By Jim Hannaford

Rock music fans all over the world know Roger McGuinn as the leader of the groundbreaking '60s band called the Byrds, but he's been playing mostly solo shows for the last several decades. 

At this stage of his career, he's pretty selective as to where he performs, and OWA Theater in Foley is a place that fits the bill. He'll be there Friday, Feb. 28 starting at 7:30 p.m.

Roger, who is 82, started playing professionally in the early 1960s and has played in probably every kind of venue imaginable. He has learned over the years that playing indoors in a controlled setting is a much better overall experience for him and the audience.

"There were times in the past when I'd play anything that would come up, like a club or a casino or a theater or an outdoor festival," he says, "but we've narrowed it down to theaters because that's my favorite."

Explaining why, he notes that other kinds of concerts just aren't as satisfying musically because they offer so many distractions. Festivals, for instance, can be lots of fun for the fans (as long as they're not rained out), but not as much for the performers.

"They're often on a grassy field, and it's like a picnic," says Roger. "And it's not really about the music, but it's more about the outdoor experience for people. They bring a  blanket, blanket,  the dog, and a picnic basket."

Inside a theater, on the other hand, there's more energy and impact. People are seated closer together and much more likely to focus more closely on the concentrated sounds and emotions coming from the stage.

"It's a very intensified audience as opposed to being spread out on a lawn or something," he says. "The comparison I make is, if you take a firecracker and unravel it and dump out the gunpowder, and you light it, it goes fizzle, right? If you keep it wrapped up in the paper, it goes bang."

Roger took up guitar and banjo in the late 1950s and studied at the Old Town School of Folk Music. He became an accompanist to artists like the Chad Mitchell Trio, the Limeliters, and Judy Collins before doing his own thing in the coffeehouse scene of New York City's Greenwich Village. 

Like millions of others, he had his head turned around in a dramatic way when the Beatles came along. Following their rhythmic lead, he added a rock 'n' roll backbeat to the folksy songs he'd been playing and took that idea to the West Coast. By 1965, the Byrds scored massive hits with "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn, Turn, Turn," pretty much inventing folk-rock in the process. Other memorable Byrds songs include "All I Really Want to Do," "Eight Miles High," "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star," "My Back Pages" and "Chestnut Mare."

While the Byrds were characterized by their lush harmony vocals and a group sound led by Roger's ear-tingling electric 12-string guitar, he now favors a stripped-down approach. Rather than having a full band and an entourage like many of his contemporaries, he travels from show to show in a Ford Transit conversion van with Camilla, his wife since 1978. She does most of the driving, he says, and the schedule is usually a couple of shows a week. That gives his voice a nice rest between performances and gives them plenty of time to enjoy leisurely, scenic rides from place to place.

"I got the idea from Ramblin' Jack Elliott when I was on Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue (in 1975-76). He said, 'You know, Rog, the most fun I ever had was when I threw the guitar in the back of a Land Rover and me and Polly went on the road, and we just had a ball.' I thought that sounded really good."

He carries four instruments with him and performs unaccompanied. He tells some of the stories behind his career and his classic tunes, taking time to demonstrate some of the signature guitar sounds and techniques that helped to make them famous. He may also share a few folk tunes he learned in his earlier days in Chicago and New York before moving west and helping to define the California Sound.

Roger has performed in the area many times before (including shows at the Fairhope Civic Center in 1997 and at Mobile's Saenger Theatre in 2011), but Foley is a new stop on the itinerary for him and Camilla. Because they aren't in a rush to get to the next gig, they are likely to check out their surroundings a bit before they hit the road again, this time headed toward Clearwater, Fla., before turning north toward shows in North Carolina and then Connecticut.

"We love to travel," Roger says, "and we love to go to the different cities and hang out and go to the grocery stores and see what people do and what they eat and everything. We have a lot of fun."

Wherever he goes, he says, he pretty much knows what to expect when it comes to his audiences.

"They're all people in their 60s and 70s, and mostly their kids have grown and gone to college, and they've got some time on their hands, so they don't mind going out on a Wednesday night or whatever," he says.

Or, in our case, a Friday night. Tickets for An Evening with Roger McGuinn for Songs and Stories at OWA Theater are available now with prices ranging from $59.99 to $74.99 (plus fees).