Previews and Reviews - Roger McGuinn

Previews and Reviews
Roger McGuinn

By Steve Chess
The Weekly Recorder
April 4, 2008

By the time the Byrds released their first #1 hit single (Mr. Tambourine Man) in June of 1965, the 23 year old Roger (Jim) McGuinn was already a veteran of the music industry. He had been a sideman for the Limelighters, the Chad Mitchell Trio, Judy Collins, Simon and Garfunkel and Bobby Darin. The Bob Dylan Folk tune (Mr. Tambourine Man) had been written in the Folksy 2/4 time signature. At the behest of fellow Byrds member, David Crosby, McGuinn rearranged the song to include 4/4 time (for more of a Beatles feel), omitted most of the verses and added a Bach-like intro on his electric Rickenbacker 360 guitar. The song was a hit and an important milestone in modern music history was established.

On Saturday, March 29th, the Pittsburgh Folk Music Society (Calliope) brought Roger McGuinn to the Carnegie Lecture Hall in Oakland for a solo concert. The venue (on the opposite side of the museum) provided a wonderful opportunity to watch this gentle soul perform in an intimate environment. A devout Christian since 1977,refrains from strident proselytization, but his spiritual demeanor seems to permeate everything he does.

Opening for McGuinn was Folk singer/activist/attorney, Anne Feeney. Her material was decidedly left leaning, but well meaning. Feeney has performed in 42 States and 5 or more countries and is quite entertaining to watch.

When Roger McGuinn arrived on stage with his trademark jangly sounding Rickenbacker 360, 12-string guitar, the capacity crowd erupted into jubilant cheers and applause. The song was “My Back Pages,” which includes the lines, “Ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.” The choice of opening song seemed highly appropriate given that the still clear, sweet vocal tone sounded much as it did when he (now 65) was a kid with the Byrds. McGuinn’s set was rich with well-told stories of events surrounding and behind the music that he was performing. Throughout his career, he has rubbed shoulders with many of the biggest names in the industry.

He performed a Gospel number (“Easter Morn”) by one of his 12 string guitar heroes, Lead Belly (Huddie Ledbetter). Singing it in a minor key, while playing major chords on his 12 string as did Lead Belly. The song is unapologetically devotional and McGuinn sang it with passion. His performance of “Saint James Infirmary Blues,” was perhaps closest to Cab Calloway’s adaptation, but of course Roger McGuinn made it his own. His instrumentation switched between several instruments throughout the evening. The jangly “Rick” is most recognizable, But he had C F Martin guitars (Nazareth, PA) created a 7 string acoustic that is essentially a 6 string with a second light gauge octave string next to the G string. This gives McGuinn the ability to extract 12 string sounding guitar lines while still maintaining a 6 string acoustic sound. He played this HD7 Roger McGuinn model Martin with great facility. Availing himself of his 5 string banjo, he accompanied himself by using a form of frailing strum while he sang “Pretty Polly.” Though one of the original architects of the Folk Rock movement (by most accounts, he actually went electric before Dylan) Roger McGuinn displayed complete comfort while working within the traditional folk genre. McGuinn has always been an aviation and technology enthusiast (he even has an instructional DVD on recording studio quality music on a PC). He spoke of how, while he was studying radio electronics, he was fascinated when he learned that FM signals go straight up into outer space and continue on… forever. This segued perfectly into his performance of the Byrds hit “Hey Mister Spaceman.”

What really seemed to get the most audience response were those songs on which he accompanied himself with a 12 string (or the 7 string sounding like the 12 string). “Turn, Turn, Turn,” a song penned by Pete Seeger with lyrics borrowed from the Old Testament (Ecclesiates 3, 1-8) sounded great, even without David Crosby’s high harmonies. On “Eight Miles High,” McGuinn performed a kind of cosmic fusion. He began by melodically quoting ‘Asturias,’ a Classical piece by Spanish composer Isaac Albeniz (1860 - 1909), then a riff from Buffalo Springfield’s “Rock and Roll Woman” then evolving into the John Coltrane-like intro on the original Byrds version. It was clear that a recent wrist injury hasn’t adversely affect Roger McGuinn’s considerable prowess as a guitarist.

He finished with a song that he and his wife, Camilla, wrote as using some of the words from an old Irish blessing and adding a melody and lyrics of their own. The pleasant melody and comforting lyrics to “May the Road Rise To Meet You” was an excellent topper for this Calliope show. The Calliope shows are always interesting because a lot of members of the Folk Music Society are professional quality musicians. Because of this, you are likely to hear beautiful harmonies emanating from any corner of the venue and the artists they invite to perform are always unique.