Interview: Roger McGuinn

23 September 2011

Photograph by John Chiasson

Best known as the front-man of The Byrds, the legendary Roger McGuinn will be touring the UK in October and November.

We spoke to the folk singer about life on the road, how The Byrds started, Folk Den and his opinions on The X Factor.

-Are you excited for the tour dates later this year?
Yes, I am, very much. I always look forward to coming back over there, it's great fun. We're take the Queen Mary II there and back, so it's even more fun.

-You're doing halls and theatres rather than clubs or traditional rock venues. Was that a conscious choice?
It was a conscious choice. I've been doing that in the rest of the world, so I decided to move into theatres and concerts venues as oppose to clubs.

I'm not doing a rock show, it's more of a story-tellers show. I tell stories, play songs from The Byrds, my solo career, and the Folk Den which is an on-going, online project to preserve taditional material.

-What was the idea behind the Folk Den?
It started back in 1995, out of a concern that the traditional side of folk was being neglected. I thought I'd do something about it.

I started putting songs on the internet for free download, along with the chords and lyrics, a little story about the song, in hopes that people would download them for free and share them with their families and friends, learn the songs and keep them alive.

-What do you think about the state of folk music currently?
I think it's much healthier than it was back in 1995. The last 15 years or so it has improved. A lot of people are interested in traditional music now, who weren't. There are wonderful folk singers out there preserving material, so I'm very happy about that.

-Going back to the tour, you're playing a range of songs from your projects, but how do you keep it fresh for yourself?
Fortunately, the songs we did in The Byrds were not bad songs. It's easy to sing 'Turn Turn Turn' over and over again. It's a wonderful song, it's uplifting. People enjoy it, and I enjoy doing it myself.

-How's life on the road changed for you over the years?
Well as you noticed, I'm not playing clubs. I cut out outdoor festivals, because it always rains. I don't do casinos. I've refined it down to exactly what I want to do.

For me, my favourite place to perform is a concert venue. People are seated comfortably, they're in a part of town they feel comfortable in. They're not worried they'll get mugged outside, or whatever.

The atmosphere in a concert venue is different from that in a club. In a club, people are drinking, talking, smoking. In a concert they're sitting there listening, enjoying and participating, so it's more of a feedback loop.

It's more rewarding as an artist to have the audience in that situation.

-How is the travelling side for you? Has it become more comfortable for you over the years?
It has. As I mentioned, we're taking the Queen Mary II over and back. We're going back to the turn of the last century.

Enjoying the leisurely travel people had back then out of necessity, because they didn't have jet planes. So, we take trains, we drive around the countryside, take ocean liners when we can.

-What have you been up to this year, musically?
I have a project out called CCD. It's 23 traditional sailing songs. One or two I've written myself in the same tradition of the old songs.

The idea, again, is to keep the songs alive, but it's also my favourite part of traditional music. I love the old sea-shanties, the gusto and comradery they had. The feeling of working together, and playing together.

-Over your career, you've obviously been very influential, but who did you idolise growing up?
Elvis Presley was the kicker that got me into playing music. Then, of course, The Beatles came along and changed the game. Everyone switched from folk music to rock n' roll.

We did that in The Byrds. Bob Gibson was a folk singer who had an influence on me early on. I love Bob Dylan's work, he was special. I don't know, those are the names that come to mind.

-The music business has changed a huge amount over your career. Do you think things like the internet have helped or hindered the industry?
It's helped individual artists. It wasn't so good for the big record companies. In fact, it brought them down. It's also bad for independent songwriters.

It's sort of like radio. If you get something popular on something like YouTube, MP3s are floating around, people will recognise your craft, go to your concert venue and buy your merchandise. It's a very good thing.

-We mentioned the Folk Den, so I'd assume the internet is something you're embracing to get more music out there?
Well, I've returned to my folk roots. I started it back in 1995. I've always considered myself a folk singer even though we strapped on electric instruments.

We did a lot of folk songs with electric guitars, but we were doing a lot of folk music even in The Byrds. I've always been a folk singer, but I've gone back to that role and I'm really enjoying it.

-You came through in a grassroots way compared to more contemporary acts. How was it trying to break through with The Byrds?
Well, The Byrds were an organically formed group. It wasn't like a casting call band. We got a name and a record deal, and found the Bob Dylan song 'Mr. Tamborine Man'. It all just fell together, it was...you almost think it was pre-destined, but it was a lot of work too.

It was a big surprise when it became a Number 1 hit in the US and UK. It was very exciting, it was a big breakthrough.

I think there was a lot less competition back in those days. There are tens of thousands of artists competing for the same thing now. It's hard to be heard above the noise.

-You mentioned how organic it was with The Byrds, but now you have things like The X Factor that give people almost a fast-track to success. What do you think about platforms like that?
I'm a little leary of them. It's too much of a catapult to success. It doesn't seem fair that the artists who paid there dues at the clubs and pulled their way up have to compete with somebody who's an overnight success.