Roger McGuinn

Roger McGuinn is an American musician best known as the leader of the Byrds. Raised in Chicago, he studied banjo and 12-string guitar at the Old Town School of Folk Music. He worked as a sideman for folk acts including the Limeliters and Judy Collins, and in 1962 Bobby Darin hired him as a guitarist, harmony singer, and songwriter. In 1964 he helped form the Byrds in Los Angeles and developed his jingle-jangle guitar style. The band scored hits with Mr. Tambourine Man, Turn! Turn! Turn!, and Eight Miles High. Later he released solo records, toured in Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue in the mid-1970s, and formed McGuinn, Clark and Hillman. His 1991 comeback album Back from Rio featured King of the Hill with Tom Petty. That year the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him with the Byrds. His Folk Den project produced monthly folk recordings, and Treasures from the Folk Den earned a Grammy nomination in 2002.