For the past four decades, McLean's career not only has survived in the music industry that has turned itself on its head, but also he continues to write new songs and attract concert audiences throughout the world.
Next Friday beginning at 8 p.m., he will draw from his vast repertoire of hit songs and new compositions in a special performance to benefit the Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts. He describes his concerts as a musical odyssey as he'll offer his signature "American Pie," "Vincent" and "Crying," along with lesser known McLean compositions as well as introducing some of his new songs from his latest CD, Addicted to Black.
During a telephone interview from his home in Maine, which he describes as "an old Victorian estate" set on 175 acres, where he lives with his wife and two teen-age children, McLean offered a peak into the personality of the man who grew up in a middle-class home in Westchester County with a fondness for watching Hollywood cowboy films from the '30s and '40s.
In way, he says the dichotomy of living in Westchester and loving the old western movies reflect the fusion artist that he is. As a songwriter, he draws from his talents as a great lyricist and composer; his interests (that range from architecture to collecting watches and pocket knives); his experiences and his respect for artists who had come before this now-64-year-old, and those of his generation. He has been greatly influenced by Bob Dylan, Peter Seeger and especially by the Weavers.
"I go back and listen to the Weavers when I want some comfort. They've been a great comfort for me. It's the harmony. It's the beauty of the harmony," McLean said. He is a great admirer of singers such as Judy Collins and the way they bring their own sensibility to another songwriter's lyrics. Among the current crop of popular singers he admires Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera.
It is the fusion of various aspects of his life growing up in New Rochelle, N.Y., where he spent most of his grammar school years, at home instead of school, suffering from asthma which would often lead to pneumonia. He said it didn't help that the four adults in his house -- his parents, paternal grandmother, and sister, 15 years his senior -- all smoked. However, the time alone proved very comforting. The quiet allowed for his creative mind to take hold. He loved being inside the house and to this day, he says, he loves programs on television in magazines, like Better Homes and Gardens that offer tours of private home interiors. Today, he lives in a 15,000-square-foot house, which gives him the luxury to wander about.
During the early years, especially his teens, he spent hours playing the guitar and writing his music and explains that "American Pie" is "really a fantasy," a fusion of the experiences in his youth and teens up to the time he wrote the song that was voted the fifth most popular song of the 20th century, with Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow" at No. 1.
What was his thinking when he decided to write about his second most popular song, "Vincent," a homage to Van Gogh's "Starry, Starry Night?" McLean said he would look admirably at the painting and wonder if he could capture in his music Van Gogh's painting style with the many swirls and movement in the brush strokes. Revisiting these songs today, one can understand a little of McLean's philosophy about song-writing and why he expresses exasperation with much of today's music.
"Why can't they have two notes instead of 10? They have so much adornment. You can't hear the melody in all that crap."
On his Web site, McLean bemoaned the changes in the music industry: "It's very sad to see the music business basically evaporating. There are no music stores to go to in America. You can't go and enjoy being around thousands of albums and choosing things and coming back with a whole bunch of things. The studios are closing. The idea of going into the studio and making a recording with talented side men and a great producer is pretty much over because they can e-mail their parts in and everyone is working from home."
Aside from letting the melody ring out, McLean offered a bit of business advice for young people looking to make a career in the music industry.
"Find a very good music transactional lawyer. Hand the contracts to him and have him explain all of the points of the agreement that deal with a decision to screw you. Then, you decide if you want to get screwed or move onto the next person," he said.
Was he speaking from experience?
"Yes"
Did he get screwed?
"No, because I was a finance major," said McLean, who graduated with a business degree from Iona College in 1968. His education in business has steered him well in managing his own finances in his musical career. While having a hit record like "American Pie" in his 20s made a big difference financially in his life, he advised the importance of "living below your means in order to move forward financially. I always lived below my means." With a degree in business, he learned quickly what not to do.
McLean's new CD, which is available on his Web site, will also be available at next week's concert. Addiction to Black is a collection of his songs written the past year that deal with a variety of themes: aging, Princess Diana and President Dwight Eisenhower. He also performs some "fun songs" as well as "straight rock and roll," he said.
Currently, he is working a deal to have his new CD released through Proper Records label, a division of Warner Brothers, to ensure worldwide distribution.
McLean said the changes in the music industry do not affect him because "I don't adapt, so it doesn't make any difference what happens. What saddens me is that we don't seem to produce any quality music like the Weavers or Josh White or the Beatles. It's all disintegrating. "¦ It's awful."
However, he did have good word for the American Idol contestants who he says are "justly talented." On the other hand, he said, he'll see someone sing the blues who has never been blue. "You can't see the blues on his face." He doesn't see any Rod Stewarts or Van Morrisons around.
While McLean bemoaned the changes in the music industry, he is the first to acknowledge some benefits from the advances in technology. His concert performances through the years are now seen by millions on YouTube. "The songs are getting bigger as time goes by, rather than shrinking," said McLean, who recalled with fondness the days he spent traveling the Hudson River aboard the folk singer's sloop, the Clearwater. What was different about that time?
"I liked being young with my whole life ahead of me. It's true," he said. "Life is short and then all of a sudden it's 'whoa!'"
What is different about an older McLean?
"I'm more comfortable being me. I don't want to devolve. I want to evolve and continue to fight and grow. [Aging] is no big deal," said the acclaimed singer/songwriter who has earned places in the Grammy and Songwriters Hall of Fame.
What may be a big deal is his raising two teenagers at his age. He first became a father at age 44 after marrying a woman he met when she interviewed him. He feels strongly that schools and religion can stifle creativity. "Children are extremely creative and then they get into school and turn into workers or a few fall through the crack and become artists."
However, he said today it is difficult to follow one's heart to reach a goal as an artist. "I didn't want to sound like someone else or be like anyone else. I needed to do what I had to do," he said, acknowledging that he's glad the music business did not make him into someone he's not.
A person has to be very disciplined to achieve success, he advised. Growing up he practiced his music (he is self-taught) five or six hours a day. He doesn't remember having friends. Today that discipline is not easy to come by, he warned, as he parents his own children, a son, 16, and daughter, 19.
"My approach to my own children is that I'm behaving like my parents did, and it bothers me. You see people can fall by the wayside because they may not have the discipline. I had a lot of disciple and I'm still here."
The Don McLean Concert is sponsored by TD Bank. General admission is $50 (lawn seating). Benefactor cost is $125, which includes pre-concert cocktail party, lawn seating in the preferred concert section, and reserved parking section at the Pavilion. Charge tickets online at levittpavilion.com or by phone, 226-7600.
The Levitt Pavilion's Executive Director Freda Welsh said, "Just like Tom Jones' appearance in June, this second Stars on Tour event will help to underwrite the over 50 nights of free entertainment at the Pavilion this summer."