Edwin McCain - "Working Man"

Edwin is one of my favorite artists, and has probably had a greater influence on my acoustic guitar playing than any other guitarist. While most people know him more as a singer from ballads like "I'll Be" and "I Could Not Ask For More" (which he did before - and in my opinion better than - Sara Evans), he's always been an acoustic guitar player and songwriter to me. That's probably because I got into him with his first studio album "Honor Among Thieves", which was largely acoustic-driven ("I'll Be" was on his next album, "Misguided Roses") and included a duet with Darius Rucker ("Solitude"...sorry I couldn't find the studio version) that got some radio play. In order to play his songs, I was forced to augment my picking and strumming techniques to be able to handle some of the rhythmic elements of his playing. He's also the reason I know how to play an E/G# chord. So thanks, Edwin! He's a much better guitar player than he gets credit for. He can't even be considered an underrated guitar player; because most people think of him as just another singer/songwriter, he's not even rated.

All of that is to say that this probably won't be the last song of his to show up on this blog. It's a fairly simple number about a man and his guitar. Small wonder, then, that I like it so much. Enjoy!