Donald McLean III is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Known to fans as the "American Troubadour" or "King of the Trail", he is best known for his 1971 hit song "American Pie", an eight-and-a-half-minute folk rock "cultural touchstone" about the loss of innocence of the early rock and roll generation. His other hit singles include "Vincent", "Dreidel", and "Wonderful Baby"; as well as his renditions of Roy Orbison's "Crying" and the Skyliners' "Since I Don't Have You".
"American Pie" is a song by American singer and songwriter Don McLean. Recorded and released in 1971 on the album of the same name, the single was the number-one US hit for four weeks in 1972 starting January 15 after just eight weeks on the US Billboard charts. The song also topped the charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. In the UK, the single reached number 2, where it stayed for three weeks on its original 1971 release, and a reissue in 1991 reached No. 12. The song was listed as the No. 5 song on the RIAA project Songs of the Century. A truncated version of the song was covered by Madonna in 2000 and reached No. 1 in at least 15 countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. At 8 minutes and 42 seconds, McLean's combined version is the sixth longest song to enter the Billboard Hot 100. The song also held the record for almost 50 years for being the longest song to reach number one before Taylor Swift's "All Too Well " broke the record in 2021. Due to its exceptional length, it was initially released as a two-sided 7-inch single. "American Pie" has been described as "one of the most successful and debated songs of the 20th century".
Johnny Paycheck was an American country music singer and Grand Ole Opry member notable for recording the David Allan Coe song "Take This Job and Shove It". He achieved his greatest success in the 1970s as a force in country music's "outlaw movement" popularized by artists Hank Williams Jr., Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver, and Merle Haggard. In 1980, Paycheck appeared on the PBS music program Austin City Limits, though in the ensuing decade, his music career slowed due to drug, alcohol, and legal problems. He served a prison sentence in the early 1990s, and his declining health effectively ended his career in early 2000.
Lucinda Gayl Williams[a] is an American singer-songwriter and a solo guitarist. She recorded her first two albums, Ramblin' on My Mind (1979) and Happy Woman Blues (1980), in a traditional country and blues style that received critical praise but little public or radio attention. In 1988, she released her third album, Lucinda Williams, to widespread critical acclaim. Regarded as "an Americana classic", the album also features "Passionate Kisses", a song later recorded by Mary Chapin Carpenter for her 1992 album Come On Come On, which garnered Williams her first Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1994. Known for working slowly, Williams released her fourth album, Sweet Old World, four years later in 1992. Sweet Old World was met with further critical acclaim, and was voted the 11th best album of 1992 in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of prominent music critics. Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it 6th on his own year-end list, later writing that the album, as well as Lucinda Williams, were "gorgeous, flawless, brilliant".
Chip Taylor is an American songwriter and singer noted for writing "Angel of the Morning" and "Wild Thing".
The Memphis Horns was an American horn section, made famous by their many appearances on Stax Records. The duo consisted of Wayne Jackson on trumpet and Andrew Love on tenor saxophone. An "offshoot of the Mar-Keys", they continued to work together for over 30 years. They lent their sound to 83 gold and platinum awards and over one hundred high-charting records, including Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay", Al Green's "Let's Stay Together", and Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds".
Koko Taylor was an American singer whose style encompassed Chicago blues, electric blues, rhythm and blues and soul blues. Sometimes called "The Queen of the Blues", she was known for her rough, powerful vocals. Over the course of her career, she was nominated for 11 Grammy Awards, winning 1985's Best Traditional Blues Album for her appearance on Blues Explosion.
Pecan pie is a pie of pecan nuts mixed with a filling of eggs, butter and sugar. Variations may include white or brown sugar, cane syrup, sugar syrup, molasses, maple syrup, or honey. It is commonly served at holiday meals in the United States and is considered a specialty of Southern U.S. origin. Most pecan pie recipes include salt and vanilla as flavorings. Pecan pie may be served with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or hard sauce.
Donald Ray Williams was an American country music singer, songwriter, and 2010 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He began his solo career in 1971, singing popular ballads and amassing seventeen number one country hits. His straightforward yet smooth bass-baritone voice, soft tones, and imposing build earned him the nickname "The Gentle Giant". In 1975, Williams starred in a movie with Burt Reynolds and Jerry Reed called W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings.
Edmund Cake is the musical solo project of Edmund McWilliams, an alternative rock musician, singer-songwriter, and producer. Formerly of Bressa Creeting Cake in the 1990s, after the dissolution of the band in 1997 he released the 2004 solo album Downtown Puff on Lil' Chief Records. In 2009 he released another album with the band Pie Warmer.
Alan Charles Klein is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He wrote the soundtrack for the stage play and film, What a Crazy World (1963). In 1964, he released his only solo album, Well at Least It's British, that was re-released in 2008 by RPM Records.
Allen Reynolds is an American record producer and songwriter who specializes in country music. He has been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum.
What About Today? is the eleventh studio album released in July 1969 by Barbra Streisand. It is considered to be her first attempt at recording contemporary pop songs and features songs by The Beatles and Paul Simon, among others.
The Pozo-Seco Singers was an American folk music group that had success during the 1960s. They recorded the hit "Time" and launched the music career of Don Williams.
This is a detailed discography for American country music singer-songwriter Don Williams that includes information on all of his studio albums, singles, greatest hits compilations and live albums. Don Williams was active from 1967 until his death in 2017. He was one of the best-selling male vocalists in country music in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Don Williams Volume One is the debut studio album by American country music singer Don Williams. Released in 1973 on the JMI Records label, the album reached number five on the US Country Albums Chart. It was re-issued in 1974 on the ABC DOT label and subsequently in 1980 on the MCA label. "The Shelter of Your Eyes" and "Come Early Morning" were released as singles in 1973.
Don Williams Volume Two is the second studio album by American country music singer and songwriter Don Williams. Released in January of 1974 on the JMI Records label, the album reached number thirteen on the US Country Albums Chart. "Atta Way to Go" was released in 1973 as a single preceding the album, and "We Should Be Together" and "Down the Road I Go" were released as singles in 1974.
JMI Records (Jack Music International) was an American record label founded in 1971 by Jack Clement, and was primarily active until 1974, when the catalog was sold to ABC-Dot Records. It was notable for having been the record label that first signed several country music singers and songwriters that would come to dominate the American country music charts of the 1970s, including singer Don Williams, and songwriters Bob McDill and Allen Reynolds.
Short Stories is the first LP album by the award-winning American songwriter Bob McDill, released in 1972 by J-M-I Records. It is notable for being the only known album recorded by the successful country music writer. It is also notable as being the first full-length album released on the short lived J-M-I Records label. Several of the songs from the album, including "Catfish John" and "Come Early Morning" would go on to have chart success covered by other artists, including Don Williams and Johnny Russell.
