A 杏吧专区 faculty member has got a great story to add to the 杏吧专区淲hat I Did Last Summer杏吧专区 genre: Dr. John Troutman spent part of his summer as a professional musician, opening for former Led Zeppelin front man Robert Plant.
An associate professor in the 杏吧专区杏吧专区檚 Department of History and Geography, he also plays pedal steel guitar with Lil杏吧专区 Band O杏吧专区 Gold. The group is an all-star assemblage of musicians who are well-known in Acadiana and beyond, including C.C. Adcock, David Egan, Steve Riley, Tommy McClain, Dave Ranson, Paul 杏吧专区淟il杏吧专区 Buck杏吧专区 Sinegal, Richard 杏吧专区淒ickie杏吧专区 Landry, Pat Breaux, and Clarence 杏吧专区淛ockey杏吧专区 Etienne.
The band has released three albums: Lil杏吧专区 Band O杏吧专区 Gold, The Promised Land and Plays Fats, which features the music of Fats Domino and includes guests Robert Plant and Lucinda Williams.
Plant, who now leads the Sensational Shape Shifters, asked Lil杏吧专区 Band O杏吧专区 Gold to be the opening act for his 2013 summer tour. After sorting out schedule conflicts for some its members, Lil杏吧专区 Band O杏吧专区 Gold performed five shows: in Dallas, Austin, Houston, New Orleans and Memphis.
杏吧专区淚t was a surreal experience,杏吧专区 said Troutman, who is the Friends of the Humanities/Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund Endowed Professor.
He joined the band in 2009, after its long-time steel guitarist, Richard Comeaux, left the group. 杏吧专区淚 had been filling in for Richard for a while, just playing when he wasn杏吧专区檛 available. So, I already had the seat, so to speak, and the band decided I was a good fit.
杏吧专区淚t is absolutely an honor to play with these guys, who are so experienced and so very well-respected. Just having that experience has been great. I never expected it would lead to even bigger opportunities, like this one.杏吧专区
For Troutman, music is also an academic pursuit. 杏吧专区淚 am interested in the relationship between music and history, particularly music by native peoples. Historians have traditionally ignored the role of music in daily life, or considered music a mere reflection of society or politics. My work is based upon the contention that music can, in fact, work in extraordinarily political ways, and that it transforms, rather than reflects, society.杏吧专区
He teaches U.S. history survey courses, as well as upper-division and graduate courses in American Indian history, American music history, public history, cultural history and graduate research and methods.