Journey through the musical history of legendary singer/songwriter and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Roger McGuinn at Edmonds Center for the Arts Saturday Oct. 24.
McGuinn became interested in music after hearing Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" and asked his parents to buy him a guitar. In 1957 he enrolled as a student at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music where he learned the five-string banjo and continued to improve his guitar skills.
After graduation, McGuinn performed solo on the folk music circuit where he was hired as a sideman by folk musicians like The Limeliters, the Chad Mitchell Trio and Judy Collins. It was during this time that he began hearing of The Beatles and wondered how Beatlemania might affect folk music.
While playing at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, Roger began incorporating Beatles songs into his act and giving rock-style treatments to his traditional folk tunes, which attracted fellow folkie and Beatles fan Gene Clark to approach him about forming a duo. After meeting David Crosby, they decided to create a band and with the addition of percussionist Michael Clark and banjo player Chris Hillman, The Byrds came to life and scored a #1 hit with "Mr. Tambourine Man".
During his time with The Byrds, McGuinn developed two influential styles of electric guitar playing, incorporating banjo finger picking styles he learned from his days at the Old Town School of Music. The CF Martin Guitar Company released a special edition guitar called the HD7 Roger McGuinn Signature Edition that claims to capture his "jingle-jangle" tone.
After several personnel changes, The Byrds disbanded in 1973 and McGuinn has been recording and touring solo since then, going back to his folk music roots with projects like "22 Timeless Tracks from the Folk Den," which he recorded with musical friends Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and Judy Collins.