Shawn Mullins’ song Lullaby catapulted him to the top of the charts in the late ‘90s, and the song has remained a radio favorite ever since.
His distinctive, throaty vocals on Lullaby tell a story of a girl from Hollywood who is crying out for a life away from her upbringing.
"She approached me after I played this tiny little place in Hollywood that's a Chinese restaurant," explained Mullins. "It's the only place you can play there without having to pay to play, and so that's where I would play, called Genghis Cohen. She told me she loved my stuff and loved my stories, and she said, 'I got a story for you if you've got a minute'. I said, 'Yeah, I've got an hour probably because I'm going to have some food,' so we sat down and ate.
She just talked about growing up — she went to Beverly Hills High School — and she was classmates with Angelina Jolie. It's just crazy, all these different people like that. I thought that was fascinating. I'd never heard anything like that before. She was a great inspiration. A lot of my songs come from real-life stuff."
But does having such a huge hit and Grammy nomination so early on in his career mean he’s been chasing that success ever since?
"Not really," said Mullins. "Most people think that, probably. But I love that song and I'm very grateful for the song and for the story and for the person that told me her true life story that inspired the song."
The singer, who lives in Atlanta, will play in the intimate outdoor setting of the Stagecoach Inn Museum on Friday, October 3. Showtime is 7 p.m.
"I try to pick really cool venues to play in. I try to give a great show no matter what. It's just me and a guitar. You know, there's no dancers, there is no smoke. And I try to have the lighting director not do very much either so that the focus is really on the song," he said.
