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Roger McGuinn on folk preservation on NPR


Here’s a fine NPR interview with Byrds guitarist, copyfighter, and folkie legend Roger McGuinn. The interview covers a lot of ground, but is centered on his folk-preservation site the Folk Den, a repository of folk recordings, music, lyrics, history and conversation. It’s a phone-in and the callers are great (“I perform folk music about science and skepticism” — hoo-ah!).

Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame singer and guitarist Roger McGuinn, best known as the front man for The Byrds, is considered a pioneer of folk rock. The band blended traditional folk songs with a rock beat and scored major hits in the 1960’s including “Turn, Turn, Turn” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.”

The Byrds disbanded in 1973, and McGuinn pursued a solo career, performing acoustically and returning to his folk roots.

In 1995, he created the Folk Den Project, an online series to store traditional folk songs that he records once a month. NPR’s Neal Conan talks with McGuinn about The Byrds and his solo career, and about his work preserving folk music.

The Byrds’ Roger McGuinn Works To Preserve Folk

(via MeFi)

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