From the Archives

Roger McGuinn Takes Flight for Solo Tour

Byrds founder Roger McGuinn sets out on folk tour

Posted Jun 15, 2000 12:00 AM

If this year's last batch of Byrds reissues left you hungry for a bit of live twelve-string Rickenbacker, take heart. Byrds founder Roger McGuinn hits the road this Saturday for a lengthy solo club and festival tour. But don't go expecting nothing but Byrds greatest hits; while he's certain to play a few, along with his own solo songs, the shows will most likely focus on the obscure folk songs he's been collecting, recording and offering up as free MP3s as part of his "Folk Den" at www.mcguinn.com."It occurred to me that some of these traditional songs were in jeopardy because of the commercial music business not playing them anymore," McGuinn told RollingStone.com in March. "New folk singers are basically singer-songwriters, and they're not doing the traditional material so much as their own material. So I thought, well, what's going to happen when Pete Seeger and Odetta and some of these other people leave the planet? Are the traditional songs going to go with them? Well, just in case, I'll do my part by putting one up every month, and I've been doing that for the last four years."

Some of the shows will feature McGuinn solo with an acoustic guitar, though most will be with his trio.

Roger McGuinn's tour dates:

6/17: Indianapolis, IN, Indy Jazz Fest
6/18: Atlanta, GA, Chastain Park Amphitheater
6/21: Cleveland, OH, Odeon Concert Club
6/22: Pontiac, MI, 7th House
6/24: Minneapolis, MN, First Avenue
6/27: St. Louis, MO, Mississippi Nights
6/29: Chicago, IL, Park West
6/30: Milwaukee, WI, Summerfest
7/22: Harrington, DE, Delaware State Fair
7/23: Gilford, NH, Medowbrook Farm
7/26: Buffalo, NY, The Tralf
7/28: Canandaigua, NY, Finger Lakes Performing Arts Center
7/29: New York, NY, Bottom Line
7/30: Vienna, VA, Wolf Trap Filene Center
9/21: Ewing, NJ, Brower Student Center
9/23: Boston, MA, Boston Folk Festival
10/17: Baltimore, MD, Kraushaar Auditorium
10/18: Harrisburg, PA, Whittaker Center for the Arts
10/19: Vienna, VA, Barns of Wolf Trap