Steve McClain is a singer/songwriter akin to John Mayer, David Gray and Grant-Lee Phillips. Prior to his move to Nashville, he performed in Ohio at the Hard Rock Café and the Cleveland Music Festival. Music from �one shoe on the highway� is heard on Lightning 100 in Nashville and 91.3 in Akron.
Steve McClain Bio
One Shoe On the Highway: a mystery for the modern age, indeed. But the new album by Steve McClain is no mystery. “one shoe on the highway” is a collection of personal and melodic acoustic rock songs composed within the span of year that are both upbeat and edgy and quiet and contemplative.
Influenced greatly by Lennon/McCartney, Croce, Simon, Mellencamp and Taylor, Steve’s music has been compared to modern singer/songwriters such as David Gray, Five For Fighting and Grant-Lee Phillips.
Originally from Kent, Ohio, Steve relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, and released the much-anticipated CD, “one shoe on the highway” in early 2005. Produced and engineered by Robert Felmly, Jr. of SC Records, the album is 12 tracks of original music featuring long time partner Matt Schildt on viola, violin and piano. “I think that since these songs were all written during a relatively short amount of time, it lends a certain continuity to the whole record,” McClain says. With introspective lyrics and modern singer/songwriter instrumentation, the album is a mix of sparsely orchestrated neo-folk tunes and radio friendly acoustic rock songs. “one shoe on the highway” also features the first collaborations of McClain and Schildt on the intimate guitar/vocal/piano track “Around” and the instrumental “Prelude to Ubiquity.” Akron radio 91.3 The Summit began spinning the single “Passing Trains” in December 2004. Steve’s music is also heard on the specialty shows Just Plain Folk and Anything Goes, which in the past have featured such artists as Janis Ian, Fairport Convention and the English folk/rock group Equation. Also in 2005, the track “Without You” was featured on Lightning 100 Nashville’s Progressive radio; voted the number one radio station in Nashville nine years in a row.
Music from McClain’s current and previous albums (Born In Captivity: 2001 and lemonadstand: 2002) has been heard on WAPS in Akron, WKSR in Kent, WRLT in Nashville, internationally in Belgium, Germany and Taiwan in addition to being spotlighted on a compilation CD showcasing the best of Akron/Cleveland artists, entitled Bandwidth 2.0, sponsored by 91.3 The Summit in Akron in 2001.
In 2006, Steve was featured on the Northeast Ohio independent music program, Random Acts of Music on Time-Warner cable. Additional appearances followed, including a music video for the new song “Disappear In Nashville” produced by Henry J Productions in cooperation with Summit Broadcast. Archives of the show can be seen on channel 1111 on Time Warner cable/Ohio On Demand and www.randomactsofmusic.tv. “Born In Captivity”, “lemonadestand”, and “one shoe on the highway” are available online at CDBaby.com, Apple iTunes, Sony Connect, MusicMatch, Rhapsody, select Borders Books and Music stores and Time Traveler music in northeast Ohio and at all shows.