The Troubadour (London) - Artists

Artists

The club has played host to a number of major artists in various stages of their careers. Notable among these have been:

• Richard Harris - in early 1956 where he auditioned and rehearsed his own production of the Clifford Odets play Winter Journey (The Country Girl) while studying at the then nearby London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). A newspaper review of the time credits the resulting production at the Irving Theatre to "The Troubadour Experimental Theatre group".
• Charlie Watts - in summer 1961, where he was "found" by Alexis Korner playing drums in a "Thelonious Monk-style" jazz quartet and recruited to join Blues Incorporated.
• Bob Dylan - Christmas 1962, performing under the name Blind Boy Grunt.
• Paul Simon - in early 1965.
• Jimmy Page - 1975 post-Earls Court Arena gig come-down session.
• Robert Plant - likewise, Led Zeppelin had no official dates at the Troubadour
• Jimi Hendrix - while he lived in London
• Lionel Grigson along with other jazz musicians - including Spike Wells, Mick Pyne, Dave Gelly and Daryl Runswick - played regular Sunday afternoon gigs in the 1960s.
• Joe Kucera - called "The Sensational Saxophone Joe" while he lived in London 1972/73.
• Jesse Ballard - poet, singer ans songwriter from California while he lived in London 1972/73,
• Eric Brunman & Dan Rynehart - founders of the underground rock band No Donuts for Hilda, played here on 29 January 2011 and 4 February 2012.
• Alvaro Villanueva - with No Donuts for Hilda on Saturday 29 January 2011, and one of the founding members of 14 Meses de Renta, a Lima-based band popular in the early 2000s for its references to popular Latin American culture's influence on the post-Sendero Luminoso generation.
• Houkago Tea Time - on 3 December 2011.
• Morrissey- in February 2012.

The club is, however, chiefly associated with folk music. Notable artists appearing under this banner have been:

• Sandy Denny - who was the subject of a 2008 tribute show held at the venue.
• Sonja Kristina (latterly of Curved Air) - who played, organised club nights and "helped out"
• Redd Sullivan & Martin Winsor - who played and organised the earliest recorded folk club evenings
• Martin Carthy - one of the most influential figures in British traditional music and acknowledged influence on Bob Dylan
• Bob Davenport - acknowledged influence on Bob Dylan
• Nigel Denver
• Eric von Schmidt - a curator and performer of traditional music and acknowledged influence on Bob Dylan
• Davey Graham - one of the most influential figures in the 1960s folk music revolution in England
• Tod Lloyd - one of the founding partners (with Joe Boyd in 1967) of Witchseason Productions
• Paul McNeill - who released an album recorded at the venue, Paul McNeill, Traditionally at the Troubadour (1968)
• Linda Thompson
• Richard Farina - a figure in the US counterculture and folk rock scene of the early 1960s
• Ethan Signer
• Bert Jansch

Many of these acts are captured performing at the venue in the photographs of Alison Chapman McLean.