Shawn Mullins Returns to the Core X2

To most folks, Shawn Mullins isn’t an Atlanta-based singer-songwriter or the inspiration for Ashley McBryde’s breakthrough country song “A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega.” He’s the “Lullaby” guy, known almost exclusively for a 1998 single catchy enough to be an instant hit and safe enough to still blare at your local grocery store.

Mullins owns his “one-hit wonder” status with a 20th anniversary project for which he re-recorded Soul’s Core – the album that brought us “Lullaby” – not once but twice.

Soul’s Core Revival brings back the good (“Ballad of Billy Jo McKay,” a cover of Kris Kristofferson’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down”) and the overplayed via raw, full-band recordings and reimagined acoustic versions of all 13 tracks.

It’s not just a well-traveled troubadour’s cash-in on nostalgia. Both sets of reinterpretations allow an introspective performer to revisit songs he wrote as a young, starving artist, traveling around in a minivan with a dog named Roadie. Chances are high he’ll include a good number of these tunes during his show at the Variety Playhouse on Nov. 24.