When Pat McGee came through Northampton recently to play the Iron Horse Music Hall, he was not accompanied by his usual band mates, John Small, Chris Williams, and Chardy McEwen. Instead, McGee gave the audience a performance that was stripped down – just a man, a microphone and an acoustic guitar.

Although Pat McGee Band is known for their lively and creative performances, it was refreshing to see the poetic front man on his own. Without the trimmings of a full ensemble, the audience was able to appreciate the essence of PMB – the complex guitar work and searing vocals of McGee.

McGee is a charming and capable solo performer, but he was quick to assure the crowd that he was far more comfortable fronting PMB. “I just wanted to get out and do some shows,” he said.

The rest of the band was likely occupied with making arrangements for the group’s second major label effort, “Save Me.”

“Well, the next few months for gigs [are] pretty quiet,” McGee said. “But don’t be fooled. We are busy with Warner Brothers [the company putting out the new record] setting up everything.”

Although hesitant to let go of their underground status, McGee and his band mates see the move to Warner Brothers to be a huge step in the right direction. In an open letter to fans posted on www.patmcgeeband.com in July, McGee wrote “a big label like Warner Brothers Records can break a band like us wide open if they are focused on it and, most importantly, if they believe in it.”

Despite optimism about the future of PMB and “Save Me,” McGee could not have anticipated the many bumps and detours along the way to producing a big label backed album.

“There are lots of things, such as meetings – and more meetings – about every aspect of the marketing and strategy behind releasing our record,” McGee said.

The process has been harrowing, marked by a long delay in the release of “Save Me,” much to the consternation of PMB fans.

Yet McGee remains confident that the extra time Warner Brothers is taking with the album will only make it that much better. “It would take me a while and be quite boring to you to understand why this is a ‘good thing’ for us, but trust me on this one.”

With a release date sometime in early 2004 inching increasingly closer, it would be understandable for the front man to have some fears or reservations, but Pat McGee has neither.

“I know a lot of artists have said this, but I really am proud of this record and hope that people can get into it, but if they don’t that doesn’t change what the band feels,” McGee said, unaffected by the thought of failure in the mainstream music scene.

McGee also remains unconcerned about the prospect of getting lost on the sea of male, acoustic-based pop-rock flooding today’s airwaves.

“I don’t really worry about stuff like that. I think the music stands on its own for this album. One thing I have learned is you really can’t worry too much about where people categorize you – it comes down to whether they like the music or not.”

He is not unwilling to recognize the facts; the ever-growing popularity of the likes of John Mayer, Howie Day and now Damien Rice, certainly tips the odds in favor of a musician like McGee. However it just doesn’t seem to matter to him. Pat McGee simply wants to make music on his own terms.

It is curious to think that PMB may be lumped together with Day, Rice and co. This is a band with such an extensive touring history and a massive fan base that in the past eight years, it has spread out from northern Virginia and across the country.

By McGee’s estimate they have played “over 1,500 shows in 44 states in the U.S., plus some shows in Canada and a recent USO tour to Greenland.” Relentless touring has earned PMB the honor of sharing the stage with the McGee’s musical heroes, the Allman Brothers, and highly respected Blues Traveler front man John Popper.

“Back in the early days of the band we had [Popper] come out and jam with us one night. That was when they were a huge band and the crowd went nuts when he walked out and started playing on our songs,” McGee recalled.

The Virginia native and Longwood College graduate lists “‘classic rock majors'” like the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Led Zepplin, James Taylor and Bob Marley along with Popper and the Allman Brothers as musical influences, though he is the first to admit his tastes vary.

“Honestly I go in phases of listening to nothing but heavy music to stages of listening to acoustic stuff,” said McGee.

This vast taste in music shines through in PMB’s original material and is even better highlighted by the near-legendary arsenal of covers that the band performs in their live shows. Dave Matthews Band and Simon and Garfunkel songs along with tunes like “Walking in Memphis” and “Piano Man” are regulars in the Pat McGee Band set lists.

Being a true fan of music helped McGee find his way into the business but it was a raucous neighbor that drew him into to the music world.

“I have to credit my neighbor for influencing us McGee’s to start up,” he said. “He was a bit older than my brother, and I can recall him taking his guitar out in the street and smashing it on the pavement … very rock ‘n’ roll of him.”

That rock ‘n’ roll influence has served to define McGee’s musical mission.

“‘How would you describe your music?’ That’s the hardest question a musician gets asked,” he said. “[I’d say] Rock … I like to think we rock. We’re not Metallica, but we’re not Peter, Paul and Mary.”