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 year long time folkie and Journeyman John Phillips found

his greatest fame as Papa John in the Mamas and Papas. That summer Phillips

helped organize the Monterey Pops Festival, the first heavily attended rock

festival. Besides the Mamas and Papas other performers included The Jefferson

Airplane, The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Otis Redding, Laura Nyro,

Steve Miller, and Ravi Shankar.Before the year was out The Kingston Trio

had made their farewell tour. As rock music began building toward Woodstock

in the summer of 1969 folk music had for all practical purposes left the

building.