ROGER MCGUINN Tonight I was very honoured to be in the presence of a true legend- the Byrds frontman , Roger (Jim) McGuinn . It is the first time I have seen him live , and although it is highly unlikely we shall ever see a reformed Byrds (original members Gene Clark and Michael Clarke both now being dead) , McGuinn was the main singer / guitarist , and wrote most of the songs . Also , he founded the band and was the only original member to stay in the group through all their various incarnations .
Latterly , McGuinn has been involved in producing the splendid Folk Den - an attempt at cataloguing folk music via his website. Each week he posts a new folk song , along with lyrics an chords on his website . You can download the tracks for free.
It was a very intimate gig (no more than 300 people) , and I was sat at the side of the stage getting an excellent glimpse into the genius that is Roger McGuinn . He opened the show with My Back Pages , and played a set that was crammed with Byrds classics - Mr Tambourine Man , All I Really Want To Do , Chimes Of Freedom , Turn Turn Turn amongst others . Being in Scotland he performed what he called a 'Beatles beat' version of Wild Mountain Thyme. All of this was performed solo , without a backing band . It gave me goosepimples when he set down his trademark Rickenbacker 360 12 string next to me , and he was also using a 7 string acoustic , the first time I'd ever seen one.
For an encore , he did Feel A Whole Lot Better , and Eight Miles High . An amazing end to an amazing night. I met his wife Camilla , who was really nice , and wish to thank her for introducing me to the great man himself - I even got a signed copy of his latest album Live From Spain.
Here's the Byrds on the Ed Sullivan Show:
Bellshill band Teenage Fanclub doing their own tribute to the Byrds:
Recent clip of Roger doing Eight Miles High:
This is the Beach Boys , but features a cool cameo from Roger:
Roger McGuinn's Folk Den:
