McLean talks about his new album American Boys

Grammy Award honoree, Songwriters Hall of Fame member, and BBC Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Don McLean released his most recent album, American Boys, earlier this month via BFD/Audium Nashville and distributed exclusively through The Orchard. Paying tribute to his rock and roll heroes, McLean’s new single honors those who paved the way.

“American boys invented rock and roll. That’s the idea,” McLean tells us. “It’s really the high school version of ‘American Pie’ which is the college version, but it’s not complicated at all, it’s just a simple homage, but they invented rock and roll. That’s the thing I want to get across to people that America has invented a lot of different kinds of music. It comes from the soil. It comes from the south. It comes from Memphis, and Nashville, the Texas Panhandle, Louisiana, Arkansas, all over. It doesn’t come from New England. It does not come from the West. It comes from these places.”

Last week, McLean was a guest at The White House State Dinner for President Ruto of Kenya.

The legendary and still active singer/songwriter has had a significant career, selling over 50 million albums worldwide. Among other things, Don McLean received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2021, was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2022, received a star on the Las Vegas Walk of Fame in 2019 and the Music City Walk of Fame in 2023, and was recently the focus of a Paramount+ documentary The Day The Music Died.

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