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" I'd like to be remembered as a keeper of the flame who kept traditional music alive, because I've been doing that twice as long as I was in the Byrds. "
Roger McGuinn
Doing
Flame
Long
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" I've always considered myself a folk singer, even though we strapped on Rickenbacker guitars and played pretty loud. "
Roger McGuinn
Always
Singer
Loud
" I don't really collect guitars. "
Roger McGuinn
Guitars
Really
Collect
" Now, you can just get a laptop, get some software, put a microphone on it and make a record. You have to know how to do it. It does help if you've had 35 or 40 years of experience in the studio. But, it still levels the playing field so artists can record their own stuff. "
Roger McGuinn
Help
Now
Know
" I love being on the sea and the rolling of the ship, and for me, it's not really happening until we get a little wave action going, I love that feeling. "
Roger McGuinn
Me
Love
Sea
" I've got an electric little motorcycle that I go to the supermarket with every day, and it's powered by the solar panels, so it's really got a zero carbon footprint. "
Roger McGuinn
Solar
Day
Every Day
" I got into computers back in the early '80s, so it was a natural progression of learning about e-mail in the mid-'80s and getting into the Internet when it opened up in the early '90s. "
Roger McGuinn
Up
Computers
Early
" I think the Internet is an awful lot like FM radio was when it broke out in the late '60s. It's kind of a wild and wily kind of format. They could play 20 songs in a row that had the word 'blue' in them, or whatever they wanted to do. "
Roger McGuinn
Play
Late
Think
" I was raised a Roman Catholic and had to go to the eight o'clock Mass every morning and have communion and wear a tie, kind of like a restricted life style. Then in the '60s, we got wild and let it go and started looking in other places to see where God really was, and I came back to the Christian thing. "
Roger McGuinn
Looking
Morning
Style
" That's my favorite subject because it really levels the playing field for artists these days. You don't have to sell out to the record company. You don't have to get a five hundred thousand dollars, or whatever, and pay them back for the rest of your life to record a record. "
Roger McGuinn
Life
Days
Company
" I think what makes the Byrds stand up all these years is the basis in folk music. Folk music, being a timeless art form, is the foundation of the Byrds. We were all from a folk background. We considered ourselves folk singers even when we strapped on electric instruments and dabbled in different things. "
Roger McGuinn
Stand Up
Music
Think
" But in my imagination this whole thing developed and I started mixing up old folk songs with the Beatles beat and taking them down to Greenwich Village and playing them for the people there. "
Roger McGuinn
People
Down
Village
" When I first went from a band situation to a solo situation, it was quite an adjustment to make. But after having done it for a number of years, it really feels good out there. "
Roger McGuinn
Done
Band
Good
" I think Wilco is going to definitely stand the test of time - no question - and Uncle Tupleo, and the whole No Depression scene, which is now alt-country. I think that's going to be around a long time. "
Roger McGuinn
Depression
Think
Stand
" One of my favorite albums is Bob Gibson and Bob Camp, 'At the Gate of Horn.' It was a really dynamic album, almost like The Beatles, and way before its time... around 1960 or so. "
Roger McGuinn
Way
Almost
Before
" I love being a troubadour. I travel around the world with my wife and play little theaters. We have a ball. "
Roger McGuinn
Ball
Play
Travel
" I always got a kick out of it when they called it the California Sound because it really came out of Liverpool and Greenwich Village. "
Roger McGuinn
Always
Got
Sound
" I'm not attracted to expensive things. "
Roger McGuinn
Attracted
Things
Expensive
" I open all my concerts with 'My Backpages,' written by Bob Dylan, and close them all with 'May the Road Rise to Meet You,' written by Roger McGuinn and Camilla McGuinn. "
Roger McGuinn
Meet
Concerts
You
" Once I've written a song, I sometimes refine them. "
Roger McGuinn
Them
Sometimes
Song
" People have told me that other artists have been influenced by my music, and it's flattering. It's a wonderful thing. "
Roger McGuinn
Been
People
Me
" When The Byrds started country-rock, we had no idea there would be such a thing. We were just trying to honor the music. We started listening to country radio. We went to Nudie's and got cowboy clothes. "
Roger McGuinn
Honor
Clothes
Trying
" I'm a huge fan of home recording. I think it levels the playing field. You don't need $100,000 to record a studio CD. "
Roger McGuinn
Home
Fan
You
" You can see it on the Internet: There's an argument going on continually about, 'What is folk music?' And I don't really want to get involved in that. It's an endless argument, a 'How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?' kind of argument. "
Roger McGuinn
Dance
Internet
Music
" The original Byrds were very much Beatles-influenced, and then we gradually got our own sound. We started mixing things together more. "
Roger McGuinn
Own
Together
Sound
" I don't want to be an oldies act, kind of dragging around on the road just for the money. "
Roger McGuinn
Kind
Money
Road
" I started playing guitar back in '56. I was a teenager, and guitars had just come in, and I had a thing for it and got one. Started learning lead breaks from songs, because that was the easiest thing to do at the time. I had the guitar for two years before I learned any chords. Really. "
Roger McGuinn
Lead
Back
Guitar
" I think the good thing about the Internet is to give something away and to sell something else. Get a business model like that because the old brick and mortar record stores are falling apart, and the big record companies are collapsing under their own weight. "
Roger McGuinn
Good
Internet
Business
" Leadbelly's guitar is in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. "
Roger McGuinn
Guitar
Roll
Rock
" The wonderful thing about having your songs on the radio is that people are going to go out to your concerts and buy your merchandise and that sort of thing, and it feels good to get that level of name recognition. "
Roger McGuinn
People
Good
Radio
" To me, being in the big time is not that big of a deal. I've been there; I know what it is. It's exciting, but it's also a lot of work and pressure. I love sort of flying under the radar where we can play theaters and sell CD's on the Internet, and it's really kind of a cool time. "
Roger McGuinn
Time
Flying
Love