Upcoming shows in 2008:
May 17 - Scottsdale, Arizona (Ctr. for the Performing Arts)
May 24 - Freeport, Maine (free concert)
May 31 - Alto, New Mexico (Spencer Theater)
June 14 -  Virginia Beach (Sandler Center)
July 5 - Interlochen, Michigan (Kresge Auditorium tickets.interlochen.org)
July 6 - Sudbury, Ontario (Bell Park Amphitheatre)
July 13 - Ottawa, ON  (Lebreton Flats Park)
July 19 - Louisville, Kentucky (live with the Louisville Pops Orchestra at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts)
July 25 - Tourhart, Belgium
July 27 - Trowbridge, UK (Trowbridge Festival)
August 30 - LA (The Canyon)
Sept 27 - Rochester, MN  (Mayo Civic Center)
Oct 4 - Temecula, CA

October 2008 - Three wek tour of Europe including Italy, Germany and Scandanavia.

Full details: http://www.trowbridgefestival.co.uk/index.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7225857.stm

The "discovery" was in fact the limited edition reproduction sold through his website a few years ago!

Don McLean was able to confirm to the Scottish Daily Record that the original lyrics are still safely in his ownership:

Singer Don McLean Rubbishes American Pie Lyrics Find In Edinburgh Flat

SONGWRITER Don McLean yesterday laughed off claims that his original lyrics for American Pie had been found in a drugs raid in Scotland.

Police said they had found rock memorabilia in a dealer's Edinburgh flat - including what they believed to be the first draft of the classic song.

But they had missed a vital clue - inside the picture frame was a plaque with the words "reproduction of handwritten lyrics 188/1000".

McLean, 62, said: "The original lyrics, on pages from a notebook, are in the library of Harvard University. I gave them to the university.

"This was something my record company put out for sale for a few hundred dollars.

"This was obviously 188 out of 1000 such sets."

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/entertainment-news/2008/02/05/lyrics-find-is-just-pie-in-the-sky-86908-20309588/

Details are:

The Palms @ the Crown Casino Melbourne
Pre-sale starts: 9am 23rd Janaury
Pre-sale link: http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=DONMCLEA08

Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House Sydney
Pre-sale starts: 9am 23rd Janaury
Pre-sale link: http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/Priority/DonMcLean.aspx

MARCH 2008

7 - Cairns Brothers
8 - Rockhampton Great Western
10 - Tweed HDS Twin Towns
12 - Tamworth Tamworth Entertainment Centre
15 - Perth WCBR
17 - Melbourne Palms
18- Melbourne Palms
21 - Byron Bay ECBR
23 - Sydney Opera
24 - Sydney Opera
26 - Hobart Wrest Pl
27 - Brisbane Ent Ctr

Don will be doing a full media day this Thursday and next Tuesday to promote the tour.

The "Legendary Songs" CD/DVD will be released in Australia for this tour.

Don McLean says:

"Joel Dorn was the best friend an artist or a song ever had. I am honoured to have worked with him and known him for over 30 years. Joel was a giver, not a taker and he was the only producer who really understood me and what I was trying to be as an artist. He will always be with me."

Don McLean

However we are delighted that Bob Gregg has agreed to be editor and webmaster of the Australia 2008 tour page which will open here on this site just as soon as everything is finalised.

Also, more concerts in Canada are being lined up.

More details soon.

The Don McLean Music Player is located on the main home page at http://www.don-mclean.com/ (flash required).

http://www.don-mclean.com/guitars/index.asp

http://www.don-mclean.com/europe2007

Catch Don live on BBC television at 8.45am on BBC Breakfast (BBC 1) on October 2nd.

Through October keep an eye on radio schedules for appearances on BBC radio 2 (the Ken Bruce and Steve Wright shows). Both interviews will be pre-recorded on October 2nd. For the Ken Bruce show, Don will be talking about the "tracks of his years", including 10 favourite songs, which will be broadcast two-a-day for the whole week. International fans can catch these shows on the Internet at www.bbc.co.uk/radio

The same day Don will pre-record interviews for David Jensen's weekend show on Capital Gold; Janet Forsthe's Saturday morning show on BBC Scotland and for Entertainment News, which is syndicated to dozens of small UK radio stations.

Watch out for further updates and the opening of the Don McLean On Tour 2007 web page where fans will be able to post reviews and read the latest news.

EMI will release the "Very Best of Don McLean" in the UK in October with TV promotion.

Don has a full media day in the UK on October 2nd with numerous TV and press interviews.

An interview with Don will feature in tom brokaw's forthcoming book.

The albums "Addicted to Black", "Live in Cork (1984)" and "Live in Manchester (1991)" will all be released within the next 12 months.

I just want to send you my appeciation of your evening spent with Vancouver Islanders at the Courtenay Music Festival.
It's been about 30 years since I have felt conpelled to move to the standing/dancing area at any performance and I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing the joy on the faces of those around me singing Amercian Pie with you (and me). It didn't matter what age they were from the 14 year old with piercings to the 70+ man in a tie-dyed tank beside me ... everyone knew the words and sang with huge smiles with everyone around them.
Thank you for the experience of connection through song .. it was magical.
Warm regards from Bowser, Vancouver Island.
Sharon Waugh

A warm summer's evening, the Vancouver Island Music Festival, the crowd on its feet singing with you. A memorable moment and one I feel truly thankful to have shared. Peace and blessings your way, Don.
Joanne Crawford

I saw your interview on Sunday Morning and it brought back so many memories and how much I enjoy your music. I am going today and purchase your new album. If you are in the Chattanooga, Atlanta, or Nashville area I WILL come see you and here your beautful words. Sincerely Donna Gobert

Saw you on CBS Sunday Morning yesterday. Thanks for all your gifts of music.
Cynthia Blake

Thank you for a wonderful evening at Vancouver Island Musicfest tonight. I know that many of us consider American Pie an anthemn of ours - perhaps we are showing our age
K Anderson

A GREAT performance tonight at the Vancouver Island Musicfest, Don...
YOU are en entertainer...not alot of talk, just one song after another...an absolute DELIGHT. A performer who absolutely LOVES to perform. It was an honour to hear you tonight!
Darrell

Just watched the segment about you on the Morning Show. It was wonderful to learn about your life. You are an inspiration - not only as an artist - but your values as an individual. I hope that you will be touring Los Angeles some time soon. Thank you!
Ellen

Blessed by being able to sit right under the speaker by you and Mr. Migliore, I was in the fortunate position to witness the number of wide-eyed teens moved by your lyrical comments on the authority inflicted by some adults in this world, and at the same time finally getting to see the real man singing the couple of the biggest hits from the 1970s that their parents must have started instilling into their unconscious the moment they were brought from the hospital to the cradle.
Dave

I woke up this morning, turned on the tv, and there you were in the Sunday Morning News! What a great way to start my day
I live in México City and would love to go to see you in a concert. When are you coming? When can we have the honor of seeing you here in Mexico?
Marily Alba

From YouTube see Don and his band performing 'American Pie' at the Mariposa Folk festival in Orillia Ontario, July 7, 2007:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUKwYOBSo7c

and details of the CBS Sunday Morning appearance at:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/05/sunday/main3021329.shtml

The long awaited Till Tomorrow DVD looks like it will appear soon.

By CLIFTON J. NOBLE JR.

SPRINGFIELD - There's a little gravel in his fifties falsetto, but Don McLean can still sing with the youthful passion of the idealistic romantic who penned "American Pie," "Vincent" and "Empty Chairs," and wanted to make albums and change the world.

Armed with his bright-toned six-string and backed by a four-piece core band, McLean joined the Springfield Symphony Orchestra in the final concert of its 2006-07 Pops season Saturday evening, turning back the clock for an audience of 2,468 to a time when, as he noted, the songs you heard on the radio had things like melodies and chord changes. In fact, after a tender journey through his early hit "And I Love You So," McLean quipped "I can't see (rapper) 50 Cent taking a shot at that last one."

Kicking off the music with "Everyday," made famous by the great Buddy Holly, whose passing he would mark with Homeric eloquence and scale in his greatest hit, "American Pie," McLean took us on a tour of his career from 1969 when he recorded his debut album "Tapestry" to 2005's "Rearview Mirror" with its gritty, rocking pavane for a dead princess, "Run, Diana, Run."

McLean presented an eclectic mix of his own compositions, from the chart-topping "Castles in the Air," "American Pie" and "Vincent" to the bitterly wistful "Superman's Ghost," which first appeared on a 1986 Greatest Hits album and the unabashedly silly "La La Love You" from 1974's "Homeless Brother."

Among other songwriters' efforts to which McLean applied his distinctive vocal gifts were the Roy Orbison/Joe Melson classic "Crying" (which Orbison later re-recorded with K.D. Lang in the style of McLean's version), "I Could Write A Book" from the Richard Rodgers show "Pal Joey," and rarities like Michael Brewer's cheery country-twanging "Love In My Heart" (top 10 in Australia) from 1987's "Love Tracks" album.

McLean has obviously taken good care of his voice over the decades. His impressive range (a good two octaves plus a fourth on Saturday) and effortless phrasing, sure sense of pitch and tasteful elaborations and reinflections of his familiar melodies bore all the hallmarks of a performer for whom touching his audience is still of paramount importance.

One of the evening's highlights was his introspective account of "Crossroads" from the "American Pie" album, supported only by the elegant, understated piano-playing of music director Tony Migliore.

In addition to the talents of Migliore (pianist, conductor, arranger, etc.), McLean was fortunate to have the extraordinary Ralph Childs on bass guitar, a nimble, melodic player whose keen sense of harmonic underpinning and instinctive understanding of his role turned good folk music into great chamber music. Guitarist Pat Severs and drummer Jerry Kroon rounded out the band.

Full orchestra miking made for a workable balance among band, orchestra and voices (Childs added high harmonies to McLean's lead on several numbers), but the orchestral portions of McLean's half of the concert that were most effective were intermittent solos and small ensembles, like the English horn counterpoint in "And I Love You So" and the moaning trombone chorale beneath the last verse of "American Pie."

On the concert's first half, the orchestra got its chance to really shine, albeit briefly, in three numbers smartly conducted by Wilbraham native Joan Landry. Landry, currently Assistant Conductor of the North Carolina Symphony, said she last appeared on the Springfield Symphony Hall stage some 20 years ago as a French horn player in the Young Peoples Symphony. She expressed her delight and gratitude in returning to the venerable hall to stand on its podium.

Landry launched the evening with Glinka's bubbly Overture to "Ruslan and Ludmilla," continued with a medley of numbers from the Cy Coleman show "Sweet Charity," centering on the show-stopping "Hey Big Spender," and concluded with Leroy Anderson's vivacious waltz "Belle of the Ball." No doubt working under the pressure of precious little rehearsal time, Landry made the most of her role as opener, urging her musical colleagues with economical, yet energetic and meaningful gestures.

http://www.americanpie.com/bio/preview.pdf

Buy the book direct from Starry Night Music Inc:

http://www.americanpie.com/cart

by Alan Howard

Don McLean is one of America’s most enduring singer-songwriters and is forever associated with his classic hits ‘American Pie’ and ‘Vincent (Starry Starry Night)’. Since first hitting the charts in 1971, Don has amassed over 40 gold and platinum records world-wide and, in 2004, was inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame. His songs have been recorded by artists from every musical genre, most notably Madonna’s No. 1 recording of ‘American Pie’ in 2000 and George Michael’s version of ‘The Grave’ in 2003, sung in protest at the Iraq War. Don McLean is immortalized as the subject of the Roberta Flack/The Fugees No. 1 hit, ' Killing Me Softly With His Song'.

The author has interviewed McLean at length about his childhood and subsequent career as a singer, songwriter and performer. With access to the family archive and with contributions from key figures from throughout his career, this biography tells McLean’s professional life story from his birth in 1945 to the present day.

Venue info will be posted soon - check the "Concert Dates" link from the home page for details.

The Don McLean biography will go on sale in the New Year (2007). A special edition will be offered that will be signed and sent to you by Don McLean. The main edition will be available from the usual outlets such as amazon shortly afterwards. This 400-page book tells Don's story from his birth in 1945 to his recent inauguration into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame.

Further details will be posted soon.

7th - Cardiff, St Davids Hall
8th - Birmingham, Symphone Hall
9th - Manchester, Bridgewater Hall
11th - Newcastle, City Hall
13th - Liverpool, Philharmonic Hall
14th - Sheffield, City Hall
16th - Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall
17th - Belfast, Waterfront Hall
19th - Dublin, Late Late Show (RTE television)
20th - Dublin, Olympia Theatre
21st - Dublin, Olympia Theatre
23rd - Brighton, Brighton Centre
24th - Bristol, Colston Hall
26th - London, Royal Albert Hall
27th - Canterbury, Marlowe Theatre (Canterbury Festival)

Don McLean will perform in concert at the Royal Albert Hall on October 26th 2007. Prior to this show, Don will perform 12 concerts in major cities in the UK and Ireland.