A long,

long time ago..., almost 30 years to be exact, a man

wrote a song that spoke to a generation and nearly

guaranteed that every story ever written about the man

would start the same way that this one did.

The man is

Don McLean and the song, of course, is "Castles in

the Air." Just kidding, the song is "American

Pie" and it will certainly be performed this Friday

and Saturday at the Frederick Brown Amphitheater in

Peachtree City.

"American

Pie," the song about a rock and roll era coming to

an end, and recently covered by Madonna, celebrates its

30th anniversary this year. Though McLean has had an

extensive career with many hit songs and dozens of gold

and platinum albums, he is still best remembered for the

song.

McLean's

musical career started in 1964. By 1968, after playing a

benefit concert with Pete Seeger, McLean was named

"Hudson River Troubador." Three years later he

released American Pie. The song was number one on the

charts for four weeks and stayed on the charts for

another 17 weeks. His follow up, "Vincent (Starry

Night)" reached number 12 on the U.S. charts. It was

a much bigger hit in Europe than "American Pie"

was. McLean began to tour around the world, which he has

now done over 12 times.

McLean

recorded an album a year for nearly 12 straight years in

the 1970s and early 1980s. Not every album had all

original material; some were cover albums that featured

songs that found more success than the original artists'.

1978's "Chain Lightning" album featured a cover

of Roy Orbison's "Crying" which found more

popularity in Europe than Orbison ever enjoyed.

In 1982,

McLean released "Dominion," a live double

album. It was five years before he released another

album, "Don McLean's Greatest Hits Then and

Now." Since then, Mclean has released many more

albums and given thousands of crowd-pleasing

performances.

His songs

have been featured on "Ally McBeal" and in the

film "Bowfinger" and PBS produced a music

special called "Don McLean, American

Troubador." He has written the theme song for a

musical about former President Dwight Eisenhower for

Broadway, is planning a children's album and a cover

album of Marty Robbins songs and an album full of

original material.

Don McLean

will play the Frederick Brown Amphitheater Friday and

Saturday, May 5 and 6 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25. Call

770-631-0630.

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