Well-

He is musician Edwin McCain, um, who's been, uh, one of, uh...

You said you've been t- tour- driving the bus for what? 18 years? I started when I was 18.

I bought an old bus off of [laughs] this gospel group in South Carolina.

It was out in a field, and it was a former Greyhound bus.

When I bought it, it had 2 million miles.

[laughs]

... do all that stuff.

What do you got?

[upbeat music] Now back in the day I was hot as gasoline.

Maybe I'm more like last year's kerosene.

But I still burn.

I still burn.

You walked away while there was still a little left.

Making me feel like a half-smoked cigarette.

[guitar strums]

So what was that point like for you? When did you realize that this was kind of something that might allow you to one day become a megastar and then bartend in these places you were playing? Was there an aha

moment? Well, so I wasn't smart enough to see the future of it.

So my aha moment...

I was busking in front of this Mexican restaurant in Charleston.

They had like this big it was like it had like a little courtyard out in front and it was down in the market area where all the tourists are.

And so I had my guitar case out there and was busking.

I knew about 11 songs, you know, three of which were ones that were mine because I didn't know how to play guitar.

Darius Rucker.

Yeah.

Um, and so she would force all these rewrites and, and hone in and make the songs better and better, and the, and the process was kinda grueling.

And, uh, but, but she said...

And one day I was, you know, I was bitching about us laboring over some line, and she said, "You know, if you don't take this idea to its greatest, its best and highest conclusion, it's disrespectful to another writer that would have." And I had never thought about it in that context, and, uh, she changed the way I look at songwriting that day, for sure.

And so I don't, I, you know, it- that's why I think now I, you know, you write a little bit on a song, and then you let it sit for a little bit and come back around to it and s- approach it with, uh, fresh eyes and try to beat it, and, um, I think that's the right way.

Mm.

Colonel Bruce Hampton.

And, uh, and, and so y- you know, I, you j- I just started trying to figure out what this whole thing was all about.

We got it all coached

up during the break.

Okay, I'm ready to go.

All right.

I came home from tour and walked into my house where everything was just as it was, except for there was an addition of a chihuahua that I was not consulted on.

Uh-oh.

And all the little traders were gathered around him.

Okay, here we go.

Can you

repeat it? Well, no, he was just being nice.

He didn't know who I was.

He came there after I had played or whatever, and so he was totally being nice.

I was leaving.

I was saying thank you, and he literally was like, yeah, I heard a lot of good things about your guitar playing, which tells me he doesn't know anything about me because no one's ever said anything nice about my guitar playing.

And all I had to say was, thanks, man, and just leave.

of

Are you doing some road work or are you just hanging out?

I went up to Chicago a couple of nights ago to do a benefit for the Concussion Foundation.

We did it at Billy Corgan's place in Highland Park.

I exercised my superpower of Embarrassing myself in front of extremely famous people.

It's like my superpower is I can say the exact wrong thing in front of famous people.

Billy Corrigan has now joined the list of someone I've completely said something stupid in front of.

Sorry, Billy.

Okay, really? I