![]() As he explained in the liner notes, McGuinn and wife Camilla hit the road in the spirit of John and Alan Lomax: “Armed with an 850MHz computer, a Stedman 1100B large diaphragm tube condenser microphone, and a copy of Cool Edit Pro, (software that turns your PC into a 64-track recording machine), I set out to make this CD”. McGuinn turned the recording process for Treasures into an adventure. Treasures from the Folk Den is precious, not so much because of its content or performances, but due to its expression of one man’s heart and passion for an art form he holds dear. Having realized that many listeners don’t possess the technical means to obtain these downloads, McGuinn decided to record an album of some of the artifacts he has collected over the past couple of years, enlisting the help of several notable artists to enhance the historical significance of the songs. Each month McGuinn records an MP3 version of a folk song from yesteryear for downloads. Thirty years later, McGuinn is managing a web site devoted to his life’s passion - the preservation of American folk music. ![]() Essentially, however, The Byrds’ most notable achievement was their ability to transform folk music into popular, danceable numbers. Of course, The Byrds also made dramatic forays into other more esoteric realms, most notably Gene Clark’s raga-influenced and radio-banned “Eight Miles High” (not a drug song, by the way, but a brilliantly scathing word picture of the band’s cold reception in London). Spaceman” was a wonderfully disarming example of Bakersfield country, with the mop-top, hippie protagonist becoming the sympathetic subject of an alien abduction. “5D (Fifth Dimension)” clearly drew upon Anglo-Celtic melody, McGuinn’s 12-string electric guitar mimicking bagpipes. McGuinn infused his own compositions with a strong folk ethic. “Turn Turn Turn” and “The Bells of Rhymny”, two of The Byrds’ biggest hits, were written by the legendary social activist Pete Seeger (“co-written” would be more accurate most of the lyrics for the former were gleaned from the Bible, while the latter was based on poetry by Idris Davies). And of course there was the Byrds song, Turn, Turn, Turn, a musical version of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.When Roger McGuinn was a member of The Byrds - one of America’s most influential rock ‘n’ roll bands - he brought to his band an earnest appreciation for Depression-era and post-War folk music. "It was a song of submission to God," he said. Tambourine Man, written by Bob Dylan, was a song being sung to God, McGuinn said. He said he knew at the time he believed that God was somewhere, that he wanted God in his life, but he "didn't know where to find him."ĭuring this time, his search for God and interest in the spiritual world was apparent in the songs done by the group. McGuinn said he still attributes the success of the Byrds to the book his mother gave him. He developed an attitude that said, "I trust everything will work out all right." "I started turning things around in my head and looking at the positive side," he said. He discarded the religious aspect of Peale's writing but began to apply Peale's principles to his life. While playing music in the early 1960s, before the formation of the Byrds, he said his mother sent him a copy of Norman Vincent Peale's book The Power of Positive Thinking. His spiritual journey later would take him to Eastern religion when he changed his name from Jim McGuinn to Roger McGuinn when an Indonesian guru said changing his name would allow him to "vibrate better with the universe." McGuinn was raised Roman Catholic and later as a teenager, became agnostic. He said he hopes what he does while singing is "positive and uplifting" and that people feel a spiritual benefit from his music. "I felt, stay where you were when you were called. "When I came to the Lord, I felt a sense some people feel they have to stop secular music," he said. Yet his concerts are secular _ and he said he doesn't preach about his religious beliefs on stage. The family tithes at his church _ and McGuinn and his wife have daily morning devotions and read the Bible together. Today, McGuinn and his wife belong to the 8,000-member Church on the Way in Van Nuys, Calif., led by the Rev. Within several weeks of that incident, he met his wife, Camilla, and they were married. "The biker could tell there was a spiritual change that had occurred," in me, he said. On his way back home after the experience, he said he saw a motorcycle friend who asked him if he wanted to go out and get some drugs and girls. "I felt a lifting of this heaviness and a spiritual enlightenment and peace and warmth," McGuinn said. ![]() Then, an inner voice spoke to McGuinn, suggesting that he accept Jesus. It was a crushing sensation like he was being pulled into the floor. "It was a heavy feeling coming over me," he said.
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