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1 Comment [ View ]Big Byrd's boot heels still wandering
By LINDA EAST BRADYRoger McGuinn, who first came to fame in the mid-'60s as the sweet-voiced frontman and the chiming 12-string lead guitarist of The Byrds, was originally scheduled for a three-day visit to Weber State University last year.
However, a little patch of ice in a Nebraska parking lot forced a big change of plans.
"I slipped, and there is a natural tendency to put your hand out to break the fall. Well, I broke my wrist, instead of the fall," said McGuinn, calling from the road in Harrisonburg, Va.
A broken wrist is a guaranteed tour-stopper for a strummer. But now, fully healed and back in business, McGuinn said he is looking forward to making up the Ogden dates. He is playing the Allred Theater next Friday and Nov. 15, and is also appearing at a Q&A-style lecture on Thursday.
36 strings
Though remembered for such songs as The Byrds' version of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man," "Chestnut Mare," "Eight Miles High" and "Turn Turn Turn," McGuinn started out a pure folkie. Such musicians as Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie inspired him.
McGuinn attended the Old Town School of Folk in Chicago as a young man.
"The Old Town School was pretty informal, but I had several years of music theory and instruction, and learned the history behind many of these songs, and the stories behind the folk singers," McGuinn said.
McGuinn is most famous for his double-chorused instrument playing -- his signature Rickenbacker electric 12-string, an acoustic Martin 12-string, and a seven-string acoustic Martin designed for the company by McGuinn. He'll bring the guitars, plus a banjo, for his Ogden shows.
The 12-string he's known for is no easy beast to play or keep in tune, and the band featured three 12-string players -- 36 strings, forever slipping ever so slightly in and out of tune.
"(David) Crosby, Gene Clark and I all played 12-strings when we first got together. Tuning was tough -- they didn't have good (electronic) tuners like we do now." He laughed. "We spent a lot of time just tuning and tuning. Recently, I was hanging out with Marty Stuart in Nashville, and we were talking about that. He told me, 'There is no B-string in heaven.' It's got to be true. It seems that if it is in tune, the others will be out of tune. You have to compromise sometimes, cheat it a little bit."
Cyber-troubadour
In recent years, McGuinn has returned to his folkie roots with something called "The Folk Den Project."
"Back in 1995, I was listening to a Folkways collection, and it occurred to me I wasn't hearing these kinds of traditional songs anymore," he said. "I was instead hearing a new breed of folk singer, the singer/songwriter, which is wonderful, and very influenced, of course, by Bob Dylan.
"Now these are wonderful songs -- melodic, great stories -- but I wondered what was going to happen to traditional ballads, the things I grew up with."
The Internet was really starting to percolate at that point in time, and McGuinn got the then-novel idea to record these traditional tunes and post them on the Web.
"I was probably one of the first people to do that," he said. "I (included) not only the recordings, but the chords and the lyrics and the stories. I thought it would be a good way to publish them around the world for free."
He wanted people everywhere to be able to share the music and keep alive traditional songs such as "Mighty Day," which is an account of the devastating Galveston hurricane of 1900.
At completion, he made over 100 songs available. "The Folk Den Project" has reached around the world. Like a modern version of the oral tradition, people were able to hear the songs straight from the performer, and learn to make their own versions of the songs.
"You're just hearing it on the computer instead of live," said McGuinn, "You can click the thing and play it, download it, keep it and put it on your iPod and take it around town with you.
"There has been just a tremendous response to this -- from college professors, teachers, and even the old states from the former Soviet Union have adopted this in their school curriculum. When they e-mailed me and asked if they could use it, I said, 'Yes, that is what they are there for.' That is very rewarding."
Carry on
McGuinn's name still hold a lot of power with guitar players, especially 12-string players, around the world.
"Younger players do track me down," he said. "They e-mail me, send me their songs, and show me their MySpace pages where they've added their own things to listen to.
"And there is a whole new breed of hippies out there, too. Some of them don't know where the components come from, but they have thrown it all together into a new soup of music. It's very cool."
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Many people of a certain age may remember that when Roger McGuinn first started with The Byrds, he was known as Jim McGuinn -- James Joseph McGuinn III, to be precise, a name he liked just fine.
Jim became Roger in 1967 under the advice of an Indonesian guru. He was told by the guru that the new name would "vibrate better with the universe." Said guru gave McGuinn a sheet marked with the letter "R," telling him to send back 10 names starting with that letter.
McGuinn was into gadgets, so he sent names like "Rocket" and "Ramjet." The only "real" name on the list was "Roger" -- but McGuinn said he meant it as in the radio jargon "roger wilco," meaning "OK," rather than as in the name Roger.
The guru picked "Roger" from the list. The rechristened McGuinn said he didn't notice any difference in how the universe vibrated around him, but thought it too confusing to go back to his old name.
"A study of the '60s would help you understand all of this better," McGuinn said.
Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilco is a fan of McGuinn, and McGuinn has had rewarding experiences sitting in with the band. Might it be possible that Tweedy was inspired to name his own band Wilco, because he knew the story of McGuinn's radio jargon guru name?
McGuinn laughed. "I think they probably got their name from a gas station on the road -- there is a chain by that name. But I'm not absolutely certain -- I never thought to ask Jeff that."
PREVIEW
WHO: Roger McGuinn
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14 and 15
WHERE: Allred Theater, Browning Center, Weber State University, 3848 Harrison Blvd., Ogden
TICKETS: $12, available from the WSU ticket office, (800) WSU-TIKS
ADDITIONAL APPEARANCES: 10 a.m. Thursday, lecture/Q&A, Wildcat Theater, Shepherd Union Building, Weber State University, 3848 Harrison Blvd., Ogden. Free. Information, 626-6349.
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This is a performance you will never forget! Consider yourself lucky if you hold a ticket to see Roger McGuinn. I hope someone can upload to You Tube so we all can see it!
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