What is a Troubador?
The Life and Times of Chris Milam
By Kendall S. Lewellen
and Jay McDaniel
Dear Americans,
I am a college student in China, and I am learning to play the guitar. At first I played pop songs that I heard on the internet, but one say I tried writing one of my own. I went to a local coffee shop on my campus and tried playing it to friends. They laughed because my song was so simple, but they also said they liked it. It was about living with the pressures of being a college student.
An American student sitting at the next table heard me and told me that I am a troubadour. I had never heard the word, so I looked it up in Wikipedia. It explained that a troubadour is a composer and performer of songs and that the tradition began in the 11th century in the West. The troubadour would travel around and sing songs about love and chivalry.
The article also said that some songs were “metaphysical” and “intellectual” in nature, and that some of the lyrics to the songs were “vulgar” and “humorous.” It said that this tradition died in the fourteenth century.
But as I understand things, the tradition continues to exist in the United States and other Western nations. I want to start a troubadour club as my college. Would it be possible for you to introduce me to a troubadour in America? I will share it with my friends.
Han
An American student sitting at the next table heard me and told me that I am a troubadour. I had never heard the word, so I looked it up in Wikipedia. It explained that a troubadour is a composer and performer of songs and that the tradition began in the 11th century in the West. The troubadour would travel around and sing songs about love and chivalry.
The article also said that some songs were “metaphysical” and “intellectual” in nature, and that some of the lyrics to the songs were “vulgar” and “humorous.” It said that this tradition died in the fourteenth century.
But as I understand things, the tradition continues to exist in the United States and other Western nations. I want to start a troubadour club as my college. Would it be possible for you to introduce me to a troubadour in America? I will share it with my friends.
Han
Dear Han,
We are happy to introduce you to a troubadour. His name is Chris Milam. Chris is a singer-songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee, which is in the southern part of the United States. He spends most of his days driving across the American countryside. It was on one of these days that we spoke as he trekked through North Carolina. With his thoughts as steady as his steering wheel, we can tell that Chris Milam is a man who enjoys life on the road. We will let you hear some of his music, too.
The theme of motion is a common thread throughout his 2010 album “Up”. The songs that don’t deal with life on the road directly speak about feelings in metaphors of motion like “Up”, “Thirteen Hours”, and “Edge of the World.” While the melancholy of these songs seem to suggest reservations about his extensive tours, he remains upbeat about touring. When asked how he defines a successful show, he remarks that he appreciates one audience member just as much as one hundred as long as they enjoy his work. He’s more discriminate in his taste for cities, in that he prefers cities with rich histories that hold onto what makes them different.
The theme of motion is a common thread throughout his 2010 album “Up”. The songs that don’t deal with life on the road directly speak about feelings in metaphors of motion like “Up”, “Thirteen Hours”, and “Edge of the World.” While the melancholy of these songs seem to suggest reservations about his extensive tours, he remains upbeat about touring. When asked how he defines a successful show, he remarks that he appreciates one audience member just as much as one hundred as long as they enjoy his work. He’s more discriminate in his taste for cities, in that he prefers cities with rich histories that hold onto what makes them different.
Falling Upward
One of Chris' most popular songs is called Up. It reminds us a little of the old Zen story. A monk asked a Zen master what enlightenment is, and the master said: “Nothing special. It’s just that, when I fall down, I get up again.” Chris' song is about falling upward with help from someone you share a smile with. This is an idea we like a lot. With our Buddhist leanings, we believe that the whole world is a network of inter-being, and that we can fall upward with help from others: that is, we can find a light even in times of darkness. In Buddhism this help from others is one meaning of community, of sangha. Maybe you know that in Christianity there is a similar idea. The experience of falling upward with help from others is called community. But what we like about Chris’ lyrics is that they do not bring religion in at all. They are about life itself, religion or no religion. This is part of what a troubadour is: he is a priest for the religion of life.
Becoming a troubadour starts early. Chris started playing the piano at six years old, then “learned enough to sound bad, then discovered rock and roll.” At this time, he was living in Memphis, and he credits his Tennessee roots as the source of his musical influences in blues, country, and soul. Even as he floats across the country, he “can’t wash off the sound of those influences, not that I would ever want to.” This is another idea that is important to us at JJB. It is that, if we are going to find our wings in life, it helps to have roots in a local place. Not only other people, but also places – the cities where we grew up, the families we had – can provide roots for our falling upward.
After a brief stint in Nashville during his college years, Chris moved to New York City. It was there that his sound adopted the singer songwriter influences of Simon and Garfunkel and the like. He was surprised by the Americana revival occurring the New York scene at the time, if only because his actual roots in the American South made him somewhat of a novelty within it. Here are some songs he sings:
Becoming a troubadour starts early. Chris started playing the piano at six years old, then “learned enough to sound bad, then discovered rock and roll.” At this time, he was living in Memphis, and he credits his Tennessee roots as the source of his musical influences in blues, country, and soul. Even as he floats across the country, he “can’t wash off the sound of those influences, not that I would ever want to.” This is another idea that is important to us at JJB. It is that, if we are going to find our wings in life, it helps to have roots in a local place. Not only other people, but also places – the cities where we grew up, the families we had – can provide roots for our falling upward.
After a brief stint in Nashville during his college years, Chris moved to New York City. It was there that his sound adopted the singer songwriter influences of Simon and Garfunkel and the like. He was surprised by the Americana revival occurring the New York scene at the time, if only because his actual roots in the American South made him somewhat of a novelty within it. Here are some songs he sings:
If You Don’t Love Me By Now |
Never in Love |
We hope this brief introduction to an American troubadour can help you become a Chinese troubadour. There is a saying in America that people like to use: “Your calling in life is to find that place where the gladness of your heart meets the hungers of the world.” A troubadour is someone like Chris. His gladness is to write and sing and feel and share. He helps satisfy a hunger that many people feel: “What is going on in my life?” He helps us make contact with what is going on, showing us how, sometimes, we fall upward, too. And downward as well. It is important to communicate the happiness in life and also the sadness. Music is an externalization of human feeling in acoustic form. When hear those feelings, even for a single second, there is a moment of resonance, of sangha, of community. We know that we are not alone. Music is what feelings sound like.
