Almost everything about Mak Wolven is unconventional. His work defies country music industry labels. He’s marketing his CD in supermarkets instead of music stores. His lyrics reflect a longing for a state he’s never lived in. Even his Hawaiian first name, short for Makaala and pronounced “Mock,” puts him outside the mainstream.

However, the Waldoboro singer-songwriter believes his slightly off-center approach to creating and selling music will mean success for his first album, “American Landscape.” Wolven and the making of his music video already have been featured on Maine Public Televison’s “Made in Maine” series.

” `American Landscape’ is and isn’t my first album [in] the [same] way a writer’s first published novel is and isn’t his first book,” explains Wolven. “I’ve cut a lot of demos that have never been heard, just like a writer has six or seven other `first’ novels in a drawer somewhere.”

Wolven’s first CD and video are now in the hands of the record division of DreamWorks SKG, the multimedia firm founded by Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

It took Wolven and his producer more than two years to record his songs, then mix the final product to their satisfaction. The artist says that although he has made music all his life, over the past decade, he’s learned a lot about digital and computer recording and production techniques. He confesses to having “written a lot of bad songs before figuring out how to write good ones.”

From the start, Wolven has danced to a tune of his own making. Born in Honolulu into a musical family, Wolven grew up in Fulton, N.Y., majored in English at the State University of New York Potsdam, then spent 17 years on Nantucket Island building houses and making music. In the mid-1980s, he moved to a sheep farm in Washington, Maine. From 1995 to ’96, Wolven took his musical skills to Saudi Arabia where he taught multimedia production techniques. These days, he lives and works in Waldoboro.

His tendency to roam is reflected in his music and promotional material. The photograph that provides the background for his liner notes shows a highway cutting through the craggy pink hills of a Southwest desert. While Wolven’s video looks like it could have been filmed in any grange hall, it was shot in the one in Lincolnville by students at the International Film and Television Workshop of Rockland. Hannaford Bros. is selling “American Landscape” in 25 of its “superstores” throughout the state.

The 14 songs, all composed by Wolven, reflect his early influences The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, who performed an eclectic mix of country and rock in the 1960s before music industry classifications became so rigid. Also woven through Wolven’s music are the folk and R&B tunes he played during his years of island life.

“Back to Texas” and “Abilene” reflect the pull of the Lone Star State on Wolven’s psyche. His maternal grandfather’s roots are there, and Wolven became enamored of Texas culture through the Texans he worked with in Saudi Arabia. However, the only time he’s spent there was for a layover in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. Either through genes or osmosis, Wolven got Texas into his song-writing soul. “Love by the Number,” featured on the video, is worthy of any honkytonk in the Lone Star State.

Wolven’s clear baritone is reminiscent of folk singer Tom Rush, as is his acoustic guitar style. The most memorable and haunting songs on “American Landscape” are those which tap the rich vein of emotion that accompanies beginnings and endings. “She’s Got a Habit” is about the end of childhood, “Me and You,” the end of a relationship, and “The Night Will Fall,” the fear that surrounds the start of another.

However, it is “Northern Town,” a bittersweet tune composed from the plane of middle age about acceptance and loss that shows Wolven at his best. A close second is “Driven.” True to its title, the lyrics are driven by a wailing guitar. “Driven by hunger, driven by need, Twisted by alcohol and cut down by weed, Driven by heat into the rain, Driven by pleasure, driven by pain …” begins what could be an anthem for the survivers of the ’60s.

“American Landscape” is aptly named, since it reflects many of the musical styles that have dominated popular music over the later part of the century. However, Wolven paints with such a broad musical brush that it is impossible to label his style. This is delightful to people who want a country twang to spice up their rock ‘n’ roll occasionally, but could cut down on the amount of airplay he’ll be given by radio and cable stations.

Wolven also does not plan to promote his CD by touring New England, standard operating procedure for most Maine singer-songwriters. However, he will perform at the WERU Full Circle Fair and the Maine Lobster Fest. Wolven’s first CD is a step back to a time before the lines between country and rock became fissures in the musical landscape. In style and substance, his music is truly indicative of the American Landscape.