Pullin’ ‘Tubes: Return To The Troubadour

For every important musical movement of the last 60 years, there has always seemed to be a venue that has played a pivotal role in helping to foster and cultivate it. The folk music boom called Gerde’s Folk City in Greenwich Village home, while psychedelic rock bloomed at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

For the singer-songwriters of the early 1970s, ground zero was The Troubadour in Los Angeles. The club, which originally opened in 1957 as a coffee house, was the spot for the emerging movement, which for the first time saw an emphasis placed on personal, confessional lyrics. The list of performers who graced the stage and hung out at The Troubadour in those years reads likes a who’s who of Rock & Roll Hall of Famers – James Taylor, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, The Eagles, Jackson Browne, Van Morrison, Tom Waits and Warren Zevon. It was also the room where Elton John played his first US show in August of 1970.

So why am I giving you this history lesson? Well, the famed club and the movement it helped introduce is the subject of the new documentary Troubadours: Carole King / James Taylor & The Rise of the Singer-Songwriter. The doc includes never before seen archival footage plus interviews from the scene’s important figures. Let’s check out the trailer…

Troubadours is currently making an art house run now and will premiere on PBS as part of their American Masters series on Wednesday, March 2.

Related Content

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter