On a highway not far from where you live, a solitary musician with a guitar and a box of CDs is driving to another gig. No tour bus, no band, no road manager, no crew: just a need to make music and a bag full of songs based on hard-lived experience.
Tonight, in a bar or a coffeehouse or a church basement or somebody’s house, the troubadour will share those songs with a room full of people. He or she will crack some jokes, tell some stories about how those songs came about, and sell some CDs to the newly converted at the end of the night.
A round of goodbyes, a night in a spare bedroom or a cheap motel, and it’s time for another drive to another town and another room full of people.
And with that simple preamble, premise, introduction and truth, a man of many hats from the town of Pittsburgh in the state Pennsylvania from the country of America named Tom Weber has spent the past ten years putting together a documentary called Troubadour Blues. He was kind enough a while ago to pack up a dvd and send it to me, and it sat on my desk waiting for insertion and viewing which I started to do twice with failure because of interruptions, and so it was that this past Friday the alignment of stars and planets allowed me the pleasure of seeing probably the best representation and explanation of why otherwise intelligent and artistic people would want to spend their lives driving across the country and world, playing their songs for coins, paper and maybe a meal and a drink to people who listened and loved and than went back home a bit better for the experience and maybe carrying a disc or two to play or share. And the troubadour would move on to the next town or hamlet, to a coffe joint or house concert, to a church basement or small town library, a festival or club.
Should you be a lover of music, especially the kind written and performed by that solitary woman or man, usually with just a guitar or sometimes with additional instrumentation and harmony…a lover of songs where the words mean something…a lover of spending nights sitting in front of a raised platform listening to tall tales and short stories…a lover of laughter and intimacy….this film is for you.
