Grammy-nominated musician Shawn Mullins will be in Juneau to perform one show at Marlintini's Lounge this Saturday at 9 p.m.

Mullins, a folk singer and songwriter who describes his genre of music as Americana, tours the country for seven to eight months of the year. He says he enjoys traveling and writing songs about the people he meets along the way, and that most of his songs are inspired by real people.

Mullins burst onto the popular music scene in 1998 with a hit song called "Lullaby" that led to videos on MTV, a recording contract with Sony/Columbia Records, and a platinum-selling record.

"I made several million dollars in a couple years when I had a hit record. It sold a couple of million copies and I had the number one song for eight weeks," Mullins said. For a brief time in his career, Mullins lived the life of a rock star, touring the world with bands like 'NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys, and Destiny's Child.

Opening for bands in large stadiums always felt a little strange to Mullins, who was mostly an acoustic musician.

"I always felt like a fish out of water, but it was also fun," said Mullins describing his time in the spotlight. "It was kind of like a dream; it was like winning the lottery."

Although he is mostly known for only one of his songs, Mullins feels grateful for the success that one song brought to him.

"I still do the song every night. It's the song that brought me to the dance. I never feel bad about playing that song. I feel mostly thankful for that song," Mullins said.

With the bright lights of fame having passed by long ago, Mullins has been traveling the country with his acoustic guitar playing original songs about the lives of ordinary Americans. This is his second time in Juneau.

"I play a lot of smaller venues that are intimate where people come to hear the music," Mullins said. "A lot of it for me is about the road, just trying to communicate and connect with people. It brings me a lot of joy, it's just a good feeling to be able to get out there and play music for people," Mullins said.

Mullins left Sony/Columbia records in 2005 and signed with Vanguard records, a smaller independent label. His most recent album, "Honeydew," released in March of 2008, is based on character sketches of people from the South and is a reality check about the state of the country. One song on the album is called the "Ballad of Katherine Johnston."

"She was an old African-American lady in her 90s and she was shot and killed in her own home by ... a drug task-force agency," Mullins said. "Someone had told them her house was the big crack house on the street. In the middle of the night they came busting through her door. She thought she was being attacked by burglars or rapist or something. She shot at them and they killed her. It was this terrible tragedy," Mullins said.

He didn't want her tragedy to be forgotten.

"I wanted to put the song on the record so it (wasn't) forgotten. I thought it was important enough to put down on an album and sing about it every night for the rest of my career. That kind of (stuff) doesn't happen in every neighborhood," Mullins said.

Although the song is about tragedy, Mullins' view of the United States is much more optimistic. Mullins, who was raised in a military family, paid his way through college by serving in the Army Reserve. His first music teacher was his grandfather, who was a stand-up bass player and musician for 50 years.

"I feel like part of my job is to get out there and keep people motivated about America and not lose hope," Mullin's said. "I love America and I think were headed for some really good change. I think it's going to be an interesting election year. Maybe the most interesting election year in my lifetime" Mullins said.

Tickets for Shawn Mullins' performance at Marlintini's are available at Capital Records downtown and Marlintini's Lounge. Fans will want to buy them soon; Mullins' last performance in Juneau was a sold-out show.

• Erik Stimpfle is a writer living in Juneau. He can be reached at stimpfle@gci.net.