GRAMMY Award honoree, Songwriters Hall of Fame member, and BBC Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Don McLean will celebrate the 50th anniversary of an iconic song and album, live at the Brown County Music Center on Saturday, Aug. 19.

As tragic as the backstory behind the song “American Pie” is with the early death of the new rock’n’roll-hope Buddy Holly, the track is also magnificent and legendary.

“American Pie” still goes to heart as soon as originator Don McLean plays this classic at his concerts. Still, it’s worth remembering that the 76-year-old composer has written and sung numerous other melodic and harmonic successes in his decades-long career with “Vincent (Starry Starry Night),” “Castles in the Air,” “And I Love You So,” and “Cryin’,” all of which will be heard and reveled in along with newer pieces on the upcoming tour.

The eight-and-a-half-minute ballad “American Pie” has been making history since its release in 1971. Alongside songs by other icons such as Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Woody Guthrie and Aretha Franklin, McLean’s composition was also voted “Song of the 20th Century.”

Handwritten lyrics to the song were auctioned off for more than $1.2 million in 2015, and the composition was added to the Library Of Congress National Recording Registry two years later, alongside a few selected evergreens, such as “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.”

Over the years, the song has been covered again and again by music icons like Madonna and Garth Brooks. Rapper Drake repeatedly sampled McLean tunes and hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur also cited him as an important influence.

Accordingly, the complete discography of the legendary and still active singer/songwriter is also significant. Among other things, Don McLean has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame and was inducted into the National Academy of Popular Music Songwriters’ Hall Of Fame in 2004. And he never gets tired of writing new songs and new stories.

In 2018, the sound senior released his 19th studio album, “Botanical Gardens” which received rave reviews. Songs from it subsequently proved themselves live and will maybe even find their way into the setlist next year, alongside “American Pie” and all the other feats from this decades-spanning and unparalleled composition and performance career.

Get tickets

Tickets went on sale April 7 at 10 a.m. and are available at www.browncountymusiccenter.com, www.ticketmaster.com, and at the venue box office (open Wednesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. via outdoor ticketing windows and phone sales at (812) 988-5323). The box office is now cashless, and accepts debit and credit cards including Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express. Any box office related inquiries beyond purchasing tickets for an upcoming show should be directed to [email protected].