Old Town School Of Folk Music

Last week it was the anniversary of the Byrds making their first tv
appearance in 1965 on Hullabaloo.  I remember watching that show (couldn’t
tivo it then, you know) and was knocked out by this new band with the
amazing vocal harmonies and gangling guitars.  And who was the guy with the
12 string Rickenbacher and the cool rose colored granny glasses?   Wow!
All I knew at the time was that their version of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine
Man” was a totally new sound.  Only years later would we know that it would
start a whole new genre, folk-rock, that would be one of the most
significant movements of a magical period of music.  Back to the guy in the
cool glasses.  He was Jim McGuinn, later to become Roger McGuinn, who
learned to play guitar as a high school kid at the Old Town School Of Folk
Music here in Chicago, moved to L.A., took the Byrds to the top of the
charts with a new sound, and then reinvented them into leaders of the
country rock movement just a few years later.  So a guy like that should
have some stories to tell, and he does, and did in a wonderful mix of music
and storytelling.  He recounted the early days, under age and hanging out in
Chicago folk clubs like the Gate of Horn, playing in the village in NYC,
writing songs at the Brill Building in Manhatten, and flying out to
California after graduating from high school to play with the Limelighters.
And he has some names to drop…Bob Dylan (of course), Odetta, Joan Baez,
Bobby Darin, Ertha Kitt, Lenny Bruce, David Crosby, Peter Seeger, Miles
Davis, The Beatles and more.   The stories alone would have been worth going
out on a rainy night to hear, but this was all interspersed with McGuinn’s
vocals and brilliant work on acoustic and 12 string electric guitar.  One of
the highlights was hearing his guitar work on “Eight Miles High”, showing
the influence of John Coltrane and Ravi Shankar.  And he got us all to sing
along on “Mr. Tambourine Man”, “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better”, and “Turn
Turn Turn.”  What a wonderful evening.  I only hope they record one of these
shows so more people can experience this mix of music and oral history.
It’s worth singing along with….and remembering.