Episode 41: The Impact of the Troubadour on 1970s Popular Culture
PLAY LIST
Ol’ 55 (Live) by Tom Waits (1975)
A Song for You (Live) by Donny Hathaway (1971)
Solitary Man (Live) by Neil Diamond (1970)
Take Me to the Pilot by Elton John (1970)
Doctor My Eyes by Jackson Browne (1972)
Live at the Troubadour by Steve Martin (1976)
Chuck E’s In Love by Rickie Lee Jones (1979)
Sad Cafe by The Eagles (1979)
SUMMARY
Is it possible that the combination of the live music and the community that was created at The Troubadour in Los Angeles can ever be replicated? There are few clubs that have the cultural impact that The Troubadour had on 70s popular culture. This episode examines a wide spectrum of artists, of both the music and comedic variety, that saw The Troubadour help launch their careers.
CORRECTION: In this episode, I inadvertently credited David Ritz with writing “Donny Hathaway’s Donny Hathaway Live.” The author of this seminal text on a wonderful live recording is Emily J. Lordi.
SOURCES
“A Pop Music VIsion Becomes Blacker.” The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, PA). December 29, 1979.
Cromelin, Richard. “Steve Martin Out of the Spotlight.” The Los Angeles Times. March 20, 1976.
Curry, George E. “He Never Forgot His Ghetto Roots.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch. January 30, 1979.
Everett, Todd. "Tom Waits: Not So Much a Poet, More a Purveyor of Improvisational Travelogue". New Musical Express (1975). Tom Waits. Rock's Backpages. Accessed November 11, 2022. http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/tom-waits-not-so-much-a-poet-more-a-purveyor-of-improvisational-travelogue.
Graff, Gary. 2016. “How Glenn Frey & Don Henley Became the Eagles, As Told by Linda Ronstadt.” Billboard. https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/linda-ronstadt-glenn-frey-don-henley-eagles-6844113/.
Hillburn, Robert. “Elton John: A Super Rock Star Arrives on the Scene.” The Los Angeles Times. September 13, 1970
Houghton, Mick. "Tom Waits: A Seventies Storyteller With Fifties Beat Style". Time Out (1976). Tom Waits. Rock's Backpages. Accessed November 11, 2022. http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/tom-waits-a-seventies-storyteller-with-fifties-beat-style.
Jones, Rickie L. 2021. Last Chance Texaco: Chronicles of a Troubadour. N.p.: Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated.
Keyes, Allison. 2010. “Donny Hathaway: Neglected Heart Of Soul.” NPR. https://www.npr.org/2010/06/21/127935255/donny-hathaway-neglected-heart-of-soul.
Kutulas, Judy. 2017. After Aquarius Dawned: How the Revolutions of the Sixties Became the Popular Culture of the Seventies. N.p.: University of North Carolina Press.
Lordi, Emily J. 2016. Donny Hathaway's Donny Hathaway Live. N.p.: Bloomsbury Academic.
Myers, Marc. 2021. “Jackson Browne's Reckoning With Hit Song 'Doctor My Eyes.'” The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/jackson-brownes-reckoning-with-hit-song-doctor-my-eyes-11626267600.
“Ol' '55 by Eagles.” n.d. Songfacts. Accessed December 3, 2022. https://www.songfacts.com/facts/eagles/ol-55.
“Rare Linda Ronstadt 1970s interview talks about The Eagles.” 2018. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c718aryLEmM.
Segal, Gregg. n.d. “Ricky & Chuck.” Tom Waits Library. Accessed December 3, 2022. http://tomwaitslibrary.info/extras/ricky-chuck/.
Symes, Phil. "Neil Diamond: The Jekyll and Hyde of Pop". Disc and Music Echo (1971). Neil Diamond. Rock's Backpages. Accessed November 23, 2022. http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/neil-diamond-the-jekyll-and-hyde-of-pop.
“Things Will Be Crazy Here Monday.” Evening Express (Portland, ME). August 2, 1979.
Wayne, Gary, and Doug Weston. n.d. “Tom Waits - Troubadour.” Tom Waits Library. Accessed December 3, 2022. http://tomwaitslibrary.info/topography/troubadour/.
Zoglin, Richard. 2009. Comedy at the Edge: How Stand-up in the 1970s Changed America. N.p.: Bloomsbury