As a full-throated veritable inventor of meta-rock-music, Don McLean certainly warrants a biography by the best in the writing-about-music business. Thom MacFarlane's books on The Beatles, his musicianship, and golden ear for words and music make him just such an author, and he really rings the bell in this unique book.

Paul Levinson, author of It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles

In MacFarlane's masterful biography, we see not only the less-known personal side to this complex yet poignantly joyful artist - we get a dive into the universal connections (musical and visual) between Art and Truth that have been the hallmark of McLean's work since his first big success, American Pie.

'Songscape,' MacFarlane's uniquely panoramic approach to popular song, illuminates for us, song by song, McLean's many possible influences (e.g. paintings, films, books, dreams, hopes, memories) as they evolve, through musical transformations, into artful links between songwriter and listener.

The author quotes McLean: 'I see songwriting as a mystical process which involves tuning something in on my psychic radio - I can't tell you how I write songs, or why I write them.' MacFarlane's 'Songscape' may be the answer.

Sonny Kompanek, film score orchestrator and author of From Score to Screen

For years we have become accustomed to an academic approach to Jazz but it is only in the last couple of decades that it seems popular music in the rock genre has been granted similar credence. What is refreshing about MacFarlane's writing is that he integrates personal experience / revelation with a more thorough excavation of the musicology underlying McLean's work. An artist in the singer / songwriter mold, a deep dive into McLean's work is long overdue. MacFarlane's balanced approach should satisfy this overlooked need in a fulsome way.

Michael McLuhan, photographer, musician, and recording artist, Ontario, Canada