Edwin McCain
It has been 5 years since a wonderful friendship and professional collaboration began to develop between FAE USA and singer & songwriter, Edwin McCain.
McCain has built a very successful music career over the past 25 years, with 2 enduring major American pop-rock hits and running over 100 performances annually throughout the US.
What many fans of the “great American romantic” are unaware of is that the timeless singer also shares a deep passion for land management. So much so that he owns and manages his very own land management company in South Carolina, called Nomad Land Management, which focuses on managing land in the most sustainable way.
“The collaboration between Edwin and FAE USA was a pure coincidence,” says Giorgio Carera, CEO of FAE USA. “I met Edwin through a common friend at one of his concerts in Atlanta.”
“After a few days Giorgio reached out to me,” said Edwin, “he wanted me to do music for a video for FAE, and I said, I'd love to do that and I'd love to also be your spokesman,” Edwin told us. “Giorgio said, well, what do you know about forestry management? So I sent him a picture of my mulching machine and that was how it all began.”
Today McCain is one of FAE USA’s top spokesmen, with a relationship based on friendship and trust. “We don't have a contract,” said McCain. “We don't have to. We look each other in the eyes, we shake each other's hands and that's the extent of my deal with FAE. It's never been a problem and that is so rare to see these days.” he noted.
According to Carera, “the collaboration is purely based on friendship and mutual passion for the equipment as well as making the industry more known for the benefits that land and forestry management bring to the environment”. The CEO’s stand point is that land management applications, such as fuel reduction and fire breaks that help save the forest from wildfires, among many others, are extremely important for a better environment and yet there is a lack of knowledge about this type of equipment. “Edwin shares our passion and our vision, making his spokesmanship role for FAE very authentic, enthusiastic and far reaching,” added Carera.
McCain's South Carolina based land management endeavor, Nomad Land Management, is a thriving business that handles jobs of all sizes. They currently run two FAE UML/SSL skid steer forestry mulchers including a VT and a Sonic model and McCain himself is pretty active in operating the equipment in many of the job sites.
“In the five years that I've been with FAE, I've grown this business dramatically and obviously with FAE’s help because the visibility was there.” Said McCain “I've also never had a failure on the FAE equipment that I own. The only thing I've ever done is change teeth and regular maintenance on both mulching heads. Anybody that does any kind of forestry mulching knows that you run into all kinds of unexpected obstacles. And when you’ve never had a break it's pretty amazing. It's amazing what these FAE heads are capable of enduring,” said the singer and land management entrepreneur, attesting to his experience with the quality of the FAE machines he’s been operating for the last 5 years.
Apart from residential and commercial development, Nomad Land Management is big on wildlife preservation, habitat, food plots and other large track recreational land clearing and wildlife development projects. “We will go to someone's recreational property and clear it, clean it up with the mulchers, reclaim the land and then plant for wildlife.” Said McCain. If they specifically want to have Turkey, then we plant for Turkey. If they want deer, we do food plots for deer or if they want to have quail then we can plant grasses specifically for the quail. Those are my favorite jobs to do because I really like developing wildlife habitat.” He added.
Edwin’s perspective on wildlife habitat is important and relevant because it is perfectly aligned with FAE’s vision and commitment to providing equipment that is engineered and designed to support and build more sustainable land.
Another interesting viewpoint is McCain’s way to contrast music with land management work. “It seems strange to many that I enjoy land management as much as I like playing music,” he stated. “It's really not that different. It's the same ethic. It's the same sense of enjoyment.
There's definitely times in this [land management] business where you have to be super creative about how we're gonna get things done. There's always the unexpected that we come across and we really have to think and get creative to be able to finish the job.”
While both music and land management are creative activities for Edwin, he appreciates the differences and variety in daily routine and artistic processes. “This business allows me to create balance and not be always on the road, away from my family.
It gives me a different perspective and then, when I get back to music, I'm happy to rediscover it.
Another thing I really like about operating equipment is that it has a completion component. Whereas life as a musician and being on the road, it's much like painting the golden gate bridge, you're never really finished. You finish painting it and then you start all over again.”
The friendship and collaboration between FAE and Edwin McCain is headed towards a bright future. “FAE is seeing amazing success and I'm growing right alongside,” said McCain. “I hope to be a part of FAE through this whole journey. You could hold FAE up as an entire company, globally, and say: this is how you do it! This is how you take care of people and you create balance and you have a good corporate culture and you have the highest excellence in design and manufacturing. With FAE, all you gotta do is see the entire corporate culture and you know it's about excellence and that's it. This is the kind of people I want to be friends with and do business with.”
Edwins collaboration with FAE is a great example of the relationships that FAE sets out to build, whether with customers, partners, employees, suppliers, enthusiasts or collaborators, the aim is the same: a win-win for everyone, the FAE way.
(By Maria Bray)
