James Roger McGuinn (born July 13, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter, who was born as James Joseph McGuinn III in Chicago, Illinois.

He changed his name in 1967 because a guru in Indonesia said that a new name would vibrate better with the universe. The guru sent Jim the letter "R" and asked him to send back ten names starting with that letter. Because Jim was into gadgets and Sci-Fi, he sent names like "Rocket" and "Ramjet." He included the name Roger only because they use it for radio messages to indicate "OK." Roger was the only "real" name in the bunch and the guru picked it. Jim only changed his middle name from Joseph to Roger but used Roger as a stage name.

McGuinn is best known for being the frontman of The Byrds, the pioneering folk-rock band of the 1960's, in which he played a Rickenbacker 360-12 electric 12 string guitar, contributing much to the band's unique sound.

McGuinn toured briefly with Bob Dylan for his 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue.

More recently, Roger McGuinn has attempted to use the World Wide Web to continue the folk tradition by recording a different folk song each month for the last nine years. The songs were made available from his web site and a selection (with guest vocalists) were released on CD as Treasures from the Folk Den .

Discography

• Roger McGuinn, 1973
• Peace on You, 1974
• Roger McGuinn and Band, 1975
• Cardiff Rose, 1976
• Thunderbyrd, 1977
• Back from Rio, 1990
• Born to Rock & Roll, 1992
• Live from Mars, 1996
• McGuinn's Folk Den (4 volumes), 2000
• Treasures from the Folk Den, 2001
• Back to New York, 2002
• Live from Electric Lady Land, 2002
• Limited Edition, 2004

External Links

Roger McGuinn - The Official Home Page

Roger McGuinn's Folk Den - An archive of his monthly recordings