Troubadour Night(s)

OG troubadours, new voices, and stories still being written.

Troubadour Night(s)

When the definitive history of the Broad Ripple music scene is written, much of it will be understood through the lyrics and songs of Broad Ripple's original troubadour, Tim Brickley.

In the truest sense of the great Medieval lyric poets, Brickley’s songs are folk songs…many of them Broad Ripple folk(s) songs.

Since refreshing the Troubadour Song Writer Night recently, Brickley has been hosting and sharing the stage with songwriters all the way from emerging to established—the criteria is that these singer-songwriters sing their OWN songs.

Last Monday at 317 Burger in a story-telling song break, Brickley recounted a recent story of a young performer who reached out to excitedly say… “This is the first time I’ve ever been paid to play my own music.”

Like the nurturer he is…glowing with excitement, he said, “Man, that’s the way it’s supposed to be, you know?”

Just the day before, on Sunday afternoon, I went to 317 BBQ for the Troubadour Night special edition to benefit our neighbors in Rocky Ripple and Ravenswood impacted by recent flooding.

There sat Tim…alone…at a picnic table orchestrating.

Alone…being the key word. I’d been waiting for 10-15 minutes to get my audience with the bard. I exaggerate, but not much.

Seriously, person by person came up just to say hello, thank…well-wish.

Finally, it was my turn…ticket #27 you are next

I casually sat down and reintroduced myself. Maybe 15 seconds elapsed before someone else approached the table…a person Tim knew well.

It was Jim Poyser. Tim affectionately introduced me, saying Jim was the editor of NUVO during its heyday.

Jim had come on a mission…this was not the casual hello.

He looked at me and said, By virtue of the fact you are sitting here, I’m guessing it’s okay to say in front of you…I’m going to say it anyway…Tim, I want to thank you for sharing the stage with so many people. You share it with everyone. Emerging artists, established artists, giving the old guys a chance again. I know you won’t accept it, but you need to…thank you, you don’t know how important it is.

Damn.

That is impact.

That is history.

That is legacy.

And now, back to Monday at 317 Burger…where I watched that stage-sharing philosophy come to life with the Troubadours.

Brickley opened with his own set. “Playing again here…reminds me of my misspent youth in Broad Ripple. This song occurred within a 3 block radius of where we are right now…”

Next he shared the stage with Wendy Reed.

First, whoa…Wendy Reed.

I came to see and support Tim Brickley…was going to leave after his set. But, here is this presence—straw cowboy hat…filled the room without saying a word. Guess, I’ll stay for a song…

What I quickly learned, nobody…nobody walks out on Wendy Reed…so more than one song.

With Brickley accompanying…new standards, old standards…the Carpenters, Patsy Cline, Bobby Dorough (the guy who wrote Conjunction Junction).

It’s been a while since I was like…sh*t…what just happened.

Deep, soulful, bluesy, jazzy.

The last stage share of the night was an old friend…Greg Ziesemer and his band The Soup Hounds.

Ziesemer, a true troubadour in his own right, shared personal, heartfelt songs…one in particular, “Too Long Gone,” from the new record Acceptance, was a showcase for Ziesemer’s storytelling, and the full bounty of the Soup Hounds.

The Soup Hounds are bassist Ryan Lukas, percussionist Tim Williams, and banjo player Andrew Brozek (who, incidentally, sang one of his own songs )

My planned 45-minute experience lasted three and a half hours.

Sitting there in the softly lit backroom of 317 Burger, where it feels like putting on your most comfortable pair of shoes…it was one of those nights where I thought to myself…this is the way music is supposed to be…supposed to be experienced.

Intimate. Authentic. Passionate. True.

And then, there, in the very back of the room, sat the conductor, the maestro, the bard, the troubadour…showing an appreciative sense of contentment at the evening’s event.

What has been, what is becoming…

“I remember staring into a life, and seeing everything, and everyone…” ~There is Only Love, Tim Brickley