Don McLean Concert Canceled After Guilty Plea

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Don McLean, Knox County Jail, Rockland, Maine

Singer-songwriter Don McLean – best known for penning one of the most oft-played classic rock songs of all time, “American Pie” – was booted from last night’s (July 26) performance in Boise, ID where he had been originally scheduled to open for Willie Nelson. McLean pleaded guilty on on July 21 to a variety of charges brought by his wife. The legend’s plea allows him to avoid jail time.

“Under the light of the recent guilty plea of domestic violence, we felt it would be in all parties’ best interest to cancel Mr. McLean’s opening slot on the show tonight,” Chris Moore of promoter CMoore Live revealed to the Idaho Statesman in an email. Nelson’s headlining performance was the Idaho Botanical Garden’s aptly named Outlaw Field.

McLean had been arrested on January 18, 2016 and charged with domestic violence towards his wife Patrisha at their Camden, ME home. At the time she said: “My husband has a violent temper. For the first 10 years or so, his rage was unfathomably deep and very scary.”

It’s not the first time this year that McLean had a concert canceled due to his arrest. In March, high school students successfully petitioned officials at the Barnstable (MA) Performing Arts Center to cancel his performance. According to his website, McLean’s next concert isn’t until August 19 in Richmond, VA.

Patrisha McLean filed for divorce in March citing “adultery, cruel and abusive treatment and irreconcilable differences.” At this week’s court hearing, McLean pleaded guilty to a variety of domestic violence assault charges. If McLean avoids contacting her for the next 12 months and passes a court-mandated mental health evaluation, his charges will be dismissed.

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McLean’s 1971 opus, “American Pie,” was an eight-and-a-half minute tour de force filled with mythic and spiritual sounding characters within a hurly burly atmosphere. It is the longest song to ever reach #1 on the pop charts, a spot it held for three weeks and made the then-26-year-old very famous.

The song’s manuscript was sold April 7, 2015 for a cool mil and then some, fetching “the third highest auction price for an American literary manuscript,” noted its auction house, Christie’s. “American Pie”‘s lyrics have always been a puzzlement to audiences and Best Classic Bands wrote an insider story about the song’s meaning.