Don McLean still a force for nostalgia

On February 3, 1959, a small Beechwood Bonanza plane took off near Clear Lake, Iowa, with rock and roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (“The Big Bopper”) on board. However, tragedy would strike as the plane crashed soon after takeoff, killing everyone aboard the craft. More than a decade later, Don McLean hit the top of the charts with “American Pie,” a song paying tribute to “the day the music died” and all things American, and it created a whirlwind.

“That song changed everything,” said McLean, who will perform March 14 at The Cave in Big Bear and on March 17 at the McCallum Theater in Palm Desert. “Joe Goldrosen tried to put out his famous biography of Buddy Holly for years but no one was interested because no one cared about Buddy at that point. He told me that the song came out and he suddenly had a publisher, and then the book caused the movie [“The Buddy Holly Story”] to be made. Even Gary Busey, who played Buddy in the movie, and the director told me without the song none of this would have happened.”

That sent McLean's career skyrocketing.

“It was more than a hit,” he said. “It was a phenomenon and that was actually really bad for me. I was immediately put in the position of can he top this so there was a negative slant. Not until 'Vincent' and 'Crying' much later did I work my way out of this. I was back on the charts again and people realized I am not just a songwriter but a singer as well.”

He takes great pride in the fact that he can do both, but he certainly can sing,

“I didn't fit into a record company label, but once the other songs became hits people started to realize that I have abilities beyond just a single song,” he said. “I am a singer and while it is easy to sing a lot of the stuff that is around, it is hard to sing a lot of the songs I did. It is hard to sing 'Vincent,' or 'Crying' or 'Since I Don't Have You.'”

He is also proud of the fact that after decades in the business he is still going and performing,

“I still fill theaters all over the world,” he said. “I'm going to be 70 this year and there are not too many people who have the year ahead of me that I do.”

He has certainly had quite an influence on pop culture and other musicians.

“My name is always circulating around, and it has all been very good for the most part,” he said. “I am fortunate. I don't have a PR machine and never have had that. It has all been the people's choice.”

Lest people think he lucked into anything, think again. McLean has always pushed himself.

“My standards are that I am never satisfied,” he said. “I was brought up by parents who dealt with the Great Depression and World War II, and I was never taught the notion that everything you do is wonderful. You have kids growing up who may have ability but don't have the persistence to have a singe fixed goal about where they are going. 'American Pie' deals with loss, and people are going to lose friends, husbands, people close to them.”

His style fit a range or genres.

“I was the opposite of Dylan,” he said. “He was a wonderful singer and a phenomenal writer who sung in a different style. I chose to be the operatic side, more like Elvis and Marty Robbins. Marty did popular music and country and I fused old-fashioned country pop with rock and roll.”

The fusion was not a easily categorized one.

“Sometimes I put them together in improbably ways, which is why I've never been pure enough to have a regular musical home so I made a place for myself,” he said.

The shows are a range of emotions, in part because McLean does not see himself as just a singer going on stage to sing a few songs.

“I am an old-fashioned act,” he said. “I have a stagecraft and I know how to juxtapose songs. It's a much higher craft than going out and singing songs that people know. I am a dramatist and on stage I create a work without it being apparent. You are in my world and I take you places. There's no telling what songs you will hear.”

His musical journey has provided a great deal of happiness as well as validation.

“I didn't court it, but I love hearing people doing my stuff,: he said. “When someone says something nice about me or a kid says i got into music because of you, it just makes me feel I did the right thing with my life.”