The Troubadour showcased a wide variety of talent but it is perhaps best known as the heartbeat of the singer-songwriter movement of the early 1970s. James Taylor, a Troubadour regular, busted that door open with “Sweet Baby James” in 1971 and Jackson Browne walked right in. Much of this was playing into the desire for authenticity, or at least music that SOUNDED authentic. James Taylor writes about his own heroin addiction in “Fire and Rain,” Carly Simon writes about somebody in Your So Vain (we find out later its Warren Beatty), and we just assume Jackson Browne is writing about his own life in songs like “Doctor My Eyes.” Judy Kutulas, in her book about living with the changes the 60s wrought, After Aquarius Dawned, said that in the 70s traditional authority had lost its influence, especially over the younger generation, driving them toward a host of new experts with real-world credibility. -- and they gave that credibility to musicians.

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