Description
One video recording (35 minutes, VHS). Memorial Service for singer-songwriter Will McLean, held at the Thomas Center in Gainesville. Includes eulogies and memories by Florida Folk Festival director Thelma, Boltin,singer-songwriter Don Grooms, an emotional Seminole chairman and singer James (Jim) Billie, singer-protégé Gamble Rogers, Barbara Sheen Todd, singer-environmental activist Dale Crider, and Cherill Heaton. Plus performances McLean's songs by Jeanie Fitchen (on autoharp), Dougs Gauss, Wayne Martin, Frank Thomas, Don Grooms, Dennis Devine, Mary Ann Dinella, Sandra Jamieson, Ernie Williams, and Barbara Sheen Todd (who sings his first song). These are interspersed with scenes from a 1982 PBS special on McLean, and concludes with audio from McLean's last performance (St. Augustine, October 29, 1989). Many other folk artists are visible in the audience, including Bobby Hicks. Produced by Margaret Longhill and Philip Schwartz for the McLean Foundation. Singer-songwriter Will McLean was often called the 'Father of Florida Folk.' The Black Hat Troubadour, a nickname given for the hat he usually wore, authored hundreds of songs, and was a national figure on the folk music scene. A fifth generation Floridian, he died in 1990 from cancer.