HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS MONTH from GARY PIG GOLD To Both ROGER AND JIM McGUINN

It’s becoming increasingly obvious, with every passing year and with every passing trend, that The Byrds were just about the greatest rock’n’roll band America ever produced. Sure, I bet lots of other musicians in 1964 were inspired enough after first viewing A Hard Day’s Night to want to throw together their very own guitar gangs. and Yes, from a half-century-plus perspective the bridging of Dylan’s words with the Beatles’ licks and hair-do’s was a hybrid just itching to happen. But it took a pack of visionary crazies like The Byrds to not only pull it off, but actually shove it right up to the top of the charts for all to hear, see, and forever be amazed by. Hard to believe that within a year of that first Beatle movie, Messrs. McGuinn, Clark, Crosby, Hillman and Clarke had the Number One record on the planet with the still contemporary-sounding “Mr. Tambourine Man.”

Frank Gutch Jr: They Shoulda Been Contenders… And, Per Usual, Notes…

Funny.  We always remember the stars, the champions, and we always place them at the head of the class even if they were no more than a part of one.  This last weekend I spent an inordinate amount of time pondering what the music world would have been like if, say, Led Zeppelin had not become gods to so many and Hendrix and Clapton and Beck had not headed the infamous “best guitarists” lists outfits like Rolling Stone Magazine always roll out when they have nothing else to capture readers’ attentions (seriously, how do you compare Tommy Emmanuel, Eric Clapton, Christopher Parkening, and Phil Keaggy— all exceptional guitarists, all deserving of attention from most who really love the instrument and yet living in completely different worlds.

Pat Blythe: Women of Rock – Part 1

The impetus, for what has now become a series, was my discovery of an old vinyl record by Maggie Bell. I came across it going through one of my many purge cycles. Suicide Sal, released in 1975, was my introduction to the blues….I just didn’t know it then. I wasn’t in the habit of labeling types of music in my younger years, I just knew what I liked. Greg Simpson, who happened to be managing the now defunct Records on Wheels in London, Ontario, recommended the album, thinking I might like it. I loved it and still do. Thank you Greg!