

"Nobody's Fault" is, to say the least, a bit of a departure for the singer-songwriter known for his rock-'n'-roll sound and the attitude of a tried-and-true troubadour.

Setting aside his rootsy, self-penned hits, McCain's latest offering is a collection of vintage R&B and classic Southern soul songs.

"I never thought I'd make a record like this," said McCain, who added that the idea for the project was first mentioned a few years ago, but it was "age and maturity" that led to his finally tackling it.

Though he admitted he could have never made this record any earlier in his career, he said, "It was amazing to return to that era and mind-set, and to really understand the beauty and absolute brilliance of the music."

The album features songs personally selected by McCain, who drove up and down the South Carolina coast-

line with a buddy playing song after song. They would initially listen to about the first 30 seconds of a song — "Some Kind of Wonderful" and "Can I Get a Witness" were all but certain to make the cut — in narrowing the list of potential material down to about 100 songs or so.

Once they had a manageable stack of songs — which either fit McCain's range or had a good vibe to it — the two went back and listened to the songs in their entirety before comparing their list to that of the label, trying to figure which tunes might work.

One artist the folks at Saguaro Road Records really wanted McCain to cover was Aretha Franklin.

"I would have never even thought to consider something like that," said McCain, who added that once you listen to it you realize it works.

The material itself isn't the only difference for McCain and his band — Craig Shields, Larry Chaney, Pete Riley, Dave Harrison and Lee Hendricks — who wanted the new project to have an AM radio vibe with a live feel to it.

Adding to its "charm," they went in and recorded the songs without "overthinking them." And, more importantly, without "overdubbing."

"We recorded two takes and went on to the next one," McCain said. "I don't think I'll ever record a record any other way.

"We just kept it in that spirit of 'let's do it live' to make it vibrant, just like a live record, not go back and fix stuff."

So while you may remember him for hits like "I'll Be," "I Could Not Ask for More" and "Hearts Fall," McCain is seemingly at a point in his career where he's rediscovering what it was that made him pick up a guitar in the first place.

"For me ("Nobody's Fault But Mine") was a blast," he said, "completely liberating to be playing, singing and interpreting other peoples' songs just purely for the joy of doing it."

Keith Ryan Cartwright is a Colorado-based freelance entertainment journalist.