The name may not strike a chord with everyone, but once that familiar refrain of “I’ll be …” strikes listeners’ ears, they’ll figure it out.

The recent trials and tribulations shaking up the music industry have left a number of talented musicians to fend for themselves — a few have graced the stages of Ames during the past year.

Enter Edwin McCain, a troubadour with an ear for melody and a penchant for tugging on heartstrings.

After ending his relationship with Atlantic Records, McCain struck out on his own and hooked up with independent label ATC.

McCain says disagreement on the direction of his career led to the breakup with Atlantic.

“They were kind of interested in pushing me and turning me into a pop balladeer/love song singer,” he says. “Not to discredit those songs — I love those songs. They’re a part of what I do, but it’s not the only part.”

The label also tried to dictate certain elements of McCain’s image.

“I had to turn in a training schedule. I had to be a certain weight,” McCain says. “They wanted to [tell me how to] dress and do all those things.”

But McCain says he holds nothing against Atlantic in their decisions to try to mold him.

“I think it’s their prerogative if they’re spending half a million dollars,” he says. “It’s definitely their right to ask. I toed the line there for a little while. But there comes a time when it’s time to go do something different.”

For McCain, “something different” meant getting back to his roots. “The Austin Sessions” is an album that features acoustic versions of some of McCain’s older work, some choice covers and new material.

“It’s really an album people have been asking me to make for a long time,” he says. “Obviously, with Atlantic, they weren’t going to let me make an acoustic record.”

One particular song on the album is a cover of a song called “Romeo and Juliet,” a tender tune originally written by Mark Knopfler and recorded by Dire Straits. McCain says the song has always held importance for him.

“That song was probably one of the ones that inspired me to be a musician,” he notes. “I think [Knopfler] really captured that moment perfectly. I think that’s the challenge with songwriting — to be personal, honest, emotional and musical all at the same moment.”

McCain says he’s always found it important for listeners to discover music at the right time in their lives rather than have a corporation ram it down their throat with fireworks, bright lights and marketing schemes.

“Any time I look out and see anybody in the seats, it’s an honor,” he says. “If people are going to listen to what I do, I’d rather they come by it naturally and organically and in a moment that’s not forced on them.

“I love it when I see 16- and 17-year-old kids coming to shows and requesting songs that I know they didn’t hear because of a commercial. They come about it because they found it on the Internet or someone turned them on to it.”

McCain says he fondly remembers his youth, when he fell in love with music by artists such as The Replacements and Hsker D, who weren’t exactly the biggest thing around.

“Once I found it, it was kind of mine,” he says. “I felt like I had a secret. I had the cool music that I knew about that no one else did. It’s great to be able to turn to people and go, ‘You need to listen to this cool stuff that you never heard of before.'”

Just like many others, Edwin McCain has seen all the highs, lows, ups and downs of life as an artist. But McCain, the eternal optimist with his self-described “rose-colored glasses,” sees nothing but clear sailing ahead.

“Torpedoes be damned,” he says. “I’m back doing what I want to do. Some people might look at that as a mistake, but every night I get out on stage and I’m doing exactly what I want to do exactly the way I want to do it. It’s not for love of money, but love of playing the music exactly the way I know how to do it.”

Who: Edwin McCain

Where: People’s Bar and Grill, 2424 Lincoln Way

When: 9 p.m. Wednesday

Cost: $17