Campfire Chronicles

From the British Invasion to the 1967 Monterey Pops FestivalIn 1963 it was cool to call yourself a folk singer. By the time I turned seventeen in March of 1964 The Beatles had appeared and folk music quickly lost its cool and commercial appeal. Roger McGuinn known as Jim McGuinn during his folk days as the accompanist for The Chad Mitchell Trio formed The Byrds that same year. By the summer of 1965 Dylan plugged in at the Newport Folk Festival and one-time folkies were soon experimenting with other sounds and genres. Producer Tom Wilson added electric guitar, bass, and drums to the folk version of The Sounds of Silence and Simon and Garfunkel soared. One time New Christie Minstrel Barry McGuire had a smash pop hit called Eve of Destruction.By 1967 another New Christie Minstrel alum Kenny Rogers was finding success as the bearded face of The First Edition before going on to super stardom in country music. That same