A little more than a half-century after writing the chart-topping “American Pie,” Don McLean finds his signature song more popular than ever.
Born in New Rochelle, N.Y., and now calling Camden, Maine, home, McLean, 76, credits underground FM radio with the song’s AM breakthrough, a trend he says started with his debut album, 1970’s “Tapestry,” a hit in folk circles. “And that’s the way it’s continued. People don’t realize, perhaps, that all my albums get played in probably 180 countries around the world every day. “
“There’s been resistance to Don McLean for 50 years,” he said. “I’ve had to fight uphill through everything I ever did. There’s never been a smooth road for me. I’ve always had to do what I wanted to do and a lot of times it wasn’t what the record company wanted. “It’s interesting that you would notice that song because it talked about the CIA,” he responded. “Then we have Kennedy’s information coming out more and more …
A conversation about New York Greenwich Village folk quartet the Weavers — co-founded by Pete Seeger — reveals one of McLean’s chief influences. “And that’s what happened: it was a magazine called Red Channels and if your name happened to pop up in that — for right or for wrong — you were done. And that’s what we’re living with now … if somebody makes an accusation or something like that, you’re done.”