{"id":21104,"date":"2023-12-22T09:00:59","date_gmt":"2023-12-22T16:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=21104"},"modified":"2023-12-22T15:21:15","modified_gmt":"2023-12-22T22:21:15","slug":"don-mclean-winter-wonderland-video-feature-with-web-exclusive-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2023\/12\/don-mclean-winter-wonderland-video-feature-with-web-exclusive-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"DON McLEAN \u201cWinter Wonderland\u201d Video Feature \u2013 with Web-Exclusive Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b><i>Don McLean covers the Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne\u2019s 1945 composition \u201cLet It Snow\u201d in the way it would have been recorded at the time. A cool-jazz version, with an inviting bass line, McLean inhabits the song with Sinatra levels of crooner confidence.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<h1><b>DON McLEAN \u201cWinter Wonderland\u201d Video Feature \u2013 with Web-Exclusive Interview<\/b><\/h1>\n<h3><b>Musician:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>DON McLEAN<\/b><\/h3>\n<h3><b>Video Feature: WINTER WONDERLAND<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p3vsmKoCCmI?si=iASYm4JpUG_G_ebr\" width=\"660\" height=\"440\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>DON McLEAN\u2019S NEW <i>CHRISTMAS MEMORIES<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>King of the Trail in \u201cWinterwood\u201d: McLean\u2019s\u00a0<i>Christmas Memories Remixed And Remastered<\/i>\u00a0is a Companion Piece to the Wayfarer\u2019s Personal and Artistic Pilgrimage\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Outstretched thumb with a solitary star and three stripes woven into an American tri-color red, white and blue fingerprint extends from a nondescript young man\u2014pollice verso suggests a land of liberty\u2019s death while shadows intermingle on the hitchhiker\u2019s face obscure the revolutionary\u2019s identity. The iconic album artwork for Don McLean\u2019s <i>American Pie<\/i>\u00a0defines a shifting cultural scene. Peeling away weathered layers of an original 1971 vinyl sleeve reveals haunting remnants of an era: searing anguish of JFK\u2019s assassination, Helter Skelter\u2019s frenzy, bloodshed at Altamont Speedway during The Rolling Stones\u2019 free concert, and impassioned wails of riots reverberating through a disenfranchised concrete utopia.<\/p>\n<p>Singer, songwriter and troubadour Don McLean is a patriotic excursionist, drifter and barnstormer. He has traveled a winding highway of dimly lit, smoke-choked Greenwich Village coffee shops, been influenced by folk music\u2019s expostulation, and experienced vicariously the specter of McCarthyism\u2019s paranoia and subsequent blacklist. McLean\u2019s most recent effort,<i>\u00a0Christmas Memories Remixed and Remastered<\/i>\u00a0(BFD Orchard) is a companion piece to the wayfarer\u2019s personal and artistic pilgrimage.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21117\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Don-McLean-1-660.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"660\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Don-McLean-1-660.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Don-McLean-1-660-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Don-McLean-1-660-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>Orphans of Wealth<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Born in the city of New Rochelle, New York, Don McLean entered the world just months after V-J Day silenced the cacophonous symphony of World War II\u2019s guns and bombs. New Rochelle\u2019s roots run long and deep to 1688, when Huguenot refugees, \u201corphans of wealth\u201d from the other side of the Atlantic, in La Rochelle, France, sought asylum from Catholic persecution, pollinating many artificers and wrights to \u201cQueen City of the Sound.\u201d As the seventh-largest city in New York State, it played host to George Washington while en route to superintend the Army of the United Colonies in Massachusetts. Following the colonists\u2019 victory over King George III,\u00a0philosopher and American founding father Thomas Paine\u2019s revolutionary recompense was an estate in New Rochelle.\u00a0With its septentrional location,\u00a0New Rochelle\u00a0was the site of a preeminent court-mandated school desegregation case, and indweller Anna Jones became the premier African American female to be accepted into the New York State Bar in 1923. Given\u00a0New Rochelle\u2019s lineage and edifying ethos,\u00a0McLean was foreordained to be socially sentient.<\/p>\n<p><b>Sister Fatima by the Waters of Babylon and Empty Chairs<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Growing up in a household brimming with artistic influence, Don\u2019s deep love for music revealed itself at a young age. While battling childhood asthma and missing school days, his passion for music blossomed, finding a creative outlet through impromptu performances for family and friends. As a teenager, Don acquired his first guitar, a striking Harmony F Hole with a sunburst finish. Lessons funded by his sister enhanced McLean\u2019s vocal prowess.\u00a0Through disciplined physical activities such as running, walking and swimming,\u00a0McLean\u00a0honed his breath control, a skill that would later enable him to effortlessly sustain long, uninterrupted vocal phrases, exemplified in his rendition of Roy Orbison\u2019s \u201cCrying.\u201d Notably, McLean\u2019s asthma saw marked improvement as a result of his rigorous physical conditioning.<\/p>\n<p>The sonically rich atmosphere of McLean\u2019s household, with its A\/C-powered five-tube superheterodyne radio and scattered vinyl records, became the backdrop to countless hours spent nurturing Don\u2019s burgeoning melodic passion. McLean\u2019s life trajectory took a poignant turn following his sole vacation with his father to Washington D.C. in 1961. A\u00a0few months later the family patriarch died\u00a0when Don was just 15 years old.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21111\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Don-McLean-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"434\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Don-McLean-2.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Don-McLean-2-300x197.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>Folk Music, McCarthyism, and Blacklists<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Folk music was a popular genre during the 1950s. Groups like the Weavers, a quartet from\u00a0Greenwich Village (which included Pete Seeger and\u00a0Fred Hellerman) recorded and performed traditional, blues, gospel and labor songs. Hellerman was a singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer. Singer and banjo player,\u00a0Seeger was an architect of social activism.<\/p>\n<p>During Senator McCarthy\u2019s Red Scare epoch, the Weavers\u2019 members\u00a0Pete Seeger and Fred Hellerman came under scrutiny. Deemed to be subversive and commiserating with Communists, the Weavers earned a dubious distinction on an industry blacklist; essentially banning them from television, radio and concert performances by 1952. Films like 1976\u2019s\u00a0<i>The Front<\/i>\u00a0starring Woody Allen, and 1991\u2019s\u00a0<i>Guilty by Suspicion\u00a0<\/i>with Robert De Niro,<i>\u00a0<\/i>explore the era\u2019s absurdity and paranoia for the entertainment community in Hollywood and the subsequent scar tissue inflicted on many artists\u2019 careers\u2014the price being a pound of flesh for intellectual or political dissent.<\/p>\n<p>Before the internet existed as it does today, people had to be tracked down through a telephone directory, rather than social media online activity. The Weavers\u2019 1955 benchmark album\u00a0<i>Live at Carnegie Hall,<\/i>\u00a0introduced Don to the folk genre and gave him an unwavering determination to pursue music professionally. McLean made his own breaks in the business, by utilizing a cumbersome landline almanac to contact Fred Hellerman and later connected with Erik Darling who took the place of original Weavers founding member Pete Seeger.<\/p>\n<p>Cultivating a friendship with Darling, brought McLean to his boon companion\u2019s pied-\u00e0-terre in the Big Apple, culminating in Don\u2019s initial atelier sessions with Lisa Kindred, a dignitary force of the\u00a0Greenwich Village milieu during the 1960s.\u00a0Kindred\u2019s presence crossed the continental divide to Mill Valley, California, where the guitarist and singer gigged consistently at the Sweetwater Music Hall.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21112\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Don-McLean-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"621\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Don-McLean-3.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Don-McLean-3-300x282.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>At The Crossroads of Kindred Spirits<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Although enticed with an opportunity to fast track his career by amalgamating with Darling and other Rooftop Singers, a country-folk trio and known quantity\u2014McLean passed on it, choosing instead to gamble and go it alone as an unknown solo artist. A cursory experience in studies at Villanova University in 1963 acquainted Don with Jim Croce\u2014the two future folk luminaries became compeers. President Kennedy\u2019s assassination would bring the year to an end and in many ways serve as a metaphor for a lamenting nation, lost without direction and an uncertain future.<\/p>\n<p><b>If We Try<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Following his departure from Villanova, manager Harold Leventhal catalyzed Don\u2019s vocation. Leventhal started out as a musical matchmaker, promoting songs for Irving Berlin and Benny Goodman, and went on to represent the Weavers, Woody Guthrie and Joan Baez. Leventhal presented McLean at various venues to showcase his troubadour persona. Stark, barren brick-walled, cigarette smoke-stenched coffee houses and campuses of higher education fraught with the potential for civil unrest were McLean\u2019s playground. He would develop his craft for six years at landmarks like The Bitter End and Gaslight Cafe in New York, The Cellar Door in Washington, D.C., and The Main Point in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n<p>1969 was a metamorphic year for McLean\u2019s career and America. Laying down tracks for his debut effort\u00a0<i>Tapestry<\/i>\u00a0in Berkeley, California presented a juxtaposition in the studio during sessions. As recording tape spooled between reels while McLean sang \u201cAnd I Love You So,\u201d an affray was brewing on the other side of the doors in the form of a student riot.\u00a0<i>Tapestry\u00a0<\/i>received critical praise, thrusting Don from inconspicuous limbo to concealed prominence, raising McLean to the top of the bill at niteries and colleges across the country.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21113\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Don-McLean-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"459\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Don-McLean-4.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Don-McLean-4-300x209.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>American Pie<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmerican Pie\u201d is an autobiographical piece that shares the narrative of\u00a0McLean\u2019s fleeting halcyon juvenescence right before events of the real world come creeping in to disrupt his personal utopia. A teenage McLean worked as a newspaper boy for New Rochelle\u2019s\u00a0<i>Standard Star<\/i>. One morning as part of his regular duties,\u00a0McLean\u00a0pierced the bale\u2019s cord with a serrated blade revealing a heartbreaking headline on the front page. 1950s rock \u2019n\u2019 roll pioneers Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper had their lives cut tragically short when an airplane carrying them to a concert on the Winter Dance Party tour fell from the heavens.<\/p>\n<p>The lyrical content serves as a metaphor\u00a0while developing the teenage newspaper boy\u2019s arc. Severed irrevocably is McLean\u2019s Garden of Eden paradise, quickly replaced with heartbreak and disillusionment. Philosophical and introspective, McLean blends and contrasts salad days with trouble brewing on the horizon. Building momentum and gradually reaching its fever pitch, the song poses questions without attainable answers or solutions within immediate reach. Clocking in at 8 minutes and 42 seconds, \u201cAmerican Pie\u201d was an unlikely candidate for radio airplay, defying the standard rule of 3 minutes and 5 seconds for singles, but was released\u00a0as a double A-side single in November 1971, quickly finding its audience and subsequently charting within a month.\u00a0McLean\u2019s lyrics retain their mystique all these decades later while at the same time connecting with new audiences excited to investigate its meaning while relating it to current world events.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21114\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Don-McLean-5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"847\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Don-McLean-5.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Don-McLean-5-234x300.jpg 234w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Christmas Memories Remixed and Remastered<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<b>Review:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Don McLean projects a jovial, cheerful aura on the cover of\u00a0<i>Christmas Memories Remixed and Remastered<\/i>. A paisley patterned tunic with a cranberry hue and a black T-shirt underneath are McLean\u2019s vestments for festivities associated with the holiday season. Stygian framed glasses with tinted lenses accentuates the King of the Trail\u2019s visage. Flashing his gleaming ivories confidently, McLean has graduated visually from the hitchhiker once shrouded in darkness on\u00a0<i>American Pie<\/i>. Playfully inspired glyphs herald the artist and\u00a0platter\u2019s title but this 12-track collection is more satisfying and substantial than holiday cookie-cutter confections.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cBlue Christmas\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>This track\u2019s arrangement and well-timed bluesy guitar deliver authentic remorse, painting a melancholy vacant holiday experience without the cautious optimism of Elvis Presley\u2019s version.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cGod Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>While the origins of this carol may reach back to the 16th century and artists usually presented it in a stiff manner, McLean goes in the opposite direction, infusing it with new life. An upbeat tempo and female backing vocals propel the song\u2019s forward momentum. The lead vocal embraces the song\u2019s message with zeal.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cI Heard the Bells on Christmas Day\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Henry Wadsworth Longfellow\u2019s 1863 poem \u201cChristmas Bells\u201d is the foundation on which this carol is structured. Longfellow\u2019s verse was written about America\u2019s Civil War. The piano accompaniment echoes the sentiment of\u00a0\u201cAmerican Pie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cLet It Snow\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne\u2019s 1945 composition is covered in the way it would have been recorded at the time. A cool-jazz version, with an inviting bass line, McLean inhabits the song with Sinatra levels of crooner confidence.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cOh Little Town Of Bethlehem\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Phillips Brooks, an Episcopal priest, authored the text of this song in 1868. Celestial strings and a harp lift the listener from Earth to heavenly realms, with an ethereal and soothing vocal by McLean.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cRudolph\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>McLean channels the vocal style of Gene Autry\u2019s 1949 recording, relying on a bittersweet acoustic guitar accompaniment to progress the narrative. McLean provides a booming Santa Claus voice for this cut.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cSanta Claus Is Coming To Town\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie\u2019s 1934 cautionary tale is given lavish treatment with a swing.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cSilent Night\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>McLean is fully invested in this German Christmas carol from 1818, his voice solemn and convincing.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cThe Burgundeon Carol\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Also recorded by Joan Baez, McLean\u2019s version is heavy with string orchestration and mood.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cThe Christmas Waltz\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Another Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne composition\u2014this one was written for Frank Sinatra, who recorded it in 1954, to back a new version of \u201cWhite Christmas.\u201d Here again, McLean assumes a Sinatra, Vegas-like persona, but bubbling underneath the surface Don\u2019s troubadour heritage remains intact.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cWhite Christmas\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Irving Berlin\u2019s 1942 holiday anthem most frequently associated with Bing Crosby, whose version is the best-selling single of all time, finds McLean injecting new life into this standard with a warble that seems both elegant and effortless.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cWinter Wonderland\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Covered by over 200 various artists, McLean doesn\u2019t veer too far from previous incarnations, choosing to preserve its creative congruence present in other versions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe holidays are a time for families to come together,\u201d shares McLean. \u201cI remember as a kid sitting around the record player and listening to music with my family. We all had our favorites, which we played over and over again. All the greats from Bing Crosby to Gene Autry influenced me, so I have included my version of their classics on\u00a0<i>Christmas Memories: Remixed and Remastered<\/i>, which I hope you enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 by Rodeo Marie Hanson<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Fans and new fans can get more info and stay updated at:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"%22\">https:\/\/donmclean.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"%22\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DonMcLean<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"%22\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/donmclean<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"%22\">https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/thedonmclean<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Don McLean covers the Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne\u2019s 1945 composition \u201cLet It Snow\u201d in the way it would have been recorded at the time. A cool-jazz version, with an inviting bass line, McLean inhabits the song with Sinatra levels of crooner confidence. DON McLEAN \u201cWinter Wonderland\u201d Video Feature \u2013 with Web-Exclusive Interview Musician:\u00a0 DON [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21106,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7725],"tags":[14378,14377,14376,14379,7424,14380,14381,8962,14382,10302,14383,3948,14384,14385,14386,14387,14388,7426,7425,6905,14389,14390,14391,3886,14392,14393,14394,8518,8970,14395,14396,14397,14398,14283,14399,14400,14401,14402,8590,14403,14404,7854,3593,8774,14405,14406,14407,14408,7566,14409,3010,8013,7978,14410,14411,796,14412,14413,14414,14415,1911,14416,8783,14417,14418,14419,14420,14421,8399,14422,14423,14424,14425,14426,14427,14428,5085,14429,14430,14431,14432,10632,10504,14433,5552,14434,14435,3656],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21104"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21104"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21118,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21104\/revisions\/21118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}