MODERN TROUBADOUR

Troubadour: one of a class of lyric poets and poet-musicians
often of knightly rank who flourished from the 11th to the
end of the 13th century chiefly in the south of France and the
north of Italy and whose major theme was courtly love.

Today the Troubadours still exist making their living from
their music one night at a time. Walter Finley is a great
example of a Modern Day Troubadour. I asked him what it
felt like to have his sole income be generated by his voice and
the instrument in his hand, what does his day to day life look
like… “I am a troubadour, I travel around to different towns
and cities looking for places to play. I literally walk into venues
and say can I play here just like the poet-musician’s of times
past. Nobody knows my name when I get started, I have to
play a few cover songs to win them over and get them to like
me, I have to start up some kind of dialogue and get them
involved which is when I am able to introduce my original
music. I love to tell the stories behind the songs.”

What’s your biggest high when you’re out playing? “…when
I’m playing songs I have written I can’t help but pour my heart
into it and I feel the audience and myself become one for a
few minutes that gets me higher than anything I know.”

What is the toughest part of what you do? “When I play a
show and become background music. In the same respect
that it’s exhilarating to have those moments when you and
the audience become one it’s very difficult to poor your your heart out to a room full of people and just be viewed as
some kind of noise that they have to rise above to have a
conversation, those moments feel very lonely.”

Why do you do it? It seems like a hard way to carve out your
spot in this world. “Because at the end of the day, whether I
was background noise for a moment, the star of my own one
man show for 30 people or standing on stage in front of
thousands… those moments when you hear a crowd singing
your song back to you, when someone comes up to me and
lets me know that they loved one of my songs, that the words
touched them it makes me feel good and I know I made a
difference.”

The Troubadour still exists, going from town to town, place to
place, making a living pouring their heart out through their
music one night at a time.