
In my mind’s eye I see these medieval minstrels carrying their songs with them, walking through the town square. I see folks looking up from their busy day and smiling, hearing the banjo, guitar, lute and mandolin weaving their lyrical stories like audible histories passed from generation to generation. The word ‘troubadour’ has been around since at least the 12th century, but I wonder if the first music made by the earliest humans did not owe its appearance to groups of impatient musicians who decided to set off down the wooded path. Today our electronics brings the music to us wherever we may be, but there is still something essential about the troubadours coming to your town, riding the notes of the mandolin and the song of the lyre.