Troubadours of the 1960s with Brooklyn's Marv Conan (EP82)

What is a troubadour? In its simplest definition, it's a poet who puts verse to music. The focus is on the lyrical content and the music is there to serve the storyline.

In present day vernacular, the term "troubadour" is usually replaced by the catch-all category "singer-songwriter."

Some troubadours are simply singers, perhaps accompanied by a guitar, interpreting another poet's songs. While other troubadours are also poets, writing and singing their own lyrics.

Regardless, a troubadour's job is to connect with the listener by bringing the song's story to life. And, after it's over, to make the listener want to hear it again and again on repeat. Because each listen reveals more of the message, it can take a thousand listens to truly know the troubadour's tale.

We are Team Derringer (Laura, Alton, and Paul) of Derringer Discoveries. In this episode, we are joined by songwriter Marv Conan of Brooklyn, New York. When you listen, you will hear that Marv is proud to be from Brooklyn and not just from NYC; although, for his voiceover at the end, we somehow got him to say NYC.

Marv Conan recently released a song called Judy Joan & Buffy that he wrote about three troubadours who each got their respective starts in the early 1960s, two from Greenwich Village in the U.S. and one arguably from Canada. Listen to the episode to learn more about the Canada controversy.

As you will hear, these three troubadours helped Marv to make it through the 1960s after Marv was drafted into the U.S. Army. Marv listened to the troubadours on repeat, back in the day of vinyl records. Recently, he decided to write the song Judy Joan & Buffy to honor these three troubadours who meant so much to him in his youth.

The three troubadours are Judy Collins, Joan Baez, and Buffy Sainte-Marie. Join Team Derringer as we talk with Marv and hear snippets of his song Judy Joan & Buffy sung by UK's Victoria BeeBee who toured with Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel.

We also talk about the three troubadours while Marv picks two songs from each to remind us why Judy, Joan, and Buffy are legendary and worthy of re-discovery.

Do you want to be a Featured Artist on Derringer Discoveries? You'll need 10,000+ monthly listeners on Spotify. But if you want to be a Special Guest, like Marv Conan, all you need is a bucket of enthusiasm and a love for Derringer Discoveries (yep, you need to be a subscriber - it's free - and a regular listener!).

If you want to be a Special Guest, drop us a line at feedback@derringerdiscoveries.com and let us know which major artist you want us to feature, along with your Top 5 favorite songs by that artist. It's best if you pick an artist who is back in the news, so that we can make the episode relevant to the present. Write to us, and we promise to respond! 

If you have 10,000 or more monthly listeners on Spotify and want to be featured on a Derringer Discoveries episode, send us an email and include a link to your music to: feedback@derringerdiscoveries.com.

INFO and SHOW NOTES: www.derringerdiscoveries.com/082

This episode features the Spotify playlist Troubadours, which includes songs from the episode, plus other troubadours and singer-songwriters who inspire us, such as Jesse Welles, Luna Keller, Matt Saxton, Martin Kerr, and Folk B*tch Trio. If you are a recording artist inspired by troubadours, send us a Spotify link to your song. If it reasonably fits the format and is a solid song, we'll include it on the Troubadours playlist, as long as you listen to Derringer Discoveries on a regular basis.

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The theme song for Derringer Discoveries is Your Sister's Room by Ho Jo Fro.

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