Jake Bugg Gets A Call From His Hero Five Years After Writing Him

September 14, 2014

Jake Bugg has recounted an interaction with personal hero Don McLean, the singer-songwriter best known for performing the 1971 classic American Pie. Speaking in a recent interview, Bugg said that he received a surprise telephone call from McLean five years after leaving him a message on a fan site.

“When I was young there was a place on his website where you used to be able to leave little messages on email. It would say ‘Don can’t reply to anything,'” Bugg explained to MTV Soundchain‘s Zane Lowe (via NME). “Six months ago the guy who ran the website, who’s British, got in touch and said, ‘Just been cleaning out the inbox and found your message from five years ago’, and gave me [McLean’s] number.”

According to Bugg, he was soon speaking to McLean, whom he cites as one of his biggest inspirations, one-on-one. “He called me and woke me up,” the singer recounted. “He spoke for about 40 minutes. I spoke for about one minute. He was giving me this advice like, ‘Don’t get married’. It was pretty crazy.”

Bugg also discussed touring with Noel Gallagher after hitting number one. “I remember he said to me… ‘So, why did you come on this tour anyway? Haven’t you just had a number-one album?’ He goes, ‘If I’d had a number-one album, in your position, I’d be down the pub with a big Number One badge on.’”

Bugg is currently working on the follow-up to his sophomore album, last year’s Rick Rubin-produced Shangri La. However, the Nottingham singer-songwriter has stated that he has a wide window for when fans can expect the album, telling interviewers, “It could take five years, it could take five months.”