ROGER McGUINN
Roger McGuinn feels that no matter how hard network television classic rock radio try to recreate the ’60’s, there’s always something missing. And McGuinn knows of what he speaks. As lead guitarist for the Byrds, McGuinn and his cohorts–David Crosby, later of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young fame, was one — were responsible for some of the biggest hits of that era: “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “Turn, Turn, Turn,” and “Eight Miles High.” McGuinn is currently on an American tour in support of his first album in 10 years: “Back From Rio.”
The ’60’s that McGuinn remembers is quite different from the way the era is portrayed today. “Much of what we’re seeing today is purely cosmetic,” McGuinn said in an interview from his Miami hotel room. “The movies and television are professionally recreating the ’60’s. What’s missing from their attempts to recreate the era is the feeling. There was a sense of innocence and wide-eyed optimism about the future that we certainly don’t have today.”
Many of the bands that were popular in the ’60’s are re-grouping to record and tour so they can cash in on the wave of nostalgia that’s currently sweeping the country. McGuinn has never really stopped recording or touring since he first began his performing career in the early ’60’s with a folk group called ‘The Limeliters.’ Roger McGuinn was then known by his real name, Jim, which he changed to Roger when he joined a small Moslem-oriented subsect called Subud, an affiliation that usually results in a name change. He hooked up with Gene Clark (the Byrds’ vocalist and a former member of the New Christy Minstrels) at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. It was there they were joined by David Crosby and the three formed the nucleus of the Byrds. (They were eventually joined by Michael Clarke on the drums and Chris Hillman on the mandolin.) In his autobiographical book, ‘Long Time Gone’, Crosby said of his former partner: “Let me say this for the record: Roger McGuinn is a genius. Even when he was Jim McGuinn. Any McGuinn. Any McGuinn he wants to be. The man is an absolute heavyweight….”
When the Byrds disbanded in 1973, McGuinn recorded several solo albums and toured the United States extensively.
After working for 20 years non-stop, he took a well-earned vacation in the late 1970’s. The beginning of the ’80’s found McGuinn touring as a solo performer. For 10 years, he toured the country in a van and played small clubs, rediscovering his folk music roots. The “Back to Rio” tour marks the first time in over a decade that McGuinn will be playing in concert with a full band onstage. Touring with a band for months on end in a tour bus doesn’t bother McGuinn. “I’m happy to have my band travel on the same bus with me because I feel that they’re all enjoying themselves,” he said. “The tour support personnel such as the bus driver and tour manager are wonderful and they make me feel right at home while I’m traveling on the road.” For the “Back to Rio” studio recording sessions, McGuinn had musical contributions from old friends as well as some new ones. Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, former Eagle Timothy Schmidt, former Byrds David Crosby and Chris Hillman all worked with McGuinn on the project. The sessions went smoothly and McGuinn felt that it “was a real natural process with a bunch of my friends helping me out.”
Being a true rock and roll survivor has provided McGuinn with a past rich in rock history.
He’s currently working on an autobiography due out in early 1991. The process of writing his personal diaries in autobiographical form has proved to be a therapeutic experience. “The major benefit from writing my life story was taking the little bits of the jigsaw puzzle and putting them into one big picture,” McGuinn said. “I can see my past more clearly now since I’ve taken the little bits of it and assembled them into a big picture.” While on the current tour, McGuinn will occasionally pass through a town that he played in as a member of the Byrds in the ’60’s. The old ghosts from the past don’t haunt McGuinn simply because the old concert halls are oftentimes no longer standing. “I don’t think that the Byrds played many of the places that I’m performing in on this tour, “he said. “Most of the old concert halls only lasted about five or six years.”