![]() ![]() People send me photos of stuff I completely forgot about and I’m like, ‘Oh, my god that did happen.’" I sang it to Pamela Anderson when Kid Rock was dating her. I’ve sung it on the phone to people’s kids. “I’ve sung it at famous people’s weddings, not-famous people’s weddings, I’ve sung it for people dying in Hospice. ![]() Every night I sing it I try to sing it like the first time I sang it and play it as good as I can just to honor the song itself because it’s been a mule. A lot of people have made a living off that song. “It would be the most selfish thing to not acknowledge what that song did for all of us. “It’s a gift from the universe,” he said. McCain said that he sings it every night like it's the first time he’s ever sung it. Still, it’s “I’ll Be” that he’s most remembered for and one he hasn’t tired of. 3 on the adult contemporary chart in 1999. Another song, “I Could Not Ask For More,” reached No. McCain would release four records on Lava/Atlantic Records and then put out five more over the years. They are spending millions of dollars on this thing, let’s figure out how to make it work.” If they wanted me to put on a suit and get a haircut, I would. They were like, ‘You dress like a farmer.’ They were trying to put me in clothes and I was their Huckleberry. “They were ‘Oh my god, what are we going to do with this guy?’ They had all kinds of problems. “In record company terms that was seven years too old already,” he said. McCain was, in his words, “almost too old” to have a hit, even though he was just 27 years old. When the song, which appeared on numerous television shows including “Dawson’s Creek,” finally finished its ride up the charts it landed at No. Then Time Warner turns on the promotional dollars and you’re on every talk show known to man and you don’t have time to think about it.” Once the sales got over 40,000 a week then your ears are pinned back and you’re going a million miles an hour. “When that started we knew it was getting ready to be crazy. It was one of those things where a couple of things happened and the momentum started to build. We were running a three-ring circus getting people to call into radio stations. “It took a little bit of shucking and jiving. “The thing about ‘I’ll Be’ is that it didn’t hit like everyone thinks,” McCain said. ![]() His debut record, “Honor Among Thieves,” produced a minor hit with “Solitude,” a duet with fellow South Carolinian Darius Rucker. “I’ll Be” was the first single from McCain’s second album, “Misguided Roses,” and his first major hit. Tuesday at the Peace Center in Greenville. Friday at the Diana Wortham Theatre in Asheville, N.C., and he plays with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra at 7 p.m. He has two local shows planned for the coming weeks. He still plays about 100 gigs a year, fronted a short-lived television show about refurbishing boats (“Flipping Ships” on Animal Planet) and recently released a three-song EP titled “O Edwin, Where Art Thou?” Almost three decades have passed since he began his career as a long-haired acoustic guitar-welding vocalist. And, (expletive), then everyone was riding the lightning at that point and anybody who was in a band in the Southeast got signed.” Maybe I’d play a few shows here and there and sell some CDs and I was cool with that. “My master plan was to play around in the resort towns and do the solo guitar-guy thing and that was it. It’s such a lucky convergence of things to happen. “It’s like getting bit by a pig at the exact same moment you get struck by lightning. “I love it when I hear people in the music business talk like they meant to do anything,” McCain said. Honestly, his music plans never really included late-night talk shows, dates at large venues or being remembered for a song that’s played during nuptials. The song “I’ll Be” has become synonymous with Greenville native Edwin McCain, but the singer-songwriter never planned to write a hit. ![]()
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