"Troubadour" is a song written by

Leslie Satcher Leslie Winn Satcher (born 1962) is a singer-songwriter based on Nashville, Tennessee. She has recorded two albums of her own, and has additionally co-written several singles for such artists as George Strait, Martina McBride, Pam Tillis, Gretc ...

and

Monty Holmes Monty Holmes (born in Lubbock, Texas) is an American country music singer-songwriter. Holmes signed to Bang II Records and released his debut album, ''All I Ever Wanted'', in 1998. Monty Holmesat Allmusic His highest charting single, "Why'd Yo ...

, and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer George Strait. It was released in June 2008 as the second single and title track from his album ''

Troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...

''. The song was the 86th chart single of his career. It has become his 79th Top Ten single on the '' Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart. "Troubadour" was nominated for

Best Male Country Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance was awarded between 1965 and 2011. The award has had several minor name changes: *From 1965 to 1967 the award was known as Best Country & Western Vocal Performance - Male *In 1968 it was a ...

at the

2009 Grammy Awards The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 8, 2009, honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the b ...

Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter and musician. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman of the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s and as a solo artist ...

sings background vocals on the single.

Content

The song is a

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

in which the narrator reflects on his life as a

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...

, feeling that he is content with what he has accomplished ("I was a young troubadour when I rode in on a song / I'll be an old troubadour when I'm gone").

Commercial performance

The song reached No. 7 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay for the chart dated September 27, 2008. The song was certified Platinum by the RIAA on July 15, 2022, and has sold 949,000 copies in the United States as of November 2016.

Music video

In August 2008, Strait released a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for the song. Directed by

Trey Fanjoy Trey Fanjoy is an American music video director. Fanjoy has directed over 150 major label music videos. Her videos have appeared on CMT, VH1, GAC, The Nashville Network, CMT Canada, and MTV. She is the first woman to win the Country Music A ...

, and edited by Scott Mele, the song's video alternates between footage of him singing, and shots of archived photos from various points in his career. This is his first music video since 2006's "

The Seashores of Old Mexico "The Seashores of Old Mexico" is a country music song written by Merle Haggard. It was recorded by Hank Snow in 1971, Freddy Weller in 1972, Haggard himself in 1974, and in 1987 Haggard and Willie Nelson recut the song as a duet. Snow's version was ...

", which Fanjoy also directed.

Chart history

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

2008 singles 2008 songs George Strait songs Songs written by Leslie Satcher Songs written by Monty Holmes Music videos directed by Trey Fanjoy Song recordings produced by Tony Brown (record producer) MCA Nashville Records singles {{2000s-country-song-stub