Dirty Linen #96, 2001

If you can get over the mechanical wolves stalking the entrance, the big screen images of historical Native Americans squinting into fading sunsets, and the zinging hum of slot machines being fed quarters throughout the night, then the Mohegan Sun Casino, a premier staging area for classic performers and musicians, otherwise known as the Wolf Den, is for you.

Roger McGuinn is decked out all in black, a favorite color scheme if you're a New Yorker or a retro-beatnik or a world-weary folk artiste. McGuinn's clothing doesn't express his current mood, which is sunny, bright, and cheery. McGuinn seems oblivious to the blackjack tables as he lifts his Martin "Roger McGuinn Limited Edition" Signature 12-string acoustic guitar to his shoulders and begins to play "The Ballad of Easy Rider." He is moving fast through the words and the chords, but you wouldn't know it with his peaceful Zen smile and good-natured banter between songs.

As one of the great musical innovators and visionaries of the electric 12-string guitar, McGuinn could play "Three Blind Mice" and have this crowd roaring wildly, and tonight is no exception. "That last song," he continues, "was written as a low-budget number for Peter Fonda's Easy Rider soundtrack. Dylan threw me some words on a napkin, and I did the rest." With Dylan as a transition code word, he starts up "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)," and even some of the nearby croupiers are temporarily blindsided by the harshness of the songintent and McGuinn's forceful delivery.

A sea-chantey called "Jolly Roger" is next thrown onboard with sly references to buccaneers and sea-dogs. Then we're sailing off to hear a rare Joni Mitchell song called "Dreamland" that McGuinn copped from her on the infamous "Rolling Thunder Tour." More applause and coyote yowls. How can one folkie keep the momentum up with this hard-knuckled crowd of Byrds fanatics? Playing the old favorites is easy, but McGuinn attacks the mothballs like they were all big sellers. He digs out of his black jeans "Up to Me," which is his own song, but sounds like a Dylan parody complete with slurring vowels and facial contortions.

Now we're switched into Dylan territory with three hits tumbling out: "My Back Pages" (with those extra verses thrown in), "Mr. Tambourine Man," and "Chimes of Freedom." All three mega-hit chestnuts get the clap-along and singalong treatment.

Brilliant, simply brilliant, but where can McGuinn go from here? Has he released his major hits like fluttering birds, and are they now spinning over our heads in triumphant majesty?

Not so fast. After playing Leadbelly's wonderful "On Easter Morning," McGuinn now takes the time to talk about his roots with early folk music, and especially about his residency at Chicago's Gate of Horn folk club, which then evolves into a song of the same title. The ghosts of Baez, The Clancy Brothers, Bob Gibson, Pete Seeger, Odetta, and a dozen other legends are evoked and hauled before the altar. McGuinn's present love is for real folk music, songs from the hills and valleys, and sea. Songs that speak of forsaken love, hardship and death, and the mercurial human spirit.

But the Byrds' back catalog is too powerful a draw to ignore for too long. McGuinn takes us on a wild ride on "Chestnut Mare," "Mr. Spaceman," "She Don't Care About Time," and "I'd Feel a Whole Lot Better." With the Byrds' fans now clearly jubilant and excited, he gathers his strength to push on for "Bells of Rhymney," "Turn, Turn, Turn," and "Eight Miles High." Some of the musicians in the gathering who follow McGuinn's artistry are fixated on his jangly electric 12-string Rickenbacker and his fingerpicking style, while others are feverishly jotting down chord changes and strumming patterns.

The basics are called for to round out the evening, and McGuinn, looking for all the world like a sly wizard of the evening, pulls out his banjo and does "Pretty Boy Floyd" and "Old Blue," the latter being sung loud and hard by all. With these ringing in our ears, we get a good, upbeat rendition of "So You Want To Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star," a song that pretty well sums up McGuinn's own rise to the top of the charts with the Byrds back in the mid-60s. Sheer beauty, and you can see McGuinn on the two big screens behind him, MTV-style, beaming as he roars out the lines "Go out and buy an electric guitar and take some time and learn how to play!"

To keep things honest, McGuinn finishes up the set with an old Irish blessing put to song with "May the Road Rise Up to Meet You."

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