It is one of the most emulated sounds in rock, so popular that it has a name — “jingle jangle.” Almost 40 years after the fact, the sound of Roger McGuinn playing a 12-string Rickenbacker guitar — on “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn, Turn, Turn,” for example — remains synonymous with 60s rock ‘n’ roll.
Therefore, a lot was at stake when the ex-Byrd clipped a wing last December in the midst of a cross-country tour. McGuinn slipped on Nebraska ice, fracturing his right wrist. Breaths were held, dates were cancelled, surgery was performed.
Somehow, McGuinn is strumming — and back on the road — again, some two months after his fall. He’ll be making up one of those broken dates Feb. 10 at Bothell’s Northshore Performing Arts Center.
A miracle? No, said the legendary guitarist, who attributes his rapid recovery to modern medicine.
“The doctors used a fairly new procedure that cut many weeks off of my recovery; I’d still be in a cast if they hadn’t done it,” he explained.
Given that his ability to play the guitar was in jeopardy, one would think the 60s icon was wracked with anxiety.
“No, not really,” McGuinn responded. “I think the worst part was the claustrophobia of being in a cast — but it was only two weeks. Now, everything works the way it always has, so I’m fine.”
In the decades since the Byrds’ breakup, McGuinn has concentrated more and more on the traditional “folk” ingredient of the folk-rock formula he helped popularize. In 1995, the guitarist began an oral history project of sorts, dubbed “The Folk Den.” The project — recording folk songs to share with the public for free on a regular, often-weekly basis — is ongoing; the classic “Old Joe Clark,” which McGuinn first learned as while attending Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music, was added on Feb. 1 (to listen, see link at right of story). The Folk Den’s mp3 files — plus accompanying lyrics and chords — can be downloaded at http://www.ibiblio.org/jimmy/folkden/index.html.
McGuinn said that it’s part of his effort to keep folk music alive — an effort that seems to be working. Another wave of singer-songwriters have emerged in recent years, influenced by Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and others — including a group of electrified folkies who called themselves the Byrds.
“I think there’s a whole new generation of young people who have just discovered the music of the 50s and 60s, and want to live that,” McGuinn observed, adding that he spots more and more 20-somethings in his audiences.
Guitar aficionados attending his Northshore concert will notice something fairly new addition to McGuinn’s gear. In addition to his banjo, 12-string acoustic and Rickenbacker electric guitars, the ace now plays a very unusual Martin 7-string acoustic guitar, a signature model dubbed the McGuinn HD-7.
“I came up with the idea a few years ago after coming back from a European tour and found the airline had broken an expensive Martin (guitar),” he explained. “I thought, if I could combine the best of a 12-string guitar with a six-string guitar, I could lug less guitars around with me, less chance of one getting broken. It has both a low “G” and a high “G,” so you get the fuller sound of a 12-string. At first, (the guitar) was a custom job for me, but some guitar players at Martin really liked it, so they produced a signature model a couple of years ago.
“It serves a lot of purposes,” he added. “I call it the ‘Swiss Army knife of guitars.’”
Given that the legendary guitarist began his career playing with the likes of the Limelighters and the Chad Mitchell Trio, one had to wonder what McGuinn thought of Christopher Guest’s recent folk “mockumentary,” “A Might Wind.”
“I loved the movie, I thought it was great satire … hilarious,” he said, laughing. “I thought his take on rock ‘n roll, ‘This Is Spinal Tap,’ was hilarious, too. Those guys (Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer) are really funny. I have a feeling that they’re true folkies at heart; I’ve seen their group (The Folksmen), which is based on the Kingston Trio, perform, and they’re good.”
Considering McGuinn’s recent brush with disaster, one has to wonder when he will decide to stop performing, to retire from the road that he’s been on so long. The answer was hardly surprising, given the influences that helped shape what is currently a five-decade career.
“I always considered myself a folk singer, and folk singers did perform until they died,” he ventured. “You see some people play well into their 80s … (classical guitarist) Andres Segovia is still my inspiration — he played until he died at age 94, and Segovia was still so good he was booked at Carnegie Hall at the time of his death.
“No,” he concluded, “I have never had any plans for quitting.”
Roger McGuinn
• In concert: Recovered from a broken wrist in December, the former member of the 1960s folk rock group The Byrds performs in this rescheduled show at the Northshore Performing Arts Center, 18125 92nd Ave. NE, Bothell.
• Performance: 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10.
• Tickets: $36 reserved, $30.50 student/senior, available by calling 425-408-7997 or online at www.ticketswest.com.
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