The Western Troubadours
The Western Troubadours are Kerry Grombacher and Aspen Black, both award-winning solo artists, who have worked together as a duo since 2014. Influenced by the English ballad tradition, the string-band music of Aspen’s Appalachian home, and the corridos of the desert Southwest, where Kerry has lived and worked, their songs tell stories of the people and events that shaped the West.
Long before radio and streaming playlists, troubadours were the original singer-songwriters of medieval Europe. Traveling from castle to castle across southern France in the 11th to 13th centuries, they shared songs about love, honor, faith, and the struggles of daily life. Their music was often performed with just a simple stringed instrument and was personal, poetic, and meant to be heard face-to-face.
Kerry and Aspen are modern day troubadours, traveling the country from town to town, year after year, putting hundreds of thousands of miles on their cars, collecting stories, turning them into songs, and passing them on to each audience they meet. Kerry plays guitar and mandolin. Aspen plays guitar and bass. Both commanding lead vocalists, they rotate through duets and solo vocal songs, backing each other up with harmonies and complimentary instrumentation.
