When Roger McGuinn performs, he brings his life story with him.
The veteran musician sang, played, and talked for nearly two and a half hours, breaking for a 15-minute intermission. He interspersed stories of his long career between classic songs. After strolling onto the stage with a cordless electric guitar and playing Bob Dylan's "My Back Pages," McGuinn sat down to talk about growing up in Chicago, attending Latin School in the Gold Coast neighborhood, and learning guitar at the Old Town School of Folk Music. A guitar and a microphone were all he needed to entertain the Skokie crowd on Wednesday evening. He played some of the songs he loved to listen to as a boy, talked about the teachers who had influenced him, and shared the story of moving to Los Angeles after high school graduation to record with The Limeliters.
The one-way ticket to California marked the beginning of a musical journey that enabled him to meet, record with, and tour alongside many of the legends of rock and folk music. Roger introduced "The Ballad of Easy Rider," telling of how Peter Fonda approached Bob Dylan about writing a song for his new motorcycle movie. Dylan scribbled a verse on a napkin and told Fonda to "give this to McGuinn. He'll know what to do with it."
We heard about Bob Dylan's 1975-76 Rolling Thunder Revue. McGuinn joined the tour, which inspired McGuinn to write "Take Me Away" and "Jolly Roger" - the latter based on the rocking motion of the tour bus, which reminded Roger of a pirate ship.
McGuinn met David Crosby after seeing him perform in a Samuel Beckett play. The two became friends and later formed The Byrds, a group that rocketed to stardom and transitioned from folk rock (Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man") to country ("You Ain't Goin' Nowhere") to psychedelic rock ("Eight Miles High"). McGuinn performed each of these as he told of the rapid evolution of The Byrds.
When Roger turned down the chance to play a country banjo player in a motion picture, he was told he would never work in Hollywood. "I never have," he quipped, "but I still play the banjo," before launching into traditional banjo tunes "The Preacher and the Bear" and "Old Blue."
The audience joined in on "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and "Knocking on Heaven's Door," which brought a smile to the singer's face.
Each story led into a song, and each song felt like an old friend. Roger's speaking voice is soft and high-pitched, like his singing voice. At 87, he still projects joy when he sings and talks of his career and his friends.
I left the concert feeling like I knew Roger McGuinn better.
